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Symbolism and ambiguity in scarlet letter
Puritans and literature
The symbolic meaning of the scarlet letter
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Puritans society is very judgmental, strict, and they are hypocrites. The biggest thing about the puritans is their very religious. They also take sins serious. They believed that God expected them to live according to the Scriptures. In The Scarlet Letter, there were some Puritans things going on as well with The Minister’s Black Veil. In The Scarlet Letter, people think Hester’s punishment is not enough for the sin she has committed. In The Minister’s Black Veil, people start to judge the minister for wearing the veil and want him to take it off. Puritans are so judgmental and sins becomes part of one’s identity. I think God can only judge someone. In the two books there were symbols which became part of their identity. In the Scarlet Letter,
An assumption is a thought or opinion that is accepted as being true, without enough or any proof. In The Scarlet Letter and The Minister’s Black Veil, this occurred a lot in their community. Both stories were solemly based on this theme. Judgment went along with assumption. The people of the community in The Scarlet Letter used assumption as a way to justify an excuse of judging Hester Prynne. The people of the community in The Minister’s Black Veil, used assumptions to think of ways to describe how minister, Mr. Hooper, has changed. Punishment leads to judgment, false facts, confrontation, and change.
Throughout his literary endeavors, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism to present a certain theme that pertains to human nature and life. In his works, The Scarlet Letter and "The Minister's Black Veil", Hawthorne uses symbolism to present a common theme pertaining to religion; that though manifested sin will ostracize a person from society, un-confessed sin will destroy the soul.
In “The Minister’s Black Veil” Mr. Hooper shocks his townspeople by putting a veil permanently on his face. The veil is a paradox of concealment and revelation (Carnochan 186). Although it is concealing Mr. Hooper’s face, it is made to reveal the sins in society. The townspeople first believed that the veil was being used to hide a sin that Mr. Hooper had committed. Mr. Hooper says that the veil is supposed to be a symbol of sins in general, however the townspeople ignore the message and still focus on his sinfulness. The townspeople know that they have sinned, but they use Mr. Hooper as their own “veil” to hide their sins. Because the townspeople are so caught up on his sins, they fail to figure on the message behind Mr. Hooper’s action and
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, everyone had some form of a secret they’d rather not share, but sometimes not telling can do more harm than good. At the end of the film, Hawthorne left us a quote saying, “Be true, be true, be true.” Hawthorne is trying to say keeping secrets isn't always the best because it only leads to someone getting hurt.
icon. According to the public, "never had a man spoken in so wise, so high,
She is sitting alone reading a book, when two boys come up to her and call her ugly. One of the boys is cross eyed and the other is completely disfigured. Hypocrisy exists in every society through judgment and people’s beliefs, in which people judge other people rather than themselves and abandon their beliefs. Hawthorne attempts to expose hypocrisy in his stories, The Scarlet Letter and The Minister’s Black Veil. In The Minister’s Black Veil, Mr. Hooper wears a black veil despite being a priest. He wears the veil to represent a secret sin. People of the puritan society judge him for something that he might have done, and they only accept him when it benefits them. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester is ostracized by her community
These Puritans followed a very strict code of practise; they were greatly influenced by the bible, their ministers and the government. They sometimes seemed to follow their codes of practise a little too seriously and seem almost hypocritical and farfetched at times, i.e. during the period of the Salem witch trials.
Nathaniel Hawthorne is known for some of his well-written literary pieces. Some of Hawthorne’s literary works is the “The Minister 's Black Veil” and The Scarlet Letter. Within these literary pieces, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism to shape the perspectives of the community members on how they see an individual wearing the symbol and how the person wearing the symbol feels externally and internally within. Symbols can mean many things, it may or may not change over time. It’s up to one to let a symbol define them or not, it they allow
Nathaniel Hawthorne values symbols to develop themes, evoke emotion and indicate layers of meanings that add to the story’s complexity. The symbols of the scarlet letter, in The Scarlet Letter, and the black veil, in The Minister’s Black Veil, while similar in many ways, are vastly different. Most notably, the scarlet letter and the veil differ on why each character incorporates the emblem into their nature, the insight of their sin and the reason for punishment. Furthermore, the two symbols have unequivocally woven themselves into the basic fundamentals of each of the character’s attribute’s, their portrayal of shame, sin and the judgement of others.
Puritanism viewed religion and law as almost identical, making Puritan societies strict theocracies with clergy exclusively controlling people's lives. Puritanism was also based on a somewhat fatalistic view of the human race, as seen in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. The founders of Boston were said to, "have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another as the site of a prison" (33). Puritans believed that people were basically sinful and should be mercilessly punished for strayi...
In the novel The Scarlet Letter it is evident that the base of their social framework was that of the Church. The Church and beliefs of Protestantism became all encompassing within the town of Boston; meaning that the Church would be directly involved in the running of the community and its regime. The Enforcing of laws were established by scripture read from the Bible, as the Puritans considered the Bible as the "true law" of God that provided guidelines for church and government. Those who disagreed or committed crimes against the government, were not only criminals but also sinners, and they were sought to be punished severely. The Puritans stressed grace, devotion, prayer, and self-examination to achieve religious virtue while including a basic knowledge of unacceptable actions of the time; this was expected to secure order and peace within the Puritan community. The Puritan culture is one that recognizes Protestantism, a sect of Christianity. Though a fundamental of Christianity is forgiveness for one's sins, this seems to have been forgotten amongst the women of the community: "Morally, as well as materially, there was a coarser fiber in those wives and maidens of old English birth and breeding, than in their fair descendants." As read between the lines we can notice a concern in Hester's acceptance within the Puritan community. More so, Hester senses a lack of acceptance within the circle of woman in the community. The use of the term "coarser fiber" intertwines the relationship that she once had, and what it has become within the woman of the community. It has also come to my attention that when Hester compares the women of the community to their descendants, she clarifies that the women of the community have become deviant, and or immoral to their religious past.
Life for the Puritans were filled with paranoia and tension as people feared the people they were so close too. Puritans were devout believers in God and believed the Holy Bible and its message were above all. They believed in predestination and that one was either born as a sinner or one was born as a saint. Puritans believed in hard work and religious duty, they forbid all acts that go against the Bible and its messages. All forms of self expressions were seen as Satanic worship and that all bad things such as death, sickness, plague, and natural disasters were all doings of Satan and his followers. Due to the tension and paranoia of Satan’s presence among them, Puritans began to spread mass hysteria, such as the Salem Witch Hunt in 1689, a movement which killed many, either by hanging or burning.
Ralph Ellison once said, “When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” Identity is defined as the one thing or set of things that makes an individual different from the rest. Whether the person has different and particular beliefs, qualities, or conceptions regarding life, these various set of things is what defines the individual as a person. Many people find themselves in a constant pursuit to find the identity that is within. But unfortunately at times, mistakes and errors committed can have the power to take full control over one’s identity, making one a slave of shame and guilt. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an obvious example of a prisoner of mistakes. The Scarlet Letter tells the story of Hester Prynne, a Puritan woman who
The Puritans, who were English protestants, believed that the reforms of the Church of England did not go far enough. They pictured the church not being holy enough, and proclaimed themselves as superior over others. The Puritan woman was limited to certain duties and obligated to many responsibilities. While seeking comfort in the Bible, Puritans believed that they were bound to God and chosen to play a special role in human life; they were to become pure Christians.
There are many suspicions about weather Puritanism is accurately depicted in books. This should clear things up a bit. The depiction of the puritan life style in American Literature is in some ways inaccurate but it is mostly accurate. The Puritans' were very religious but their family and social traditions were vaguely addressed. In literature such as The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", "The Devil and Tom Walker", the Puritan lifestyle is mostly accurately depicted even though some things were left out. These accurate depictions and mostly reflected in crime and punishment, good and evil in society, religious influence, and family and social traditions.