The Scarlet Letter Essay

jeering laughter” (Hawthorne 101). The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the article “Concerns Raised on ‘Scarlet Letter’ for Drunk Drivers,” by Toni Locy, both provided very different examples of public shaming. Both show the pros and cons of shaming by either telling a story or explaining people’s opinions. The Scarlet Letter provides a historic view on shaming during the Puritan times. A woman named Hester is forced to wear an embroidered scarlet letter to show that she has sinned.…

2 In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is introduced to the reader as a woman who has committed adultery, a very serious sin in the eyes of her Puritan community. In order to punish her, the town makes her stand upon a “scaffolding on the pillory, an infant on her arm” as they stare with judgement(41). Hester must also wear a scarlet “A”, representing her sin. It lies on her chest “fantastically embroidered with gold thread” showcasing her sins (41). The over zealous…

The Scarlet Letter is a novel filled with intriguing intricacies and convoluted symbolism. In the beginning of the book, Hester Prynne confesses to the sin of adultery, and is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest as a mark of shame. Hester’s scarlet letter, although at first treated by others with contempt and anger at Hester, causes Hester to become a better and more philanthropic over time, effectively increasing her reputation in society. By the end of the book, after the death of…

inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. Written by Bert V. Royal and directed by Will Gluck, the story follows a teenage girl after telling a white lie about losing her virginity and how it effects her life and those around her. The film premiered in 2010, winning both a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Comedy Film and an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance. Created as a modern adaptation to The Scarlet Letter, Easy A invents a creative and comedic…

social expectations is right or wrong during a time where it was a normality to harshly punish others for their sins. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story of The Scarlet Letter he explores the idea of Hester breaking away from society wants by exploring the relationship between expected actions and the actions that Heaster displayed. The Scarlet Letter was written during a time period where women were oppressed and had little social status in the community. This concept of belittling women was very…

private transgressions are something more than just keeping things hush-hush. This is the fear of allowing the truth to set you free. Nathaniel Hawthorne discerned this verity in his book The Scarlet Letter, noting man 's want to be seen as upright yet, holding sin within his being. In the passages of The Scarlet Letter, a woman called Hester and…

the Puritan society. Women were not viewed as strong, independent characters because that image was usually associated with men. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the main heroine, Hester, is an exception to the viewpoint of women being incompetent. Although the book is not entirely centered on women’s rights, The Scarlet Letter shows Hester as a courageous woman, and that contributes to the novel being perceived as feminist. Being strong was not a quality commonly affiliated…

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne presents three important scaffold scenes that help determine the genre of the novel. The genre could be classified as a romantic tragedy and historical fiction, which is Romanticism for this novel. Even though the story is more of a tragedy, the romantic elements are littered throughout the story, which is why some people consider the novel a romance. The romantic genre could mean two different types of romance, a love story, or Romanticism, a movement…

Hook. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a historical fiction novel that follows Hester Prynne, an adulterer, through her life with her daughter, the father of her daughter, and her husband that she cheated on. Taking place in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, Hester is released from prison and lives and provides for her daughter solely alone, which is a complete contradiction to the standard conventions in her community at the time. As part of her punishment Hester is forced to…

thought of as less. The Scarlet Letter shows how the sin of adultery was handled and how different generations viewed feminism. Feminism can be shown in The Scarlet Letter by its main character Hester Prynne, she represents a woman’s strength, independence and resilience. A Puritan can be described as a member of the English Protestants during the 16th…