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Analysis of the novel called the scarlet letter
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In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is publicly ridiculed because of her decision to commit adultery. The town punished Hester for her whole life, making her wear a scarlet A on her chest. Similarly, Lindsay Lohan has recently been publicly shamed for addictions to drugs and alcohol. Hester Prynne and Lindsay Lohan have many similarities and differences in their scandal, punishment, and ridicule.
Hester Prynne and Lindsay Lohan have both been involved in large public scandals. Hester Prynne was involved in a scandal concerning adultery. A townsperson says, “else you would surely have heard of Mistress Hester Prynne, and her evil doings. She hath raised a great scandal” (Hawthorne 57). Hester’s sin of adultery is well-known throughout the community, and therefore she cannot escape the ridicule from the townspeople. Comparably, Lindsay Lohan has recently been in the middle of a public
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scandal. “Lohan was twice imprisoned for driving under the influence, indicted for fights in nightclubs and for lying to the police, in and out of rehab for drug and alcohol addictions and on almost permanent probation for the last seven years” (Adams). Lohan has committed multiple offenses that have caused her to be the spotlight of condemnation for years. Because of Hester and Lindsay’s scandal, they have been punished, but in different ways. Hester Prynne and Lindsay Lohan were both sentenced to cruel punishment for their wrongdoings.
Hester was publically shamed and was forced to wear a scarlet A on her chest. “The unhappy culprit sustained herself as best a woman might, under the heavy weight of a thousand unrelenting eyes, all fastened upon her, and concentrated at her bosom. It was almost intolerable to be borne” (Hawthorne 54). The whole town kept their eyes on Hester and punished her every day. Hester was punished more by the townspeople than by the government. On the other hand, Lindsay Lohan was punished more by the government than citizens. According to Grossberg, Lohan has been arrested 6 times, has been given over 30 days of community service, been on probation for more than 4 years, and has been forced to go to rehab (Grossberg). Lindsay Lohan has had an excessive amount of punishment because unlike Hester, who realized her sin and never did it again, Lohan continues to make the same mistakes. Although they have both been punished, they will have to live with the ridicule for
years. Because of the crimes Hester Prynne and Lindsay Lohan committed, they will never completely escape the ridicule of the public. Hester was subject to the town’s mockery until she died. “It bore a device, a herald's wording of which might serve for a motto and brief description of our now concluded legend; so somber is it, and relieved only by one ever-glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow:—’On a field, sable, the letter A, gules’” (Hawthorne 235). The community’s last judgment of Hester is a scarlet A on her tombstone. Hester’s ridicule lasts truly until death. Lindsay Lohan has been under public ridicule since she was first convicted.
Hester is a youthful, beautiful, proud woman who has committed an awful sin and a scandal that changes her life in a major way. She commits adultery with a man known as Arthur Dimmesdale, leader of the local Puritan church and Hester’s minister. The adultery committed results in a baby girl named Pearl. This child she clutches to her chest is the proof of her sin. This behavior is unacceptable. Hester is sent to prison and then punished. Hester is the only one who gets punished for this horrendous act, because no one knows who the man is that Hester has this scandalous affair with. Hester’s sin is confessed, and she lives with two constant reminders of that sin: the scarlet letter itself, and Pearl, the child conceived with Dimmesdale. Her punishment is that she must stand upon a scaffold receiving public humiliation for several hours each day, wearing the scarlet letter “A” on her chest, represe...
The most obvious subject of punishment that Hester had to cope with is wearing the scarlet letter. "By the point which drew all eyes and, as it were, transfigured the wearer. . . was the scarlet letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom" (51-52). Hester wrought the scarlet letter before she stood on the scaffold. When Pearl asks her why she wears the letter she replies that she wears it for its gold thread. Hester wears the letter for many years, even after the people in the community care anymore, so that she will be fully forgiven for her sin.
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne attempted to expose the varying ways in which different people deal with lingering guilt from sins they have perpetrated. The contrasting characters of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale ideally exemplified the differences in thought and behavior people have for guilt. Although they were both guilty of committing the same crime, these two individuals differed in that one punished themselves with physical and mental torture and the other chose to continue on with their life, devoting it to those less fortunate than they.
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.
Hawthorn's Novel, The Scarlet Letter, is brimming with many vivid symbols, the most apparent of which is the scarlet letter "A", that Hester Prynne is made to wear upon her chest. Throughout the novel, hawthorn presents the scarlet letter to the reader in a variety of ways. Yet an important question emerges, as the life of Hester Prynne is described, which deals with the affects that both the scarlet letter and Hester have on each other. There is no clear-cut answer to this question, as many examples supporting both arguments can be found throughout the novel. The letter obviously causes Hester much grief, as she is mocked and ostracized by many of the townspeople, yet on the other hand, later in the novel Hester's courage and pride help to change the meaning of scarlet letter in the eyes of both herself and the public.
A harsher punishment will show the towns people that it is not acceptable to commit sins and that doing so comes with an unfavorable punishment. Besides, some of the town’s people already feel as is Hester's punishment is not as harsh as it should be. One towns person said, "At the very least they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead" (Hawthorne 44). Another said, "This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die" (Hawthorne 45). Also, it says in the Bible, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mark 7:20-23). Hester’s sins are defiling her. The only way to save her is to have her punished, and to have her repent for her sins. Only then may God let her in to Heaven. The best way to help her is to have a hqarsher punishment so that she may repent and be
Hester Prynne has a fairly unconventional approach to her “sin.” She does not feel ashamed of her wrong and therefore does not feel guilt as others in The Scarlet Letter do. She is marked with a large “A” for her sin of adultery and embraces this by embroidering the letter. "And never had ...
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.
In Hester’s community it is looked down to have an affair while you are married even if you do feel alone and otherwise able to do so. Hester Prynne was having an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale while her husband, Roger Chillingworth, was away. While she was having the affair she was commiting a sin that will lead to severe consequences. This can also relate to the movie film Chicago where Roxie
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.
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.
In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, the letter is understood as a label of punishment and sin being publicized. Hester Prynne bears the label of “A” signifining adulterer upon her chest. Because of this scorching red color label she becomes the outcast of her society. She wears this symbol of punishment and it become a burden throughout her life. The letter “produces only a reflection of her scarlet letter; likewise, the townspeople's image of Hester revolves around her sin. The evil associated with Hester's actions and the letter on her chest consume all aspects of her life, concealing her true beauty, mind, and soul” (R. Warfel 421-425). Society pushed blame upon Hester Prynne, and these events lead to the change of her life. The Puritans whom Prynne is surround by view the letter as a symbol from the devil, controversially some individuals look upon the letter, sigh and fell sympathy towards her because they have or are involved in this same situation. Nonetheless the haunting torture Hester Prynne battles daily drags on, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows this torture “of an impulse and passionate nature. She had fortified herself to encounter the stings and venomous stabs of public contumely wreaking itself in every variety of insult but...
Hester’s role in the story is described as sleeping with a priest and got accused of committing adultery and got punished by having to wear a scarlet letter “A” on the breast of her gown (Hawthorne 71). Hester Prynne’s punishment is to go to prison and then with her child, Pearl, go and stand out on the platform in front of everybody wearing her scarlet letter on the breast of her gown (Howells). Hester...
Throughout all the sinful things Hester Prynne has done, she still managed to obtain good qualities. Hester was an adulterer from the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester was looked down upon by the citizens of Boston because of the sin she and another person committed, but no one knew who her partner in crime was because she refused to release his name. Towards the very end of the story Hester’s accomplice confessed and left Hester and Pearl feeling joyous, because now they didn’t have to keep in a secret. Hester is a trustworthy, helpful, and brave woman throughout The Scarlet Letter.
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.