Winthrop

The theme of isolation is greatly used in literature to help form characters and provide readers with an insight into crucial aspects of their identity. Isolation and alienation, two forms of torturous estrangement are very much experienced by the novel’s protagonists of ‘Jane Eyre’ and ‘The Scarlet Letter’, Jane Eyre and Hester Prynne respectively. Throughout the two novels it can be broadly debated whether the characters are presented as outsiders due to their internal characteristics, or…

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…

Alex Canaday Mrs. Wood English Honors III 3A 2 October 2015 Word Count: 641 Scarlet Letter Final Essay Assignment In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is forced to wear the letter “A” due 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…

There is nothing worse in this world than the feeling of guilt. It settles in an individual 's heart, a burden that becomes increasingly heavy, until it is freed through a moment of shame or buried with the heart that it inflicted. Throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many of the characters commit sinful actions. A common theme in the novel is that all characters live with sin, but only those who are worthy of redemption live with guilt. This integral…

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…

The novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, has many symbols. One of the most important symbols is Hester’s daughter, Pearl. Her purpose changes throughout the novel. Although in the beginning she is nothing but another reminder of Hester’s sin, she goes on to be an intelligent character who becomes a key part to the story. She helps the reader connect ideas that are not obvious. She also tries to bring Hester and Dimmesdale together. When there is a resolution to her purpose, she is…

Children are often categorized into two groups: the devil children and the angel children. The character Pearl from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famous novel, The Scarlet Letter, does not seem to fall into either of these departments. Being the illegitimate offspring of the revered Puritan minister Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne, a beautiful woman publicly viewed and shunned as an adulteress marked with the scarlet A, little Pearl is seen as the evil born from her parents’ sin and is generally…

The wilderness has always been a place of mystery and purity, a space uncharted and unfamiliar. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the wilderness acts as a place free from societal judgement, where characters can express their true personalities. Throughout the story forbidden meetings and revelations of truth take place in the forest, where people are free from the threat of prosecution by puritan beliefs. While the forest acts as this safe space, the town acts as its counterpart,…

Through the conjunctive analyzation of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne a unifying theme between these two works emerges and the exploration of the ways that these authors impose this specific concept in their respective works leads to a larger understanding of these two novels. Specifically, the unifying theme of the individual within society permeates these two works and creates parallels between them. In The Brief Wondrous Life…

The Suffering Pastor Pastor Dimmesdale plays a very key role in the story. He is admired by the whole town and he is known to everyone as a man crafted by god’s hand. What is unknown to them until the end of the story is that he bears a secret shame. He is the father to Pearl that has been kept a secret throughout the novel and the guilt that he feels for the sin is slowly killing him with the help of the Physician, Roger Chillingworth, and his ever prying eyes. Some may say that he is a…