Scarlet

Sin is presented as a recurring theme throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The plot focuses on the protagonists Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale’s sin of adultery within the Puritan community of Boston. This outrageous wrongdoing deeply upsets the Puritans. To serve her punishment, the community forces Hester to wear a “letter A” on her chest wherever she goes. Dimmesdale faces less of a public punishment but internally harms himself for the sin as…

betrayal and revenge: a comparison of the way authors present female characters. Intro ???? To understand the way the authors present their female characters we first need to understand the society that they live in. For instance, Hester from “A Scarlet Letter” was based in puritan Boston in the 17th century. More specifically the Boston bay colony, “it was a mans world”(1) Women where thought to be instruments of Satan and as a result were treated more harshly then men. This explains a lot…

when he was the one who committed the terrible sin. Through Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, he portrays…

In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, written in 1850, the author brings about the question of who the better guardian would be to raise Hester’s daughter, Pearl. In the novel, the three adults who are introduced as possible guardians are Hester, Pearl’s mother, Roger Chillingworth, the town’s physician, and Arthur Dimmesdale, the town’s Minister. When the question is brought forward it is clear that Hester is the superior choice, not only because her guardianship is…

at coworkers or some other terrible deed. After causing someone else grief, they still get some beauty from the world. The rosebush in the story is used to display nature’s grace and, the sun is used for freedom when it shines down on one. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses the rosebush outside of the prison and the sun shining on characters as symbols for the theme that sins can be forgiven. On this note, using a rosebush, Hawthorne shows the wonderful effects that can happen after…

situation and others are defined by it. Overcoming a cowardly situation means accepting and admitting flaws. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses his main characters in The Scarlet Letter to show how they failed and became cowardly. Hawthorne gave these many challenges to Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth and Hester Prynne. Throughout the book The Scarlet Letter Arthur Dimmesdale was challenged many times and each time he failed, proving he was in fact cowardly. From the very beginning Dimmesdale hid…

want without the constant pressure imposed on us by others. We seek the soft comfort of nature if only to escape the the rigid norms of society, and especially if we are living in the Puritan society described by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his book The Scarlet Letter. The story takes place in 1642 in Boston, Massachusetts, and follows Hester Prynne, a woman shunned to the outskirts of the town by the Puritan townspeople for committing adultery. Throughout the book, Hawthorne draws a distinct line…

In the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis,” James Hurst indirectly characterizes the narrator as prideful and sadistic through his thoughts and actions, to convey the idea that an excessive amount of pride causes someone to be deceitful, and act for their own personal gain at someone else’s cost. “The Scarlet Ibis” revolves around the narrator, recalling on his past memory of Doodle, his “invalid” younger sibling. The narrator longs for someone to run with, play with, and fight with; a brother to be…

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel “The Scarlet Letter”, setting is used to portrait characters and their role in the novel. Hawthorne’s uses of setting is extremely important to completely understand the characters and how their surroundings help model their personalities. He uses the woods on the outskirts of town to connect characters with nature and the feeling of rejuvenation. He uses the center of town and the scaffold to show who in the town has the power and order. The uses of the chapel and…

Despite the fact that James Hurst’s Brother in “The Scarlet Ibis” loves his sibling Doodle, his love is tainted his pride and cruelty that results from such feelings. Brother is humiliated by his brother's disability, and jeopardizes his hubris. This is shown blatantly in the passage, “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk.” Thus, he tries to do something that at first glance appears born of love and tenderness towards his crippled…