Love vs. Hate
In The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne he conveys, “It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object”. Hawthorne states that love and hate have similarities of intense emotions, and essentially differences are based on how they are look upon on the outside. It is argued that true evil is caused by the close relation of love and hatred. The similarities of love and …show more content…
Especially the intense feeling of love. In The Scarlet Letter, the main character Hester Prynne lives in a small town in Boston. Hester eventually falls in love with a minister and they have a child, Pearl; who is not born wedlock. The love that Hester had for the minister caused her pain in the aftermath because she was judged by the whole town. Being committed to the minister Hester would not give up his name, causing Hester to be punished by being put in jail and having to wear a scarlet A (adulterer) on her chest. Hawthorne writes, “It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility”, (The Scarlet Letter, chapter 13). Hawthorne is displaying that no matter how much Hester is being mistreated, she has love in her heart. Hester doesn't let the treatment of her village affect her and she continues to do good with sewing and her ministry. Hester turns her A for adulterer into an A for able. Although love can easily be turned into …show more content…
In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main characters have all fought their monsters. “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you” (Friedrich Nietzsche). Nietzsche is illustrating how everyone has a monster (evil) that they have to fight, and there is abyss (darkness that exposes the evil). By fighting back you are constantly staring the abyss in the face, it staring back is the evil trying to consume you. The characters all had their monsters to fight, whether it was public shaming, revenge or accepting their guilt. Hester and Dimmesdale fought their minister and stared abyss right in the face, while Chillingworth let it consume him leading him to an unfortunate ending. From Hawthorne’s writing it is a lesson to learn to never let your sin consume you into an inhuman
In The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne he conveys, “It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object”. Hawthorne states that love and hate have similarities of intense emotions, and essentially differences are based on how they are look upon on the outside. It is argued that true evil is caused by the close relation of love and hatred. The similarities of love and …show more content…
Especially the intense feeling of love. In The Scarlet Letter, the main character Hester Prynne lives in a small town in Boston. Hester eventually falls in love with a minister and they have a child, Pearl; who is not born wedlock. The love that Hester had for the minister caused her pain in the aftermath because she was judged by the whole town. Being committed to the minister Hester would not give up his name, causing Hester to be punished by being put in jail and having to wear a scarlet A (adulterer) on her chest. Hawthorne writes, “It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility”, (The Scarlet Letter, chapter 13). Hawthorne is displaying that no matter how much Hester is being mistreated, she has love in her heart. Hester doesn't let the treatment of her village affect her and she continues to do good with sewing and her ministry. Hester turns her A for adulterer into an A for able. Although love can easily be turned into …show more content…
In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main characters have all fought their monsters. “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you” (Friedrich Nietzsche). Nietzsche is illustrating how everyone has a monster (evil) that they have to fight, and there is abyss (darkness that exposes the evil). By fighting back you are constantly staring the abyss in the face, it staring back is the evil trying to consume you. The characters all had their monsters to fight, whether it was public shaming, revenge or accepting their guilt. Hester and Dimmesdale fought their minister and stared abyss right in the face, while Chillingworth let it consume him leading him to an unfortunate ending. From Hawthorne’s writing it is a lesson to learn to never let your sin consume you into an inhuman