The Scarlet Letter

Who is Nathaniel Hawthorne? Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author of the novel The Scarlet Letter. He graduated from Bowdoin College, and then he moved back to Salem. After that Hawthorne spent the next twelve years writing, and had many of his books published. One of those books was The Scarlet Letter which was published in 1850. In fact The Scarlet Letter was one of the greatest books he wrote. Furthermore, Hawthorne was a great writer of the 1800’s, who was born in a puritan community with puritan beliefs.

The Puritans were a group of people who separated from the Church of England to try and purify or change the church. The Puritans believed that God was superior over everything, including the government. The Puritan Community would punish anyone who would not follow the law of God. For example, like in The Scarlet Letter, Hester was tempted to commit sin and committed adultery and had to wear the scarlet letter A as punishment.

The Scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel about sin, passion, love, and revenge. This novel is about a woman named Hester who lives in a puritan community. Hester is tempted to sin and has a child with a minister, Reverend Dimmsdale, which is revealed later in the story. Hester must wear a scarlet letter on her chest for every one to see to mark her shame because she has sinned. On the other hand Roger Chillingworth seeks revenge on Reverend Dimmsdale because, while Chillingworth was gone, Hester had a baby with Dimmsdale. I believe that Chillingworth being revengeful on Dimmsdale is a major conflict in this novel.

Hester Prynne, one of the characters in The Scarlet Letter, I believe is the most dynamic character in the novel. In the beginning of the novel Hester is portrayed as a young beau...

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...tter is meant to be a symbol of shame, but its symbolism changes throughout the story. The Scarlet Letter becomes a powerful symbol of Hester’s identity and eventually comes to stand for adultery or “Able”. Therefore the Scarlet Letter is a very important symbol in this novel.

To conclude, the Scarlet Letter is an extremely powerful novel that teaches you about the reality of life, and that there is not always a happy ending. From studying this novel I have learned that a lot of people sin, and that you shouldn’t be judged by that, but by the good things you do in life. I also learned that there are a lot of revengeful people in life that just want to harm others, and they don’t even notice that they are harming them. Over all reading, and watching, this novel has been a great experience that has taught me life lessons and helped me understand the reality of life.