Category: Scarlet Letter

Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew raises some controversial issues about the roles of spouses and wives, the place of women in society, the expectations of marriage and more. A main topic throughout the play is Petruchio’s “taming” of Katherina and her eventual submission. Petruchio can be looked at . . . Read more

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the effects that society have on Mistress Hester Prynne are shown in different ways. For example, the change from what the reader first learned of her being an adulteress to becoming a humble servant of doing good. The effects of society are shown . . . Read more

How can we as a society differentiate what is to be deemed morally wrong, biblically sinful, or passionately blissful? No matter what we decide for our own predicaments, it is of no place for our peers or community to make the choice for us. Every day through radio, magazines, and . . . Read more

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the mid 19th century is considered “the first great American novel and Hawthorne’s best work”(Thompson 312) The setting of the novel was in Boston in the 17th century when Puritanism was in full effect. The author of the novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne, changed . . . Read more

Pearl’s behaviour toward her mother and Reverend Dimmesdale is very unique to the storyline. Her behaviour could be characterized as a chameleon where she is part of everything around her and the changes that occur externally affect her internally. Ever since Pearl was born she has been regarded as the . . . Read more

Liars, hypocrites, frauds, cheaters, adulterers, imposters, sinners, and gossipers, no one would ever suspect these types of people live in the perfect Puritan town of Boston. At first glance, Boston seems as if it’s a city set on a hill because everyone is so righteous and religious. It seems like . . . Read more

In “The Scarlet Letter”, Nathaniel Hawthorne presents this novel from a dramatic point of view, starting with the scene of the prison. Hester is displayed as an adulterous woman in a Puritan society, where sin is harshly accounted for. She is forced to wear her badge of shame throughout life . . . Read more

The character this paper is analyzing is reverend Dimmesdale because throughout the story reverend Dimmesdale made some dramatic changes in his life. In the beginning of the story, Reverend Dimmesdale was a quiet but great man, adored by others and worshipped by many. Toward the middle and the end of . . . Read more

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Mr Dimmesdale’s greatest fear is that the townspeople will find out about his sin of adultery with Hester Prynne. Mr Dimmesdale fears that his soul could not take the shame of such a disclosure, as he is an important moral figure in society. However, . . . Read more

One of the most complex and elaborate characters in The Scarlet Letter is Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Pearl, throughout the story, develops into a dynamic individual, as well as an extremely important symbol- one who is constantly changing. Pearl is involved in a complex history, . . . Read more

Adultery is a sin never taken lightly. It’s a serious crime that hurts not only the person committing it, but also the people around that person. A crime so serious requires a severe punishment, but that would just lead to more sorrow. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester . . . Read more

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel about adultery committed by young Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale in the Puritan world of seventeenth century Boston. Even though, they share the relationship of extremely opposing each other throughout the book, Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth, an alchemist, antagonist, and . . . Read more

Hawthorne’s masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, has been interpreted and studied since it was first published in 1850. There is much conjecture on Hawthorne’s intended meaning; both literally and allegorically. However, most critics support the theme of adultery in this work. Many critics also agree with the themes of revenge and . . . Read more

Hester Prynne, the Scarlet Letter’s protagonist is a huge sinner and adulteress. Throughout the novel, she must carry the weight of her sin by wearing the letter “A” on her chest. As a result of this letter, the town’s people looked down on her, and think of her as a . . . Read more

Hester Prynne is a very well recognized character in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. She is a character about whom much has been written such as, Toward Hester Prynn, by David Reynolds, and The Scarlet A, Aboriginal and Awesome, by Kristin Herzog. Reynold’s essay dealt with Hester as a . . . Read more

Who should bear the stigma of sin? Hawthorne’s novel is a story of adultery, social judgment, and moral redemption. Hester cannot hide the consequences of her mistake, so she is exposed to public judgment and forced to wear the scarlet letter. However, it is Dimmesdale’s guilty conscience and struggles to . . . Read more

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many of the characters suffer from the tolls of sin, but none as horribly as Hester’s daughter, Pearl. Throughout the novel, Pearl is a symbol of the sin that her mother has committed, and also suffers from this sin. Pearl is portrayed as . . . Read more

Several chapters in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne are critical to the shaping of the story. Hester Prynne is an extreme sinner in the eyes of Puritan society in the 1640s; she has gone against the Bible, committing adultery. Hester is forced to live on the dirty outskirts of . . . Read more

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne paints a picture of two equally guilty sinners, Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale, and shows how both characters deal with their different forms of punishment and feelings of remorse for what they have done. Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale are both guilty of adultery . . . Read more

In the book The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of the adultery of Hester Prynne. In developing his story, he uses many images to give the depth of his character and to help explain the plot. Many of these images are religious and natural ones that undermine Puritan . . . Read more

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s revolutionary novel, The Scarlet Letter, was written in a time where there were no exceptions; either one was holy and abided by the law, or one was a sinner, condemned by all. At that time, life was centred around an impermeable Puritan society, in which secrets and innermost . . . Read more

In the “Custom House,” written as an introduction to The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne gives an autobiographical description of his life and times. The detailed descriptions of the scenes and people not only prepare the reader for the author’s style but also aim at recreating the author’s past. The preface concentrates . . . Read more

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, life is centred around a rigid, Puritanistic-structured society in which one is unable to divulge his or her innermost thoughts and secrets. Every human being needs the opportunity to express how they truly feel, or the emotion is bottled up until it becomes volatile. . . . Read more

Roger Chillingworth in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a revolutionary man. His views on topics such as medicine are influenced by the natives which whom he lived with. These ideas, which are frowned upon by the Puritan society, begin to control his life. Chillingworth slowly progresses from an old, wise, . . . Read more

Adultery and shame drove a single man to engage in a quest for truth. Life in Salem, Massachusetts was a constant struggle consisting of false accusations rampant among members of the community. John Proctor was the most dignified, capable, and stubborn in the fact that he would not allow his . . . Read more

In the Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, does Pearl have preternatural knowledge of the symbolism of the letter and what the characters truly represent? Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a novel about the guilt of sin in a Puritanical society and how sometimes it is better to face your . . . Read more

In the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne undergoes both physical and emotional revelations. Hester is directly affected by the consequences of breaking moral and social codes of behaviour. The novel is a story of a young woman who commits adultery and stays strong when the . . . Read more

Often in society people are criticized, punished and despised for their individual choices and flaws. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author attempts to show the way society casts out individuals simply because their ideas and deeds differ from the common values. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester . . . Read more

The Scarlet Letter: Destined to torture high school students for time immemorial “A text is not a text unless it hides from the first comer, from the first glance, the law of its composition and the rules of its game,” writes Jacques Derrida. “A text remains, moreover, forever imperceptible. . . . . Read more

The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an American Literature classic. The story of Hester Prynne’s adulterous affair with Mr. Dimmesdale, and the twisted tale that follows, however entertaining and is the bulk of written work, is not the main theme of the book. The Scarlet Letter is a . . . Read more

Films of this age are often criticized for lacking ‘substance’ and compensate for this discrepancy with explosions and elaborate camera work. Books, on the other hand, demand a bit more respect from the general public. Many believe that concocting a script is an unsophisticated mode of writing, a copper to . . . Read more

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays Arthur Dimmesdale as a troubled individual. In him lies the central conflict of the book. Dimmesdale’s soul is torn between two opposing forces: his heart, his love for freedom and his passion for Hester Prynne, and his head, his knowledge of Puritanism and . . . Read more

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne makes Hester Prynne the central figure in the story much like Susanna Rowson does with Charlotte in Charlotte Temple. The plots of the books are centred on these women; the storylines occasionally move elsewhere to inform the reader of the happenings of other characters, . . . Read more

Symbolic characters are very important in most powerful novels. One classic that uses characters as symbols is The Scarlet Letter. This novel is about a woman in Puritan society, Hester, who commits adultery with her minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. She has a daughter, Pearl, and is forced to wear a scarlet . . . Read more

Throughout all forms of literature, the author will often provide situations and characters, each of which can contain a strong symbolic meaning. Symbolism allows a character to be expressed as almost anything. Through the symbolism of a single character, any type of character trait, story, or way of life can . . . Read more

Through Hawthorne, the book The Scarlet Letter is written about love, sin, and most of all morals. Hawthorne creates many different perspectives on characters and their views. His vivid descriptions of the main trio of characters allow the reader to make their own decisions on who is morally right or . . . Read more

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a truly outstanding author. His detailed descriptions and imagery will surely keep people interested in reading The Scarlet Letter for years to come. In writing this book he used themes evident throughout the entirety of the novel. These themes are illustrated in what happens to the characters . . . Read more

Hester Prynne is a very well recognized character in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. She is a character about whom much gas been written such as, Toward Hester Prynn, by David Reynolds, and The Scarlet A, Aboriginal and Awesome, by Kristin Herzog. Reynold’s essay dealt with Hester as a . . . Read more

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, contains many profound characters. The townspeople intrigue the reader because they gradually evolve throughout the book, as would any solitary character. At the beginning of the novel, they are generally rigid and judgmental towards Hester, because she has committed adultery. Throughout the novel, . . . Read more

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a dark tale of sin and redemption, centers around the small Puritan community of Boston during the seventeenth century. In the middle of the town market place is a ” . . .weather darkened scaffold. . . (234)” where sinners are made to face the . . . Read more

“Only the man who has enough good in him to feel the justice of the penalty can be punished; the other can only be hurt.” This is a very interesting quote, and depending on what you make of it, it can be very confusing. To most people, this quote might . . . Read more

Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlet Letter, felt that the Puritans were people who believed that the world was a place where the battle between good and evil was a never-ending one. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses the symbols of light and dark to depict this battle among the . . . Read more

The Scarlet Letter shows many types of sin. Some are the only sin in the Puritan eye, some are internally blamed sin and some is sin only defined back in the time period of pre-Romanticism. Three main characters; Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth are the ‘sinners’ of . . . Read more

In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn, the society of a Puritan town of Salem excludes anyone who is in any way deviant and renders that person sinful. However, the society, the townspeople themselves, is not without fault. However, they try to conceal and contain their passions and . . . Read more

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, a dark tale of sin and redemption, centres around the small Puritan community of Boston during the seventeenth century. Things and places in The Scarlet Letter are not always what they seem to be. There are major differences in the appearance of something to the . . . Read more

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses the aspects of relationships, religion, community, discipline and punishment in the puritan community of 17th century Boston. Relationships between men and women were very constrained and that is what made adultery such a bad sin in the eyes of everyone in the community. . . . Read more

In The Scarlet, Letter Hypocrisy is evident everywhere. The characters of Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the very society that the characters lived in, were steeped in hypocrisy. Hawthorne was not subtle in his portrayal of the terrible sin of hypocrisy; he made sure it was easy to see the sin . . . Read more

Arthur Dimmesdale, from The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was the perfect minister. He gave more powerful and touching sermons than anyone else around. He was the overall image of perfection for a minister. However, he had a grave secret that ate at him from within. He had committed adultery . . . Read more