The Importance of the Meteor in The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, is considered by many to be a masterpiece. It was a culmination of everything Hawthorne experienced in his life. He grew up in a household that held fast to Puritan ideals. This affected him in ways he himself may not have even realized. “Nathaniel Hawthorne placed many undercurrents of meaning in this novel”(Tucker 16). At the climax of the story, a meteor flashes through the night sky. The appearance of this meteor at this particular moment in time contributes to the plot in many ways.
First, Reverend Dimsdale thinks the meteor is a message from God specifically for him. "Nothing was more common in those days than to interpret all meteoric appearances, and other natural phenomena that occurred with less regularity than the rise and set of the sun and moon, as so many revelations from a supernatural source"(149). Any person of that day would have assumed that something of that nature applied to some portion of his or her life. "Then, and there, before the judgment seat, thy mother, and thou, and I, must stand together. But the daylight of this world shall not see our meeting"(149)! Just after those words leave Reverend Dimsdale's mouth, the meteor lights up the sky as bright as day. It's as if God is proving Reverend Dimsdale's words to be false. The light of the meteor resembles the letter "A" to Reverend Dimsdale because his conscience is pricking at him. Subconsciencely he wants to punish himself for his sin since the townspeople can't punish him for a sin of which they were unaware. Therefore, his guilty feelings twist a natural part of creation into a punishment of sorts. He believed the meteor resembled the letter "A" to convict him further of his sinfulness. "...a great red letter in the sky-the letter 'A' which we interpret to stand for 'Angel.' For, as our good Governor Winthrop was made an angel this past night, it was doubtless held fit that there should be some notice thereof"(153). The fact that a member of his congregation also believes that the meteor resembles the letter "A" is ironic because of his belief that it stands for "Angel" in honor of the departed governor rather than something with a negative connotation. The mind can make one event appear as something to one person while another person observing the same event will consider it the complete opposite of the first.
Results: The experiments required the starting, ending, and total times of each run number. To keep the units for time similar, seconds were used. An example of how to convert minutes to seconds is: 2 "minutes" x "60 seconds" /"1 minute" ="120" "seconds" (+ number of seconds past the minute mark)
Nathaniel Hawthorne was a truly outstanding author. His detailed descriptions and imagery will surely keep people interested in reading The Scarlet Letter for years to come. In writing this book he used themes evident throughout the entirety of the novel. These themes are illustrated in what happens to the characters and how they react. By examining how these themes affect the main characters, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, one can obtain a better understanding of what Hawthorne was trying to impress upon his readers.
Dimmesdale symbolically portrays Jesus Christ in certain ways. For example, Dimmesdale's death marked the beginning of a new era, just as Christ's death marked a new beginning for all of those who believe in Him. Dimmesdale's death symbolically marks the beginning of American History and the end of colonial history, just as Christ's death marked the beginning of the Christian church.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic The Scarlet Letter, nature plays a very important and symbolic role. Hawthorne uses nature to convey the mood of a scene, to describe characters, and to link the natural elements with human nature. Many of the passages that have to do with nature accomplish more than one of these ideas. All throughout the book, nature is incorporated into the story line. The deep symbolism conveyed by certain aspects of nature helps the reader gain a deeper understanding of the plight and inner emotions of the characters in the novel.
5. The Scarlet Letter portrays the radical role of religion within the early stages of America. Nathaniel Hawthorne is essentially a transcendental whistleblower in society, depicting the absurdity and irrationality of religion through Hester Prynne’s extreme retribution from her congregation and clergymen.
She has a stopwatch with her to record the exact time it will take me to run the measured 1.5 miles distance.
Looking around at adolescents today, do they even notice nature? Do they recognize the beauty? Probably not—they are too busy with television, social media, and the internet. Copious amounts of literature use the breathtaking and mysterious occurrences of nature to portray the mood and various ideas. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne displays his mastery of making the setting a key part of the plot. Hawthorne manipulates various natural scenes and feelings associated with nature to aid in the reader’s further understanding of the mood in the passage. Primarily through his use of the woods and sunlight, Hawthorne both skims and plunges deep into the novel’s core to create an atmosphere that makes the reader aware of how and what the characters are seeing and feeling in the book.
This study assessed heart rate, blood pressure, and pulse oximeter readings at rest and during exercise. The heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and oximetery measurements provide better insight into the inner workings of the human body. In using the results of the assessment, one can determine the affects that rest and exercise have on the cardiac system.
Health as a Social Construction In my essay, I aim to find out why social construction affects the health of our society. Ill health may be defined as 'a bodily or mental state that is deemed undesirable'. This means that health is the condition of the body both physically and mentally. Social construction of health refers to the way health varies from one society to another.
In many stories, symbols included by the author add deeper meaning. Nathaniel Hawthorne is one author who mastered the skill of using symbols effectively. The Scarlet Letter is regarded as a "symbolic masterpiece" due to Hawthorne's exceptional use of the scarlet letter, the setting, and Pearl as symbols.
The Scarlet Letter is a well-known novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In this novel Hawthorne wrote in depth about the Puritans’ reception to sin, in particular, adultery. He also includes brilliant visuals of the repercussions that occur when the town of Salem hears of Hester’s adultery. There are many relationships within the book, from a lover to a beautiful yet illegitimate daughter. Symbolism runs throughout, even a simple rose bush outside of a jail holds so much meaning. Hawthorne reveals themes all through the novel one in particular, was sin. Although sin does not occur often in the Puritan lifestyle Hawthorne shows the importance and change this one deceit makes for the town of Salem.
distance, and will continue to do so for infinity. In this way, the runner can
laws were created and set in 1601. The earlier laws divided the poor people into different
The Scarlet Letter is a blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses historical settings for this fictional novel and even gives historical background information for the inspiration of the story of Hester Prynne in the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, ‘The Custom-House’. The psychological exploration of the characters and the author’s use of realistic dialogue only add to the realism of the novel. The most obvious symbol of the novel is the actual scarlet letter ‘A’ that Hester wears on her chest every day, but Hawthorne also uses Hester’s daughter Pearl and their surroundings as symbols as well. Allegory is present as well in The Scarlet Letter and is created through the character types of several characters in the novel.
...een the poor and rich, the weak and the strong. To fight poverty the state should spend more money on education, employment, and child welfare. The state must give the individual his rightful place of dignity as a free man equal to all his fellow men where he shall have the right to live under a rule of law based on a sense of obligation. In that society, respect for law must be the cohesive force holding it together and not mere obedience based on surrender to the weapons of state power.