According to Telegraph, one of the top 15 North American Novels is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s the Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an adulterous affair with the reverend, Arthur Dimmesdale, while her husband is away and struggle to build a new life of repentance and dignity. A popular example of Gothic Romanticism, The Scarlet Letter, is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s critically acclaimed portrayal pf the effects of sin and punishment during the colonial America’s formative years. The portrayal consist of an exploration of broken moral law and long- established social code of conduct through Hawthorne’s rich characters and their complex inner psychological turmoil. Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Hawthorne uses sin and punishment as influencers to portray how easily the Puritans could isolate someone from society. One of the first times this idea is exposed to the reader is when Hester Prynne is forced to stand on a scaffold with her daughter in her arms for the entire community to see the sin she has committed. At this time her pastor, Reverend Dimmesdale, is excessively persistent is trying to get Hester to reveal the name of the child’s father, despite the fact that this could lead to the downfall of that man’s high position of authority. He pleads with Hester by saying, “If tho feelest it to be for thy souls peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I change thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sinnerer!”(Hawthorne 3.5) There is much talk about “victimless crimes”, especially in regards to certain drug offences, in today’s legal system. Dimmesdale appears to suggest there is no such thing as a victimless sin when referring the Hester’s “fellow-sinner.” Dimmesdale alludes to the idea that someone else must always be involved in acts of sin like the adultery Hester committed. Later on in the book, the reader can see how Hester Prynne is cutoff from the rest of the Puritan community. Hester has been released from prison; however remains a symbol of women’s passion and frailty, unsheltered from public humiliation. To …show more content…
E. P. Whipple writes about Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter in The Atlantic Monthly stating that, “In the intellect and imagination, in the faculty of discerning spirit and detecting laws we doubt if any living novelist is [Hawthorne’s] equal; but his genius, in its creative action, has been heretofore attracted to the dark rather than the bright side of the interior life of humanity, and the geniality which evidently is in him has rarely found adequate expression.” To some this may seem like a downside to Hawthorne’s writing, however it is quintessential for the literary era of Gothic or Dark Romanticism. While Hawthorne dappled in numerous genres, he found his niche in Dark Romanticism, albeit on the less pessimistic side (Romanticism). Throughout this novel there are many literary characteristics of the Gothic Romanticism Era. Two of the most common elements found in gothic novels are the supernatural and the gloomy, decay of a person place or thing. Hawthorne introduces supernatural elements through the characters in The Scarlet Letter. This is heavily seen in Pearl. Pearl is not a realistic character in this story. She is described to possess immense beauty and intelligence, way beyond her years, from a very young age. Everything about her seems to be otherworldly. Not to mention Pearl only appears as an infant, then at the age of three, and finally at the
Hawthorne uses sin and punishment as influencers to portray how easily the Puritans could isolate someone from society. One of the first times this idea is exposed to the reader is when Hester Prynne is forced to stand on a scaffold with her daughter in her arms for the entire community to see the sin she has committed. At this time her pastor, Reverend Dimmesdale, is excessively persistent is trying to get Hester to reveal the name of the child’s father, despite the fact that this could lead to the downfall of that man’s high position of authority. He pleads with Hester by saying, “If tho feelest it to be for thy souls peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I change thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sinnerer!”(Hawthorne 3.5) There is much talk about “victimless crimes”, especially in regards to certain drug offences, in today’s legal system. Dimmesdale appears to suggest there is no such thing as a victimless sin when referring the Hester’s “fellow-sinner.” Dimmesdale alludes to the idea that someone else must always be involved in acts of sin like the adultery Hester committed. Later on in the book, the reader can see how Hester Prynne is cutoff from the rest of the Puritan community. Hester has been released from prison; however remains a symbol of women’s passion and frailty, unsheltered from public humiliation. To …show more content…
E. P. Whipple writes about Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter in The Atlantic Monthly stating that, “In the intellect and imagination, in the faculty of discerning spirit and detecting laws we doubt if any living novelist is [Hawthorne’s] equal; but his genius, in its creative action, has been heretofore attracted to the dark rather than the bright side of the interior life of humanity, and the geniality which evidently is in him has rarely found adequate expression.” To some this may seem like a downside to Hawthorne’s writing, however it is quintessential for the literary era of Gothic or Dark Romanticism. While Hawthorne dappled in numerous genres, he found his niche in Dark Romanticism, albeit on the less pessimistic side (Romanticism). Throughout this novel there are many literary characteristics of the Gothic Romanticism Era. Two of the most common elements found in gothic novels are the supernatural and the gloomy, decay of a person place or thing. Hawthorne introduces supernatural elements through the characters in The Scarlet Letter. This is heavily seen in Pearl. Pearl is not a realistic character in this story. She is described to possess immense beauty and intelligence, way beyond her years, from a very young age. Everything about her seems to be otherworldly. Not to mention Pearl only appears as an infant, then at the age of three, and finally at the