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Changes in the characters feelings/personality in the scarlet letter
Changes in the characters feelings/personality in the scarlet letter
Psychological exploration of the characters of The Scarlet Letter
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Emerson created maxims, which are short statements expressing a general truth, to express his way of Transcendental conduct and what he believed applied to mankind. His Transcendental way of thought consisted of showing conviction of individual thinking and looking towards nature for organic feeling. These maxims appear throughout the play, "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail", as the story unfolds around the life of main character Henry and his ordeals that arise resulting from following his own path. Emerson's maxim "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind" speaks the importance of acting out as one deems fit instead of doing what others want. This comes from Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance” in which he retells a story from …show more content…
In a scene where Henry teaches Edward how to find huckleberries, he explains, "The best huckleberries have a sly way... of being... exactly... where... you... are... standing!" Henry then proceeds to pick up a huckleberry and lets Edward taste it. However, these huckleberries are not real and are only played out through their imaginations. Henry demonstrates the maxim by keeping his divine integrity and enjoying the fun of finding imagery huckleberries even if they are not real. Divine is described as a state of being pure, individual, and supremely good; Emerson’s meaning of divine is incorporated in the imaginary huckleberries by fusing nature and the nature of one’s constitution. It is not the literal sense of the matter that is important but the idea and concept. Outsiders would think it is ridiculous that Henry and Edward are out chasing nonexistent berries. However, the fact of whether or not the huckleberries are real is not significant; what truly matters is that the berries have meaning to them and no one can tell them otherwise therefore making the berries sacred. Huckleberries stand for his imagination and free thinking, and both concepts are what Henry values. To be sacred, one must have the characteristics of being holy and important. The huckleberries are sacred because they are important to …show more content…
He defies the system of education by leaving the institution and starting his own school. He did this because he believed following a set system with rules would hurt his integrity. This similar act plays out in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the novel, main character Hester Prynne cares for her child despite what others think. She puts little importance to the townspeople's ridicule and judgement and continues to walk through the marketplace with her head held high. Hester keeps her integrity and continues to focus on her most important goal, which is to look after her daughter Pearl and give her all the love she deserves. Like Henry, Hester showed strength through her determination of keeping her strong moral principles and making her own decisions. Despite being judged and hated, Hester stayed sane and together because she had her integrity and knew the importance of defying against all external forces to be able to stick to what she believed
Written in 1970, The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail focuses on a man named Henry David Thoreau. Henry is a very well educated Harvard man that lives his life according to Transcendentalism “the belief that man can go beyond his senses”. He refuses to give into society’s terms and as a result is thrown in jail. Henry befriends a man named Bailey who shares the cell with him. In Lawrence and Lee’s The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail, is the belief transcendentalism of which plays an active role in the play. Seen throughout the play are aspects of self-reliance, free thought, and the importance of nature which form the main ideals of transcendentalism.
Comparing Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience and Martin Luther King's Letter From a Birmingham Jail. The two essays, "Civil Disobedience," by Henry David Thoreau, and "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," by Martin Luther King, Jr., effectively illustrate the authors' opinions of justice. Each author has his main point; Thoreau, in dealing with justice as it relates to government, asks for "not at once no government, but at once a better government. King contends that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
In conclusion, the play The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail focuses on the character and historic transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. During Act I, Henry and Ellen Sewell share multiple interactions in which each character has their own intentions. Henry desires to teach Ellen how to be an individual and also to make Ellen genuinely happy. Ellen, on the other hand, desires to learn from Henry’s lifestyle and beliefs to become a better educated woman but does not intend more than that. Therefore, Ellen and Henry do not share mutual intentions which leads to the failure of their
Hester Prynne is seen by many as worthy of respect and admiration throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter. She is ultimately seen as a hero in many areas of the novel. Literary critic Mark Van Doren argues that Hester Prynne is a heroic citizen who rises above the consequences of her sin. Van Doren argues that Hester Prynne should be seen as a noble hero through his use of repetition, praiseworthy diction, and admirable tone.
The character of Hester Prynne changed significantly throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery. For this harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life. However, the Romantic philosophies of Hawthorne put down the Puritanic beliefs. She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven. Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity" and she can do no wrong. Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a Puritanical sign of disownment, is shown through the author's tone and diction as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece.
The portrayal of Hester Prynne in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, has led to many different opinionated views. Many debate whether or not Hester Prynne should be portrayed in an angelic or sinful light. The author and critic, D.H. Lawrence, focuses on Hester’s sin itself, and focuses on having the reader view an alternate perspective of Hester, seeing her not as the victim, but as the criminal, as she should be viewed based on traditional Puritan values. Lawrence achieves the perspective that Hester should be viewed in a sinful light through his rhythmic and fluid syntax, negative and hateful diction, as well as his sarcastic and critical tone.
ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES"(Hawthorne 394). Hester Prynne is a character linked to many things in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, “The Scarlet Letter”. She committed, a horrible sin in her puritan society; adultery with a reverend, forming a web of repercussions. Hester’s daughter; Pearl was what was left of her innocence and the outcome of her affair.The stunningly, embroidered scarlet letter Hester had to wear on her bosom was to show her crime, and punishment to everyone in her community. She was looked down on as an disgusting sinner, and object in a constant love cycle between her, minister; her lover, and Chillingworth; her former husband. She had no control over their grief or hurt. They both still loved her and had to watch her live cast away from society. Being in the situation she was, allowed Hester to be seen as many different ways throughout the novel as an object in her society.
Hester Prynne, from the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne, is the one of the main characters as well as a central focus throughout the story. She is convicted for her crime of adultery after the birth of her daughter, Pearl, but does not reveal the identity of the father out of respect for him and his pride as well as to help him avoid the harsh accusations and scrutiny of their provincial Puritan town. Hester demonstrates absolute empathy as well as strength of character and humility as the story progresses and as she actively works to make amends for her sin against society. She finds herself at the scaffold three times, each for a different reason. In each instance, her growth of character
Despite Hester never fitting the description of what a Puritan actually stands for, she emerges and transforms into a respected young woman of society during her revolution. Even though Hester’s humanity degrades itself based on her imprudent actions that resisted Puritan society, the scarlet “A” transforms her rebellion. Hester creates her own symbol for herself rather than one that masks her all along. In writing the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne highlights the importance of being a nonconformist. Evidently, through the character of Hester Prynne, self-awareness is key in order to achieve happiness. To repress defining characteristics of a human being is to ultimately destroy their individuality.
Hester Prynne. The face of beauty, sin, and inner-strength. She wears an “A” upon her bosom and embraces another symbol of her sin in her arms. Hester Prynne made one mistake that got the townspeople ranting. The townspeople make rude comments about Hester and the beautifully embroidered “A”. She stood upon a scaffold, Pearl in hand, and allows her peers to judge her. She didn’t react to any of the mean comments or glares. Her husband and lover keep their identities concealed from society while she takes the blame for the crime. In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he illustrates to readers how strong Hester 's character is, revealed through her public humiliation, and her lover’s actions towards her.
The heavy and somewhat unjustified law of puritan society is a heavy weight that is too nearly too much for any person to bare. Hester Prynne is one person to feel the full weight of the law, and not only is she damaged internally, but she also experiences a noticeable physical change, and Nathaniel Hawthorne does well to depict the overbearing weight of Puritan law through the dimming of Hester’s radiant beauty. The scarlet letter is a symbol of Hester’s sin, and is also a constant reminder, and it is also the very thing that defines her as a person in society. The effects of the letter are apparent from when Hester first stands on the scaffold, to when she gradually loses her gorgeous appearance over time, to when she removes the letter and her radiant beauty returns.
Hester Prynne, the central character in the Scarlet Letter, realizes and accepts the consequences of the adulterous act she committed against her husband, Roger Chillingworth, as Hawthorne shows in this quotation. Hester, throughout the book, excludes and humbles herself because of her crime, rather than simply running away. At the same time, she advertises her sin through the brilliantly embroidered “A” and through her daughter, Pearl, born out of this sin. Hester realizes that she indeed sinned in committing adultery, and, being the strong individual that she is, accepts the consequences of her actions.
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, contains many profound characters. The townspeople intrigue the reader because they gradually evolve throughout the book, as would any solitary character. In the beginning of the novel, they are generally rigid and judgmental towards Hester, because she has committed adultery. Throughout the novel, they slowly allow Hester and her daughter into their community, but still look at them with suspicion and doubt. Finally, in the end of The Scarlet Letter, the town forgives her of her sin, and she cautiously finds her place in society. Hawthorne uses the strict Puritan townspeople as a criterion by which all societies can be measured. The townspeople, as with any individual character, possess a certain depth that develops with knowledge.
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.
Hester Prynne is a beautiful Puritan woman that is forced to bear the scarlet letter. In Nathaniel Hawthorne 's, The Scarlet Letter, Hester 's sin of adultery causes her to become the most hated woman in her community. Hester 's secret lover, Dimmesdale, is a minister of the Puritan town, but is not condemned for the affair. Hester believes that her husband, Roger Chillingworth, is dead until he arrives at her public shaming. She is shamed and pushed away by the Puritan community of Boston. Because of her strength, humbleness, and loyalty, Hester Prynne single-handedly overcomes the struggle and hate of a Puritan society.