“What you discover on your own is always more exciting than what someone else discovers for you” stated by the popular film critic Terrence Rafferty. Imagine being stripped of your free will and you have no power to get it back. Imagine having your family decide your life for you despite your age. Imagine losing all contact with your friends and family and beginning a whole new life with someone you didn’t know. In The Scarlet Letter, a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman named Hester Prynne was forced into a marriage by her family with a man named, Roger Chillingworth. Her arranged marriage with Chillingworth caused Hester to turn away from him and commit a sin that will lay a mark on her forever. She was forced to wear a scarlet letter …show more content…
Often times, families do not consider the needs of their daughters above their own, especially through their culture and traditions. You often hear families say “we know our daughter the best and will make the best decisions for her.” The more families that think this comment is accurate will continue to push past their daughters' voice and care only about themselves. Many people continue to believe that an arranged marriage is not common anymore and rarely done by families, but it remains the dominant form of matrimony in much of the world, rich or poor said Amit Batabyal, a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. A woman named Upasana Chauhan from India states how important the power of this saying had on her life as a woman “Do not fall in love with somebody who does not belong to our caste.” Her family used to lock her inside to learn how to cook and clean and show her where she will spend most of her day, the kitchen. In her story, she stated “They never forgot to remind me that I could not even think of a marriage built on love. Family friends would advise my parents to quickly have me married so that I would not be their responsibility anymore.” Once she has found the man of her dreams in her own family disowned her and took away her independence for four years until finally her voice was heard and she had the strength to stand up to her culturally isolated …show more content…
It is proven that women forced into a marriage with no love with the man become depressed and lonely. In a marriage what holds up couples is their affection and compatibility with each other, which is not given when you are forced into a marriage without their consent. A Pakistani woman kills 17 members of the family because her voice wasn't being heard from her family. She started to develop a mental illness that took over her mind and into killing her family. The bride was just targeting her husband, but, instead affected her family with the poison that her best friend gave her. She stated "I repeatedly asked my parents not to marry me against my will” her voice was not heard within her family and urged her to cause a disaster that she will live by for the rest of her life. Although, Hester did not poison Chillingworth she did cause a sin like the Pakistani bride and will live in regret of that mistake forever. Hester dealt with her pain and found her happiness within her daughter, Pearl. Pearl brought her hope and joy that her life will be full of happiness despite her mistake. "Come away, mother! Come away, or yonder old black man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already. Come away, mother or he will catch you!” (Hawthorne 126). Pearl’s comparison of Chillingworth to the “black man”
Hester Prynne, the protagonist in the book The Scarlet Letter, has committed the sin of adultery, but learned to use that mistake as a form of strength. Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, sent her to America and was supposed to follow her, but never arrived in Boston. While Hester was waiting on Chillingworth, she had an affair with the town minister, Dimmesdale. As a result, Hester gave birth to a beautiful daughter and was forced to wear the scarlet
The Scarlet Letter starts off by throwing Hester Prynne into drama after being convicted for adultery in a Puritan area. Traveling from Europe to America causes complications in her travel which also then separates her from her husband, Roger Chillingworth for about three years. Due to the separation, Hester has an affair with an unknown lover resulting in having a child. Ironically, her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, is a Reverend belonging to their church who also is part of the superiors punishing the adulterer. No matter how many punishments are administered to Hester, her reactions are not changed. Through various punishments, Hester Prynne embraces her sin by embroidering a scarlet letter “A” onto her breast. However, she is also traumatized deep within from everything she’s been through. Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts this story of sin by using rhetorical devices such as allusion, alliteration and symbolism.
In an introductory paragraph to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works, Perkins and Perkins say that “Hawthorne elevated some of the darkest events of the colonial period and transformed them into universal themes and questions”(Perkins 433). One of these themes is that of the penalty of sin. In Romans 6:23, Paul says that “the wages of sin is death” and Hawthorne seems to share this view, or at least some version of it. This view is prevalent in his novel The Scarlet Letter. In it, the penalty for Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s sin is a family that is disfigured and unnatural.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne represents a man of the name Roger Chillingworth who has suffered and subdued every pain a man can handle. His life starts out as a simple man married to a young women who goes by Hester Prynne, They are planning to move to the “New World” while as Hester Prynne ventures to the new world, Roger Chillingworth is wrapping things up back home. Hester awaits Roger’s arrival for two years and now is pronounced dead at sea. Hester is now faced with the guilt of adultery the ultimate sin and her lover Arthur Dimmesdale the minister of the church. Roger is then discovered alive and well being as he was captured by the native americans, and this is where Roger Chillingworth discoveries Hester Prynne with a strange infant in her arms.She was on a scaffold being presented with the sins she committed. As Roger heard the unbearable truth of her sins his heart was broken and seeked revenge for the father.
In the Scarlet Letter, is a story of a young beautiful woman, Hester Prynne, who commits adultery and stays tough when the community harasses her. She is being punished for adultery, which is a disgusting sin. Her township community thinks of her as a proud but shameful woman who has defied the ways of the Puritans, so her punishment should be harsher. To the Puritans, Hester has defied them, taken the consequences and later conform to them. Hester Prynne undergoes both physical and emotional upsets of which consequences affect her openly. She locates a deserted house on the neighborhood of township far from any environs to any other tenancy (Hawthorne, 3-6).
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “ The Scarlet Letter’’ is a classical story about sin, punishment and revenge. It all began with a young woman named Hester Prynne who has committed adultery, and gave birth to a child in a Puritan society. Through the eyes of the puritans Hester has gone against their religious ways. Hester must now wear the symbol of the letter “A” on her clothing for the rest of her life as act of shame. Hester Prynne faces a long journey ahead and her strength enables her to continue on.
The Scarlet Letter is a novel about a Puritan woman who has committed adultery and must pay for her sin by wearing a scarlet “A'; on her bosom. The woman, Hester Prynne, must struggle through everyday life with the guilt of her sin. The novel is also about the suffering that is endured by not admitting to one’s wrongs. Reverend Mister Dimmesdale learns that secrecy only makes the guilt increase. Nathaniel Hawthorne is trying to display how guilt is the everlasting payment for sinful actions. The theme of guilt as reparation for sin in The Scarlet Letter is revealed through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of northeastern, colonial settings, various conflicts, and characters that must live with guilt for the sins they have committed.
The Scarlet Letter is a classic novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne which entangles the lives of two characters Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale together through an unpardonable sin-adultery. With two different lifestyles, this act of adultery affects each of them differently. Hester is an average female citizen who is married to a Roger Chillingworth from Europe while Dimmesdale is a Puritan minister from England (61). Along the course of time after the act of adultery had happened, Hester could not hide the fact that she was bearing a child that was not of her husband, but from another man. She never reveals that this man is in fact Arthur Dimmesdale, and so only she receives the punishment of prison. Although it is Hester who receives the condemnation and punishment from the townspeople and officials, Dimmesdale is also punished by his conscience as he lives his life with the secret burden hanging between him and Hester.
Through Hester and the symbol of the scarlet letter, Hawthorne reveals how sin can be utilized to change a person for the better, in allowing for responsibility, forgiveness, and a renewed sense of pride. In a Puritan society that strongly condemns adultery one would expect Hester to leave society and never to return again, but that does not happen. Instead, Hester says, “Here…had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost; more saint-like, because the result of martyrdom.” Hes...
The Scarlet Letter, a classic American novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, contains a plot that follows the controversial life of Hester Prynne, the main protagonist of the story. Set in the mid 1600’s in Boston, Massachusetts, it represented the Puritan society and its ideals at that time. Its rich plot has enticed and enraptured readers for many years, while Historical elements have allowed readers to analyze and understand the content better. The Scarlet Letter is a piece of historical fiction that contains a real representation of the period in which it is set in and is mostly historically accurate, barring a few minor inaccuracies.
The Scarlet Letter is a unified, masterfully written novel. It is structured around three crucial scaffold scenes and three major characters that are all related. The story is about Hester Prynne, who is given a scarlet letter to wear as a symbol of her adultery. Her life is closely tied to two men, Roger Chillingworth, her husband, and Arthur Dimmesdale, her minister and the father of her child. Her husband is an old, misshapen man who Hester married while still in Europe. Chillingworth sends her ahead of him to New England, and then does not follow her or correspond with her for two years.
“Arranging a Marriage in India” by Serena Nanda is a well written, informative article aimed at sharing the view of the Indian culture on arranged marriages and also showing how much effort is put into the process of arranging a marriage. Our own culture has evolved into accepting the fact that we are all independent individuals who could not imagine having someone else make such a significant decision for us. Serena Nanda does an excellent job of using her sources within the society as evidence of the acceptance of the arranged marriage aspect of their culture.
Hester Prynne committed a crime so severe that it changed her life into coils of torment and defeat. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester is publicly recognized as an adulteress and expelled from society. Alongside the theme of isolation, the scarlet letter, or symbol of sin, is meant to shame Hester but instead transforms her from a woman of ordinary living into a stronger person.
One of the main arguments for arranged marriages is that parents, being older and more experienced, are better able to find a suitable match for their children. This belief relies on the trust the offspring has that their parents understand what would be best choice or most suitable for their children. This trust is often discouraged by the individualist ideal and rebel teen mentality sponsored by American mass-media. However, in India trust between parent and child are common. When Nanda tried helping arrange a marriage, we see that parents in India weigh many considerations when choosing partners for their children including the statuses of the individuals (including their caste and career path), the social dynamics between the members of both households, and what resources the other family and potential partner have. At least in the case given in the reading, this process can be though and produce a good marriage with stable family ties. Another argument made for arranged marriage is that since the parents are handling the marriage, the children are free to enjoy life and not worry about the details. To a lesser degree in our country, people delegate part of the relationship forming process to others by allowing friends, family, and dating sites or shows to play matchmaker. Though in general, in America the person who would be in the relationship is more involved, and has to worry about handling some of the details. In India, culture is more dependent on family structure so marriage is just as much about forming ties between families as the couple itself, which is part of the reason why the family is so involved in these
In the novel the Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character Hester Prynne sinned by committing adultery which changes her identity while she wears the Scarlet Letter. “In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity” (Erik Erikson). The way the scarlet letter defines Hester as someone who sinned in her society. The way that her society reacted to her with the scarlet letter, made her question her identity of who she is with the scarlet letter. Hester is forced to change her identity and the society around her looks at her in a different eye than what she was before she received the scarlet letter.