Infamousy of the Individual
Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? It is the idea that a small decision in your past can drastically alter the events of the future. Similarly, multiple forms of conflict can be combined to cause a singular decision. How situations add up can be sort of awe-inspiring at time, as simply removing one event can change the entire line of actions that followed. This can be seen in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, which is about a woman named Hester who is berated by her strict Puritan society when she commits adultery with one of the reverends, Dimmesdale. She is given a scarlet letter to wear upon her chest that acts as a constant reminder of her sin, as if the child born because of it was not enough. …show more content…
Returning to the rising action within the novel, Hester has to face the Governor in a custody battle for Pearl, who she has already lost everything else for. When the Governor decides that Pearl should be taken out of Hester’s custody, as Hester is unfit to be a mother, Hester enters a fight with the Governor in a desperate attempt to prove that she is indeed deserving of her daughter (107). While they test the progress of the young child’s Puritan teachings, Hester continues to explain why she should be able to keep little Pearl in her custody, explaining that, “God gave her into my into my keeping,” (109). This battle of morality between Hester Prynne and the main leaders of her town, the governor and minister, becomes a huge plot point that affects the remainder of the novel, as Hester is allowed to keep her child. If this event had gone the other way and the custody of the child had been relinquished to the Governor, it is hard to say that any of the events that had followed this point would have occurred at …show more content…
In The Scarlet Letter’s Puritan, judgement-heavy society, the opinions of others play a large influence on the decisions one makes. Some say the plot of this novel is imbued more by judgement than man versus man. In the book’s opening chapters, Hawthorne paints a scene in which Hester is scourged by the entire town (52-53). The punishment within this society is one that provokes judgement from day to day by neighbors and those who used to be friends of the guilty. Without the harsh judgement of others, the A’s presence on Hester’s chest would not be a useable punishment for her sins. However, with this judgement constant within the society, it is not truly a factor in guiding the plot. Guilty or not, one will be judged in this Puritan society, and since it is an unchanging presence, it does not actually determine the actions that follow it, as it never ends. However, it is amenable that the society affects the emotional state of the characters, though. An example of this is found when Hawthorne writes, “... the little Puritans, being of the most intolerant brood that ever lived…. scorned them in their hearts, and not unfrequently reviled them with their tongues. Pearl felt that sentiment... “ (91). The conflicts between each individual and the society alter their character in
Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? It is the idea that a small decision in your past can drastically alter the events of the future. Similarly, multiple forms of conflict can be combined to cause a singular decision. How situations add up can be sort of awe-inspiring at time, as simply removing one event can change the entire line of actions that followed. This can be seen in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, which is about a woman named Hester who is berated by her strict Puritan society when she commits adultery with one of the reverends, Dimmesdale. She is given a scarlet letter to wear upon her chest that acts as a constant reminder of her sin, as if the child born because of it was not enough. …show more content…
Returning to the rising action within the novel, Hester has to face the Governor in a custody battle for Pearl, who she has already lost everything else for. When the Governor decides that Pearl should be taken out of Hester’s custody, as Hester is unfit to be a mother, Hester enters a fight with the Governor in a desperate attempt to prove that she is indeed deserving of her daughter (107). While they test the progress of the young child’s Puritan teachings, Hester continues to explain why she should be able to keep little Pearl in her custody, explaining that, “God gave her into my into my keeping,” (109). This battle of morality between Hester Prynne and the main leaders of her town, the governor and minister, becomes a huge plot point that affects the remainder of the novel, as Hester is allowed to keep her child. If this event had gone the other way and the custody of the child had been relinquished to the Governor, it is hard to say that any of the events that had followed this point would have occurred at …show more content…
In The Scarlet Letter’s Puritan, judgement-heavy society, the opinions of others play a large influence on the decisions one makes. Some say the plot of this novel is imbued more by judgement than man versus man. In the book’s opening chapters, Hawthorne paints a scene in which Hester is scourged by the entire town (52-53). The punishment within this society is one that provokes judgement from day to day by neighbors and those who used to be friends of the guilty. Without the harsh judgement of others, the A’s presence on Hester’s chest would not be a useable punishment for her sins. However, with this judgement constant within the society, it is not truly a factor in guiding the plot. Guilty or not, one will be judged in this Puritan society, and since it is an unchanging presence, it does not actually determine the actions that follow it, as it never ends. However, it is amenable that the society affects the emotional state of the characters, though. An example of this is found when Hawthorne writes, “... the little Puritans, being of the most intolerant brood that ever lived…. scorned them in their hearts, and not unfrequently reviled them with their tongues. Pearl felt that sentiment... “ (91). The conflicts between each individual and the society alter their character in