[Thesis]: Hawthorne explores the paradoxical views of society about fate, sin, and redemption using the Puritan town’s dependency on Hester Prynne as their scapegoat as a hyperbolic mirror of human nature. By using the scarlet letter as a vehicle to reflect changing public interpretation and perception, Hawthorne emphasizes how the despised manifestation of sin on whom the townspeople project sin can often be the model of a hardworking, moral individual.
[Po1]: [Topic Sentence1(Romanticism and Hawthorne)]: Through his depiction of his characters’ interactions in the forest, Hawthorne insinuates that being in touch with nature reveals an honest, moral person. In alignment with Romanticism values, Hawthorne focuses on the raw power of nature, …show more content…
In his essay, New and Old Tales: The Scarlet Letter, Richard Brodhead highlights how Hawthorne’s “commentary emphasizes the nature of the community the women represent,” and establishes a town with flighty suspicion and misguided loyalty (Brodhead, …show more content…
This change in the perception of Hester that the Puritan town undergoes does not necessarily reflect a dynamic character. The concept of Hester’s superficial change with the scarlet letter can best be explored in the times when she and the scarlet letter are physically (and thus metaphorically) separated. Instead, Hawthorne insinuates that through suppression of passion and [logic of the heart?] and internal sympathy for sin, Hester internally remains the same but projects through the scarlet letter a woman worthy of respect and awe. In “A Flood Of Sunshine,” Hawthorne focuses on how once “the burden of shame and anguish [of the scarlet letter] [had] departed from her spirit,” Hester’s “youth, and the whole richness of her beauty, came back from ... the irrevocable past” (122). The action of “[throwing] it [the scarlet letter] to a distance,” Hawthorne emphasizes, comes from a place of passion and love not synonymous or indeed, he argues, compatible with Puritan society (122). If the scarlet letter were truly to have made an internal change in Hester, she would not be able to display such heart in physically and symbolically freeing herself from the scarlet letter. Yet, ultimately, Hester makes the decision to burden
[Po1]: [Topic Sentence1(Romanticism and Hawthorne)]: Through his depiction of his characters’ interactions in the forest, Hawthorne insinuates that being in touch with nature reveals an honest, moral person. In alignment with Romanticism values, Hawthorne focuses on the raw power of nature, …show more content…
In his essay, New and Old Tales: The Scarlet Letter, Richard Brodhead highlights how Hawthorne’s “commentary emphasizes the nature of the community the women represent,” and establishes a town with flighty suspicion and misguided loyalty (Brodhead, …show more content…
This change in the perception of Hester that the Puritan town undergoes does not necessarily reflect a dynamic character. The concept of Hester’s superficial change with the scarlet letter can best be explored in the times when she and the scarlet letter are physically (and thus metaphorically) separated. Instead, Hawthorne insinuates that through suppression of passion and [logic of the heart?] and internal sympathy for sin, Hester internally remains the same but projects through the scarlet letter a woman worthy of respect and awe. In “A Flood Of Sunshine,” Hawthorne focuses on how once “the burden of shame and anguish [of the scarlet letter] [had] departed from her spirit,” Hester’s “youth, and the whole richness of her beauty, came back from ... the irrevocable past” (122). The action of “[throwing] it [the scarlet letter] to a distance,” Hawthorne emphasizes, comes from a place of passion and love not synonymous or indeed, he argues, compatible with Puritan society (122). If the scarlet letter were truly to have made an internal change in Hester, she would not be able to display such heart in physically and symbolically freeing herself from the scarlet letter. Yet, ultimately, Hester makes the decision to burden