The Nature of the Heart in The Scarlet Letter
Sacrificing of the soul and dedication can lead to suffering for some, but meaning in life for others. This is the main theme of The Scarlet Letter,by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in the seventeenth century in Puritan New England. The main character of the legend is Hester Prynne, who has an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister, and they produce Pearl. Hester's husband, Roger Chillingworth is the town physician. He is seen as the healer, collecting magical herbs to make medicine. Hawthorne twists the purpose of the physician by turning these healing powers into vengeance for an unhappy man.
Hawthorne takes the theme and symbolizes the different characters as a part of nature. He also uses imagery to show the different relationships between the characters. He achieves this by showing the dramatic differences between good and evil through light, darkness and shadows being cast upon the earth. When he does this, he draws the reader in and lets them visualize the human nature of struggling lovers.
The story opens with a view of the Prison-Door. Near the door are glimpses of men and women surrounded by a cloud of gray. The first hint at nature is to "a wild rosebush, covered . . . with delicate gems . . . offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner" (53). The rosebush was shown as the heart of nature that provided pity and comfort to any prisoner which was within its walls.
Nearly seven years after Hester's public exhibition for her sin in the Marketplace, she and her young daughter are visiting in the Governor's Hall. Pearl was immediately drawn to the rosebushes in the garden. She begins to scream and throws a fit in her desire...
... middle of paper ...
...eminders of how sinners can truly learn about what type of person they honestly are. Hester would always help people and Dimmesdale would never be true to himself about his religion. The doctor was perhaps the most significant character of the whole story. He would always help people, even if it meant helping them die. Pearl was the reminder of how a free person can really prevail. Hawthorne used his symbolism through nature to show how people develop and rediscover themselves and life. His symbolism also showed how different parts of nature die and how others thrive based on the way they decide to live. He made this connection with the sinners and let the readers picture the relationship between them by using the symbolism through nature.
"Works Cited"
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The World's Great Classics: The Scarlet Letter. New York: Grolier Incorporated.
In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes imagery to convey that Dimmesdale can represent Puritan Society rather than the round character that can be seen on the surface level. This is seen through the imagery and symbolism of hypocrisy, Dimmesdale as a Christ figure, and the scarlet letter.
The deep symbolism conveyed by certain aspects of nature helps the reader gain a deeper understanding of the plight and inner emotions of the characters in the novel. Hawthorne's moods or prevailing feelings during certain scenes are revealed to the reader through nature. For example, one of the first scenes in the book demonstrates this unique writing talent that Hawthorne uses to enrich his writing. He describes Hester Prynne and her child being released from the local prison into the light of day. She bore in her arms a child, a baby of some three months old, who winked and turned aside its little face from the vivid light of day; because its experience, heretofore, had brought it acquainted only with the gray twilight of a dungeon, or other darksome apartment of the prison (49).
Lane, Dr. I. William, and Linda Comac. Sharks Donít Get Cancer. Garden City Park: Avery Publishing Group Inc., 1992.
This, as Arthur Dimmesdale almost prophetically expresses in the early scenes of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, was the role of Pearl, the elfish child borne of his and Hester Prynne's guilty passion. Like Paul's thorn in the flesh, Pearl would bring trouble, heartache, and frustration to Hester, but serve a constructive purpose lying far beyond the daily provocations of her childish impishness. While in many respects a tormentor to Hester, Pearl was also her savior, while a reminder of her guilt, a promoter of honesty and true Virtue; and while an embodiment of Hester's worst qualities, a vision of a better life for Hester and for herself.
Rodney, Sydney. "Pericles." Ancient Greece. University Inc., 11 May 2003. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. .
Walker, Mark. "The Ludlow Massacre: Class, Warfare, and Historical Memory in Southern Colorado." Historical Archaeology. 37.3 (2003): 66-80. Print.
The Treaty of Versailles, initially created to keep peace in Europe and ensure that another war like World War I wouldn’t happen again, had in fact, backfired and spiraled the world down into a deeper, bloodier battle. The treaty discriminated strongly against Germany, with the loss of territories, military restrictions, economic reparations, and the War Guilt Clause. It caused humiliation and anger within Germany, and led to Hitler and the Nazi Party coming to power. World War II was not only started by Adolf Hitler and Germany, but had a lot to do with the humiliation that Germany felt when the terms for the Treaty of Versailles were laid down. The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles may be indirectly related to the cause of World War II, but nonetheless was a huge factor in starting the war.
The Scarlet letter is a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The plot focuses on sin in the Puritan society. Hester Prynne, the protagonist, has an affair with Reverend Dimmesdale, which means they are adulterers and sinners. As a result, Pearl is born and Hester is forced to where the scarlet letter. Pearl is a unique character. She is Hester’s human form of her scarlet letter, which constantly reminds her of her sin, yet at the same time, Pearl is a blessing to have since she represents the passion that Hester once had.
Document C from Mini-Q packet on "How did the Treaty of Versailles help cause World War II"
Starr , D. (2012, August 7). How people faking insanity give themselves away . Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science
Globalization helps many people achieve greatness. But for the majority it brings hardships and struggle. People will be plagued by the effects of globalization and will have a tough time over coming it. We are far from reaching a point where we can say we have sustainable prosperity throughout our world. But before we focus in on sustaining prosperity, we must first reach prosperity and bring it to all corners or the earth.
The author of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, expressed ideas of love, passion, shame, and punishment throughout his 1800s based novel. Due to the fact that this novel was based in a Puritan time period, it brought many mental and sometimes physical difficulties for the main character, Hester Prynne. The Puritans solely believed in God and all of his rules. With that said, the author decided to illustrate the drama of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s adultery in order to describe the change in Hester’s attitude. Because of the many events, adversities and struggles, Hester had a complete change in attitude from shame and embarrassment to love, proudness and satisfaction.
Pearl, Hester's child, is portrayed Puritanically, as a child of sin who should be treated as such, ugly, evil, and shamed. The reader more evidently notices that Hawthorne carefully, and sometimes not subtly at all, places Pearl above the rest. She wears colorful clothes, is extremely smart, pretty, and described as impish. More often than not, she shows her intelligence and free thought, a trait of the Romantics. One of Pearl's Favorite activities is playing with flowers and trees. The reader will recall that anything affiliated with the forest was evil to Puritans. Hawthorne, however, thought that the forest was beautiful and natural. "And she was gentler here [in the forest] than in the grassy- margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother's cottage. The flowers appeared to know it" Pearl fit in with natural things. Also, Pearl is always effervescent and joyous, which is definitely a negative to the Puritans. Pearl is used as a symbol mirroring between the Puritanical views and the Romantic ways.
Read, John. Through Alchemy to Chemistry: A Procession of Ideas & Personalities. London: G. Bell, 1957.
The Scarlet Letter is a blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses historical settings for this fictional novel and even gives historical background information for the inspiration of the story of Hester Prynne in the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, ‘The Custom-House’. The psychological exploration of the characters and the author’s use of realistic dialogue only add to the realism of the novel. The most obvious symbol of the novel is the actual scarlet letter ‘A’ that Hester wears on her chest every day, but Hawthorne also uses Hester’s daughter Pearl and their surroundings as symbols as well. Allegory is present as well in The Scarlet Letter and is created through the character types of several characters in the novel.