Harvest of Shame

The Scarlet Letter as Hypocritical Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet letter is a book of great symbolism. This book is about how society treats, and punishes a woman who have committed adultery. The plot of the book that follows the life of the main character, Hester and her daughter, Pearl. In the meantime, there are a few other main characters that are play a big role in hester’s life. These characters are the preacher of the town, Dimmesdale, and the doctor of the town, Chillingworth.…

The Symbols of a lifetime Symbols are used around us rather it be the business logos or colors. Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter there are many symbols. The three that the reader will be informed about will be Pearl the product of the sin between Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, the scarlet letter “A”, the sign for adultery, and Roger Chillingworth, a doctor bent on revenge. Pearl is the illegitimate daughter of Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne who was conceived…

“But she named her infant “Pearl,” as being a great price- purchased with all she has- her mother’s only pleasure.” The Scarlet Letter is one of many books wrote to teach the values of many possessions. But Hester’s scarlet letter is something much different. Hawthorne conveys the two central ideas of Sin and Temptation, and the Judgment of the Puritan Society to impact how the puritans believe everyone is born a sinner and how society judges them. The development of characters, setting, and…

There is not one of us who has not experienced, after some fashion, the constraints imposed upon us by this entity that in reality is us, but we dub society. We are expected to be a certain way, to act in a way that preserves the status quo. To do this, however, to act in a way that pleases ‘society’, we must each put on a patina of conformity, concealing our individual differences in order to attain the goal of a more stable and permanent civilization. And in so doing, we indeed become…

which signifies adultery, for the wrong that she has done in her life. For the rest of her life, and till death, she is forced to wear forever her public shame. Now, in the society that we live in currently, people aren’t branded, but if I was branded with a letter that shows my flaw, what would it be? What letter would I have that would shame for the rest of my life and till death? Furthermore, the letter that would show my blemish would be P for procrastination due to me being a last minute…

gradually becomes one of them again. Aiding the needy also helps Hester to not be an outcast anymore, and the people remember her good deeds instead of her sins. When Hester takes off the scarlet letter in a fit of passion, she feels “the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit” (182). By removing the scarlet letter, Hester symbolizes that she no longer feels resistance because of her adulterous sin. Her goodness towards her society leads the residents of Salem, Massachusetts to…

People in Puritan society were taught to think and live a certain way all according to the Bible, yet author Nathaniel Hawthorne creates a novel that goes against the views he has been forced to live by. Hawthorne uses the main character Hester Prynne to depict his inner struggles in writing, of what he sees as the hypocrisy of puritan society. Hawthorne uses syntax, tone and imagery to convey this hypocrisy through Hester’s supposed “sin”. Hawthorne utilizes syntax to structure The Scarlet…

to a crime she committed. She is forced to wear the letter on every piece of clothing and is required to show it at all times to show people what she had done. Throughout the story, the letter changes meaning. It was supposed to be a symbol of shame and guilt, but ended up being a powerful symbol to identify Hester Prynne. It was originally intended to label Hester as an Adulterer, but as the story progresses it changes to “able.” In the beginning of the story, Hester Prynne walks out of the…

Branded on her chest for all to see, Hester Prynne has to wear the letter A for the duration of the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Although it is not explicitly stated, Hawthorne makes it apparent that the letter stands for adultery. Her fellow sinner, Arthur Dimmesdale, her husband, Roger Chillingsworth, and her daughter, Pearl, are all physical manifestations of the letter A. Dimmesdale represents her guilt, Chillingworth represents her fear, and Pearl represents the good that…

Hester displays heroic qualities through her trials and tribulations by the town of Boston. She is shunned from the community, distances herself from the world she once knew, but by the end, has become a symbol of good deeds and charity. Her badge of shame had now taken on a new meaning, “Such helpfulness was found in her--so much power to do, and power to sympathise--that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Abel, so strong was…