Stereotypes In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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If a teacher were to ask a student if Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, should stay in the curriculum, the student might answer with a vexed look and a stern ‘no’. Some readers would express frustration with the antique writing style and the overly intricate plot. Even some people from Hawthorne’s time were distracted and unable to recognize Hawthorne’s actual denotation. E.P. Whipple, a nineteenth century essayist and literary critic, wrote “There is a profound philosophy underlying the story which will escape many of the readers whose attention is engrossed by the narrative” (Whipple 345). However, a renowned nineteenth century critic, George B. Loring contended that Whipple’s viewpoint was nonsense. Contrary to what some nineteenth-century …show more content…
Some of the critics would argue that “Hawthorne [is] too painfully anatomical in his exhibition of [the characters]” (Whipple 345). However, Hawthorne’s attempt to describe one of his characters, to where it becomes painful to read, exhibits that a character is not what the reader is expecting. This goes to show that Hawthorne must not have used stereotypes. Hawthorne was very descriptive in his illustration of Hester, especially. He repeated multiple times her physical description that “The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance, on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam…” (Hawthorne 46). In spite few changes to her physical appearance, Hawthorn repeats a symbolic transformation that most readers can easily identify because it is intentionally obvious. Hester transforms throughout the story from being the archetype of the ‘temptress’ to the ‘goddess’. Consequently anyone can extrapolate that Hawthorne’s characters were not too complex, nor were they too simple to portray his …show more content…
Loring described The Scarlet Letter as “extraordinary, as a work of art, and as a vehicle of religion and ethics” (Loring 448). But E.P. Whipple wrote that “the general impression left by [the theme] is not satisfying to the artistic sense” (Whipple 346). This might be considered a matter of opinion. However, forty-four percent of people think that the Scarlet Letter was about witch trials, according to Common Core, an agency that sets literature and mathematics standards. As for the other fifty-six percent of individuals, there might be many other topics they thought The Scarlet Letter was about. But for the majority of critics in the nineteenth-century, there have been documentation and essays stating the exact information that is being taught as part of the curriculum in most American schools. Regardless of the ability of students to comprehend what is happening. Thus the reader can conclude that the concurring opinion of critics is the correct

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