Winthrop

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet “A” on her clothing in order to broadcast to the community that she has sinned. Throughout the novel the letter’s meaning begins to change. While it originally stood for “Adulterer”, it has begun to stand for “Able” instead, due to Hester’s acceptance of her sin and talent in embroidery. In the beginning of the novel after Hester is convicted and forced to wear the “A”, she is entirely shunned and scorned…

As with her lover and her partner in sin, the life of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter gives key insights to idea that shame varies from individual to individual, and from society to society. Like Dimmesdale, she experiences a deep shame for her previous actions. Unlike Dimmesdale however, she is punished for her crime and is forced to wear an embroidered scarlet ‘A’, as a token of her shame, “the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart” (Hawthorne 122). From here, her…

Everyday people sin, and the sun comes up the next day. When a sinner walks down the street, they might see a rosebush after a long day of yelling 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…

In The Scarlet Letter by David Hawthorne and All That Heaven Allows by Douglas Sirk, society is imperfect. Hester Prynne and Cary Scott were excluded from their societies because of lust for their partner that is socially acceptable today. Hester Prynne was nearly executed for committing adultery even though the husband was assumed dead. Instead, she was forced to wear an embroidered, scarlet “A” on her bosom. Cary Scott was rejected by her friends, her family and nearly everyone in town because…

Arthur Dimmesdale In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Dimmesdale has an affair with Hester Prynne. While Hester Prynne is subject to a lifetime of ridicule, Dimmesdale escapes punishment. His lack of punishment comes at a price. Dimmesdale’s inability to confess his sin influenced his morale, profession, and overall health. Arthur Dimmesdale’s guilt affected his morale. He became obsessed with his eternal place of rest. His guilt also influenced his conversations with…

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne advances the central ideas…

There are many reoccurring themes in literature and one of those themes is the war between passion and responsibility. For example, A character’s personal cause, love, desire for revenge, determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion may conflict with their moral duty. In the novel, The Scarlet letter, Hester Prynne, Reverend Author Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth are used to portray this theme. They all have their own duties and responsibilities yet they let their passions come…

How man responds to guilt determines future success in life. Godly sorrow leads a person to repentance, or condemnation torments them forever. In both Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, protagonists Hester Prynne and John Proctor struggle with guilt for their sin. Both the novel and playwright take place in 17th Century Puritan Massachusetts, when adultery is considered witchcraft, and punishable by death. After Hester Prynne has an affair with Reverend…

The Scarlet Letter is a novel that was an eventful novel that was written in 1850 by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The novel takes place in Puritan America. This setting serves as a necessary fuel for the novel’s gears to continually turn from its beginning to its conclusion. The relationships housed in the book are also extremely important for the sustained survival of the plot. Many characters display moral frailties throughout The Scarlet Letter, thus creating a novel that challenges the reader’s…

After the fire, Green’s life was a mess, she didn’t care for the garden, one of the only places where she felt like she could be who she was, and then she even let the looters destroy it. Then, she started to transform herself into a whole other person, a person with tattoos covering her body, a person with clothes covered by thorns, a person who was fearful of herself. She wanted to look so scary, so fearful, that nobody would ever disrespect her again. That was until love found her, it was…