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Critical analysis over the scarlet letter
Moralityin the scarlet letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Puritan Influence
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The Scarlet Letter and the Christian Utopia
Throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne develops the Christian Utopia to present to the reader the ideals and way of life the Puritans faced. The main character, Hester Prynne, commits a crime so unfathomable by the society yet she was able to live her life independent from the norms and values. Judgments of society's moral transgressions have altered since the Puritan era in such a way that we are no longer severely condemned for our principles. People are forgiven for their sins, but nonetheless they are forever persecuted to live with the shame such as Hester did in the novel.
The Puritans believed that the Christian Utopia could be achieved by obeying a certain rule. Spirituality played a key component in dictating their lives. Hester for example, did not go against her community on purpose, but acted independently and followed the path of human nature. She still possessed religious morals. Yet this is disregarded by her act of adultery. In society during that time period, no matter how much good one does, the latter is what takes hold. Thus Hester is labeled to wearing the scarlet letter "A", in addition to having to take care of her fatherless child. Today, people do turn to religion for guidance, but not to the point where religion commands every action a person makes. People have drifted away from the black and white customs and adapted color and emotion to the path of life. People are given the opportunity to give up a child born out of wedlock to an adoption agency. Single mothers can attend schools with daycares. This is far from what Hester could ever imagine. Hawthorne develops Hester's character in an exaggeration through the usage of symbolism, to further emphasis the level of severity of her crime. "She clutched the child so fiercely to her breast, that it sent forth a cry; she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real" (Hawthorne 41). The Puritans viewed man as an animal, as if people needed to be controlled. Hawthorne shows that the balance between Man and Morality is not equal in the face of the Puritans.
John Winthrop aimed to created Christian utopian society when he founded the puritan community, he failed in this goal. Even with his failure, people still thought of the society as pure and just. What he engendered instead was a community whose theology denied human being’s free will, filled with paranoia, racism, sexism and hatred of sexuality and youth. These themes are clearly represented in the Scarlet Letter. The hatred of youth is shown early on in the novel, when Hester Prynne first enters from the prison, “This woman [Hester Prynne] has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly, there is, both in the Scripture and the statue-book.”(199). The aged ugly woman who makes this statement is used by Hawthorne to serve as representative for the puritans, while Hester represents youth and sexuality. The undeserving punishment of death for the crime of adultery only further demonstrates the extremities of this so-called perfect society. While perhaps seen as God’s will that a person who commits adultery must die, it is instead the government’s way of controlling the people by fear and terror so that t...
The central theme in The Scarlet Letter is that manifested sin will ostracize one from society and un-confessed sin will lead to the destruction of the inner spirit. Hawthorne uses the symbol of the scarlet letter to bring out this idea. In the novel, Hester is forced to wear the scarlet letter A (the symbol of her sin) because she committed adultery with the clergyman, Dimmesdale. Because the public's knowledge of her sin, Hester is excluded physically, mentally, and socially from the normal society of the Puritan settlement. She lives on the outskirts of town in a small cottage where she makes her living as a seamstress. Though she is known to be a great sewer amongst the people, Hester is still not able to sew certain items, such as a new bride's veil. Hester also has no interaction with others; instead she is taunted, if not completely ignored, by all that pass her by. Despite the ill treatment of the society, Hester's soul is not corrupted. Instead, she flourishes and improves herself in spite of the burden of wearing the scarlet letter and she repeatedly defies the conventional Puritan thoughts and values by showing what appears to us as strength of character. Her good works, such as helping the less fortunate, strengthen her inner spirit, and eventually partially welcome her back to the society that once shunned her.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s well known novel, The Scarlet Letter, extensive diction and intense imagery are used to portray the overall tone of the characters. In particular, Hester Prynne, the wearer of the Scarlet Letter, receives plentiful positive characterization throughout the novel. Hester’s character most notably develops through the town’s peoples ever-changing views on the scarlet letter, the copious mentions of her bravery, and her ability to take care of herself, Pearl, and others, even when she reaches the point where most would give up and wallow in their suffering.
Hester Prynne is a character who gave up everything, even love, for her child. Hester Prynne sacrificed her peace, her beauty, her entire being for her child and this shows her determination and profound understanding of the world. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s piece, “The Scarlet Letter” shows the other side of the sinner’s story and not as a villain, but a victim.
Readers generally characterize the Puritan Townspeople in The Scarlet Letter by their attitudes in the beginning of the novel. When Hester first walks into the scene, most of the townspeople are very harsh and strict in their religions. They believe that adultery is one of the worst sins possible. One unyielding woman says, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly, there is, both in the Scripture and in the statutebook. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray.'; Although a young woman and a righteous man try to intervene with the angry old women, their voices are never heard. Also, Hawthorne associates ugliness with wickedness; therefore, all of the stingy women are described as being very ugly. They regard her not as a fellow sinner but as a woman so evil that she must be ostracized from her “perfect'; community. They view the scarlet letter that she wears upon her breast as a symbol of her atrocious crime of adultery and nothing more. The women in the beginning of the novel are so quick to pass judgment on others, yet they fail to recognize the sin in themselves. Once they realize this obstacle, the townspeople will become more understanding of Hester’s situation.
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...
Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, focuses on the Puritan society. The Puritan society molded itself and created a government based upon the Bible and implemented it with force. The crime of adultery committed by Hester generated rage, and was qualified for serious punishment according to Puritan beliefs. Ultimately the town of Boston became intensely involved with Hester's life and her crime of adultery, and saw to it that she be publicly punished and tortured. Based upon the religious, governmental, and social design of the Puritan society, Hester's entire existence revolved around her sin and the Puritan perception. Therefore it is evident within The Scarlet Letter that the Puritan community to some degree has constructed Hester's character.
Euthanasia or “good death” is the practice of ending of ones life to end any type of sufferings. Either with medication or with a lethal injection. As long as the patient death resulted as a release of they’re barring sufferings then it was okay. Though euthanasia is considered as “good death”, there are other practices of euthanasia that can either go against patients wishes which is called, Involuntary euthanasia. Or allowing someone to die without any aid which is called Passive euthanasia. Also where you have a patient that is competent and agrees on dying and asking for help is called Voluntary Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is virtually banished from the Puritan society because of her crime. She was guilty for adultery with the town’s minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. However, the reader is kept in the dark that Dimmesdale is the child’s father until latter part of the novel. Although Hawthorne’s novel accurately depicts the consequences that Hester and Dimmesdale suffer from their sin, the novel does not accomplish the task of reflecting upon the 17th century Puritan gender roles in Hester and Dimmesdale. For one, the mental and physical states of Hester and Dimmesdale are switched. Hester takes on the more courageous role throughout the novel whereas Dimmesdale takes on the more sensitive role. In addition, Hester is examined in accordance to the gender roles set for today’s American women. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is written in a manner that accurately depicts 17th century Puritan society, but does not accurately show gender roles.
In a normal Puritan society, a woman’s most important role was that of being a mother and housewife, and women were always seen as being less than a man. The rights of women during Puritan times were very limited and they had many restrictions on what they could and could not do. For example, they could not vote in the town council, own or buy land, or command any servants that their husband or father owned (study.com). Hawthorne represented this through the societies thoughts about Hester, and through how most other women in the society act. The societies thoughts about Hester show that any women who does not follow the normal way of doing things is to be punished and looked down on, even if their actions are completely relevant and harmless. It also represents how harshly women were judged for simply just being a
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the story is set in New England during the colonial times, mainly the middle of the seventeenth century. As the plot of the novel progresses, the importance of setting is further aggrandized when the main character, Hester Prynne, is isolated in a strict Puritan society. To further elucidate Hester’s situation, Hawthorne utilizes two types of settings, physical and historical setting. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses the settings to expose the rigidness of the Puritan society of the time period and how its obstinate and judgmental nature impacted people within the society.
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In examining the different forms of euthanasia, it ultimately becomes clear that both voluntary and non-voluntary passive, or negative, euthanasia do not violate ethical principles as they act in such a way that they basically restore man’s right to death. This form of euthanasia “means discontinuing or desisting from the use of extraordinary life-sustaining measures or heroic efforts to prolong life in hopeless cases when such prolongation seems an unwarranted extension of either suffering or unconsciousness” (Russell 20). That is, it is an action that has the purpose of allowing death to occur naturally, whereby it becomes very difficult to criticize passive or negative euthanasia according to ethical and religious arguments. This form of euthanasia, although it can occur without ...
The Scarlet Letter is a fictional novel that begins with an introductory passage titled ‘The Custom-House’. This passage gives a historical background of the novel and conveys the narrator’s purpose for writing about the legend of Hester Prynne even though the narrator envisions his ancestors criticizing him and calling him a “degenerate” because his career was not “glorifying God”, which is very typical of the strict, moralistic Puritans. Also, although Hawthorne is a Romantic writer, he incorporates properties of Realism into his novel by not idealizing the characters and by representing them in a more authentic manner. He does this by using very formal dialogue common to the harsh Puritan society of the seventeenth century and reflecting their ideals through this dialogue. The Puritans held somewhat similar views as the Transcendentalists in that they believed in the unity of God and the world and saw signs and symbols in human events, such as when the citizens related the meteo...