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Characterization of hester prynne in the scarlet letter
Describe hester prynne in the scarlet letter
Describe hester prynne in the scarlet letter
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Adultery has existed since the beginning of mankind. Being independent has become irrelevant while staying loyal to a partner has almost been distinguished, in which defeats the purpose of Puritan beliefs during the Puritan society time. In the 1850ś a book takes the sin of Adultery and turns it into something relatively heavenly. In the novel, ¨Scarlet Letter”, Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates how the actions of a single character, Hester Prynne, can change the symbol ¨A” to adultery, ability, angel, and pearl being the living ¨A¨ due to her actions.
Puritans believed laying with another man or woman while they were married was adultery. Hester Prynne had acted in sin and consequently had an infant with the man she laid with. ¨Here, there
was the taint of deepest sin in the most sacred quality of human life… and the more lost for the infant that she had borne” (Hawthorne, pg. 86). Hester would not relieve the name of the father, therefore the town had made her wear the logo “A” on her breast everyday until she gave up the name of the father. Hester’s actions lead to the consequence of wearing the logo which was meant to embarrass her, let humanity be conscious of her sin, and to make her perceive guilty.
People all over the world continuously commit sins some are bigger than others and some do more damage. In the book, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman, Hester Prynne, is publicly shamed and force to wear a scarlet A upon her bosom for committing adultery. Throughout the book, Hester and her daughter, Pearl, try to adapt to life as an outsider. The two are continuously judged for Hester’s sin, and humiliated, however, they overcome this judgment and are seen in a different way. Hester and Pearl have been publicly shamed, Pearl has been considered an elfish devil like child, and after all the humiliation they were able to turn their lives around.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, tells the story of a young adulteress named Hester Prynne and her bastard daughter, Pearl, as they endure their residence in a small town of the Massachusetts British settlement in the1600s. Pearl’s illegitimate birth is the result of the relationship between Hester Prynne and a minister of the Puritan church, Arthur Dimmesdale. Through public defamation and a perpetual embroidery of an “A” upon her dress, Hester is punished for her crime. Whereas, Arthur choses to suppress the secret over illuminating the truth and endures internal and self-inflicted punishment as consequence.
In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the storyline of Hester Prynne’s adultery as a means of criticizing the values of Puritan society. Hester and her daughter Pearl, whom she conceives out of wedlock, are ostracized from their community and forced to live in a house away from town. The reflections of Pearl in different mirrored surfaces represent the contrast between the way Puritans view her and who she actually is. In the fancy mirrored armor of the society’s elite class, Pearl is depicted harshly as a devilish and evil spawn, unable to live up to the expectations of such a pristine society. However, in the natural reflections of the earth’s surface, Pearl’s beauty and innocence is much more celebrated. The discrepancies between these positive depictions of Pearl as an angelic figure and the Puritans’ harsh judgment of her character suggest that Puritans inflated her oddities and strange habits in order to place her and Hester in a place of inferiority within the community. Hawthorne employs reflection and mirrors in his novel to convey the Puritans’ misconstrual of Pearl as an elfish, evil child and to critique the severity of early Puritan moral codes.
“And be the stern and sad truth spoken, that the breach which guilt has once made into the human soul is never, in this mortal state, repaired” (158). Arthur Dimmesdale confesses his sin, but it makes such a big impact on him that he will always be reminded of it. The sin leaves a “breach,” or a hole, in him which cannot be fixed. Living in a Puritan community also makes it that much harder for Dimmesdale to keep his secret. Since the religion is completely strict and absolutely prohibits sins like adultery, he has no choice but to feel guilt and regret. The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel of gothic romanticism. It was written in the 1800s, but takes place in the 17th century. Hester Prynne lives in Boston, Massachusetts and commits adultery with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. She is punished by the town and has to wear a beautifully embroidered scarlet “A” on all of her clothes, which stands for “Adulterer.” The Reverend keeps his secret for many years while Hester’s husband, Roger Chillngworth, comes back to town and seeks revenge. Reverend Dimmesdale confesses his sin and ends up dying. The character Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter is a dynamic character because in the beginning of the novel he is a healthy and intelligent minister, but towards the end, he becomes very guilty and emaciated.
In essence, there were three main sins committed in The Scarlet Letter, the sins of Hester, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth committed the greatest sin because he let himself be ruled by hatred and the consuming desire for vengeance. The overpowering vengeance and hatred felt by Chillingworth caused his life to be centered on demeaning Dimmesdale and tormenting him until the end of time. Both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale committed sins for which they were deeply remorseful, Roger Chillingworth, however, committed the greater sin because he felt no guilt.
Through the use of numerous symbols, Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter serves as an allegory for the story of Adam and Eve and its relation to sin, knowledge, and the human condition that is present in human society. Curious for the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, which resulted in the revelation of their “humanness” and expulsion from the “divine garden” as they then suffered the pain and joy of being humans. Just as Adam and Eve were expelled from their society and suffered in their own being, so were Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter. Hester was out casted and shunned, while Dimmesdale suffered under his own guilt. After knowledge of her affair is made known, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest to symbolize her crime of adultery, and is separated from the Puritan society. Another “A” appears in the story, and is not embroidered, but instead scarred on Dimmesdale’s chest as a symbol of guilt and suffering. Hester’s symbol of guilt comes in the form of her daughter, Pearl, who is the manifestation of her adultery, and also the living version of her scarlet letter. Each of these symbols come together to represent that with sin comes personal growth and advancement of oneself in society as the sinner endures the good and bad consequences.
Adulterous relationships always end in pain. Examples of such pain are present throughout the intricate web of time. From Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, to the media buffet of Bill Clinton, adultery leaves pain. Hester embodies this pain. Not in pity but in cause. She embodies pain. Pain of loss, suffering. The pain of adulterous relationships. The universal wronging of adultery is deserving of such pain. Even in present times, with views much lax than puritan epoch, the wrong exists in full force, and just as deserving. Nathaniel Hawthorn's "The Scarlet Letter" deals in the justice of adultery.
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, adultery is shown to be acceptable. Adultery is when one spouse cheats in a secluded fashion. After committing a severe sin, the adulteress or adulterer are punished and publicly humiliated. The characters in each book unquestionably display that infidelity is an approved act. Life is like a pen is an excellent analogy to prove such a bold statement. To understand the role of adultery being acceptable this essay aims to provide a discussion of being loyal, loving, and especially forgiving.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a female protagonist named Hester Prynne is subjected to public humiliation and alienation from the Puritan society because she committed adultery. This “sinful” act is further enhanced when her husband, Roger Chillingworth, comes to Boston, and Hester is forced to keep the secret identities of her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, and her husband concealed from the community. Over the course of her seven-year journey, she becomes more independent, more free, and a model of feministic power to the Freudian society that had once marked her bosom with the letter “A” to shame her. Hawthorne depicts the contrasting views of the patriarchal Puritan society, which is characterized by the town and Dimmesdale against
The greatest sin committed by any character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter was that of Arthur Dimmesdale. Although Hester Prynne and Roger Chillingworth wronged each other, the person that did evil against both of them was Dimmesdale. Not only did Dimmesdale have relations with Hester Prynne though he knew that she was still married, but he never came forward as the companion in her sin.
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...
though out the rest of the book. One of the main character's that is affected
thou knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love, nor feigned any"
The strict Puritan code in the mid seventeenth century is evident in The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The novel addresses the issue of adultery and the intensity of the sin. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale commit the sin of adultery and face challenges inflicted upon them by the Puritan society and personal values. Nathaniel Hawthorne centers the plot of his novel The Scarlet Letter on the four major characters, Hester Prynne, Pearl, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth, analyzing their physical appearances, personalities, and roles.
The puritans, any willingness to take part in sex on the part of husband and wife, `Denies all realer in wedlock into Human necessity; and it sends it for supply into Bestiality,' Any engagement onside the marriage sexually, was looked upon badly as New England especially reported numerous episodes of adultery and fornication. Perhaps Dimmesdale on the novel, tired to avoid the obvious punishment of jail or even the humiliation of whipping, disentrancing, fies and a ported betrothal to Hester. Hester certainly bore the brunt of her sin, by wearing a scarlet `A' on her breast. She had clearly committed the sin, as the evidence was visible. He, however had no markings of adultery so in the eyes of society, he hadn't committed a sin. Perhaps this reiterates the arguments that, in case of sexual behaviour, they `thought' the sin, `committed' the sin and broke a moral high ground in puritan society.