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Morality in scarlet letter
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Morality in The Scarlet Letter
"...pain is in itself an evil; and indeed, without exception, the only evil; or else the words good and evil have no meaning." (Chase 127) In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne presents a very clear view of his stand on morality, which he carefully cultivates through the course of the story. The moral, which is "Be true!" applies equally well to all of the characters in the novel. Though his view does seem to stand as true through the length of the story, it does not, unfortunately, transfer as smoothly to our lives today. In essence it is a hedonistic view to take, which requires a slight stretch as to his interpretation as to how evil, and important, an individual's pain is unto itself. By looking at each of the main characters in turn, it may be determined exactly what his view was on this subject, and how it may be applied to life in our society today.
Because his moral is more explicitly defined as "Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, some trait by which your worst may be inferred!" Hester Prynne is a sound example, for she did exactly that. She could not, and did not, hide her sin, and as a result wore it clearly at all times on her breast, hiding nothing. While at first it may seem as though she was punished more than any other character, because she was so physically punished, Hawthorne makes it clear that she was the most satisfied character in the novel, eventually finding peace with herself because she had no pressing secrets to gnaw at her conscience. Physically, however, the Puritan imposition of punishment was harsh, and unyielding. It brought her below many of the men and women of the town, and had the psychologic...
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.... 47-49). San Diego: Greenhaven.
Canby, Henry S. (1996). "A Skeptic Incompatible with His Time and His Past." Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne (pp. 55- 63). San Diego: Greenhaven.
Chase, Richard (1996). "The Ambiguity of the Scarlet Letter." Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne (pp. 145-152). San Diego: Greenhaven.
Gartner, Matthew. "The Scarlet Letter and the Book of Esther: Scriptural Letter and Narrative Life." Studies in American Fiction (1995): 131-144.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: St. Martins, 1991.
Loring, G. B. (1850). "The Scarlet Letter and Transcendentalism." Massachusetts Quarterly Review [On-line], pp. 1-6. Available: http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/loring.html
Scharnhorst, Gary. The Critical Response to Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. New York: Greenwood, 1992.
William Wallace was so famous among the Scots that they made a movie about him. The movie was directed by Mel Gibson, and originally written as a book by Randall Wallace. Mel Gibson played William Wallace. In the movie, William goes on his rampage against the English after his wife was attacked by an English soldier. This epic drama was so well received that it won 5 academy awards. Of course like all movies based on historical events, it was filled with assumptions and exaggerations.
Hester Prynne’s sin was adultery. This sin was regarded very seriously by the Puritans, and was often punished by death. Hester’s punishment was to endure a public shaming on a scaffold for three hours and wear a scarlet letter "A" on her chest for the rest of her life in the town. Although Hawthorne does not pardon Hester’s sin, he considers it less serious than those of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Hester’s sin was a sin of passion. This sin was openly acknowledged as she wore the "A" on her chest. Hester did not commit the greatest sin of the novel. She did not deliberately mean to commit her sin or mean to hurt others.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne.” The Norton Anthology: American Literature, edited by Baym et al. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1995.
Smiles, Samuel. "The Scarlet Letter." The Critical Temper. Ed. Martin Tucker. New York City: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1962. 266.
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Direct Communication: Direct communication methods such as letters and emails were used to converge support against SOPA and PIPA Act.
Happiness is intended pleasure or absence of pain.(513) Both this definition and the following definition for unhappiness suffer from really understanding what pleasure and pain are, the use of competent judges and those principles below aid in that.(513)
In the 17th and the 19th century dementia was synonymous with insanity. Still many knew that people with this disease suffered from permanent damage that was irreversible unlike mental disorders where the brain remains intact (2006). Dementia was often known as senile which is common with old age. Studies through the years have shown that it is much more serious and causes damage to areas of the brain. Alois Alzheimer in 1910 noticed tangles, plaques, and arterio...
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Scarlet Letter." Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York: Norton, 1987.
Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. "The Scarlet Letter." The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. Ed. Charles Wells Moulton. Gloucester, Massachusetts: Peter Smith Publishing, 1989. 341-371.
"Oxygen/Markle Pulse Poll Finds: Harassment of Women on the Street Is Rampant; 87% of American
Gerber, John C. "Form and Content in The Scarlet Letter." The Scarlet Letter: A Norton Critical Edition. Eds. Seymour Gross, Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1988.
“Heaney’s poetry grants sectarian killing in Northern Ireland a historical respectability which is not usually granted in day to day journalism” (Morrison, 68)
There are two witnesses of the crime. At the junction of the robbery Mavis came to the post office to send a parcel, once she has seen the crime she fainted and collapsed in the doorway. Charlie after seen Mavis made the second shoot in the crime scene to the window. When Bert was trying to drag Mavis aside he cuts his hand on some of the glass on the floor. Johne saw the incident and tried to stop them and Ali hit John on the head with the butt of the gun and fired in his leg. Wilfred a retired soldier saw perpetrators during the perpetrators were changing cars and informed to the police.
The book, Exploring Your role in Early Childhood Education, defines play as, “any activity that is freely chosen, meaningful, active, enjoyable, and open-ended.”(pg. 140) Play has many positive characteristics such as freedom to explore and create. Suppose when a child enters his/her classroom and has various self-selection activities available, the child can become engaged in something of interest specifically to that individual child. The book also states, “Play is active and is natural process of mentally and actively doing something.”(pg. 140) When children can act out or explore experiences they are having hands on experience and learning by actually doing. Without knowing it, children are practicing body movements as well as mental processing though acting imaginary games out.