In the book, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Romantic and Transcendental elements seem to appear a lot throughout the book. Additionally, it becomes apparent that Light and Darkness will be a motif because Hester faces many things that have to do with evil or revenge and events that are joyful. These elements are based on various ideas that have influenced many authors to use it in their literature because it enhances their writing. This movement began around the 1800’s and is still used to this day by everyone. Romanticism and Transcendentalism elements have some similarities because they both have to do with the power of nature or someone's emotions. In the book these elements are seen in the characters which will add a certain tone/mood to the story, also they will have the reader feel as if they can connect to the characters based on their own experiences. …show more content…
In the beginning of the book, Hester Prynne is shamed by the whole village because she has committed a sin, which was to have an affair with another man while being a married woman. Eventually, she realized that she was pregnant and the whole town decided that she should be given an A which was represented shame. In Chapter 3, the police guard tells Hester “It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!” (Hawthorne,64). The whole purpose of giving Hester the Coat with the A was to make sure she was reminded every day of the crime she committed which was adultery. The villages represent romantic elements such as being evil because they judged Hester every day for the sin she had done. They also made her wear a coat with an A engraved on it for the rest of her life to represent how dirty of a person she is and that she should be ashamed of
The letter "A," worn on Hester's bodice, is a symbol of her adultery against Roger Chillingworth. This letter is meant to be worn in shame, and to make Hester feel unwanted. "Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment . . ." Hester is ashamed of her sin, but she chooses not to show it. She committed this sin in the heat of passion, and fully admits it because, though she is ashamed, she also received her greatest treasure, Pearl, out of it. She is a very strong woman to be able to hold up so well, against what she must face. Many would have fled Boston, and sought a place where no one knew of her great sin. Hester chose to stay though, which showed a lot of strength and integrity. Any woman with enough nerve to hold up against a town which despised her very existence, and to stay in a place where her daughter is referred to as a "devil child” is a very tough woman.
With sin there is personal growth, and as a symbol of her sin, Hester’s scarlet “A” evokes development of her human character. The Puritan town of Boston became suspicious when Hester Prynne became pregnant despite her husband being gone. Being a heavily religious village, the townspeople punished Hester for her sin of adultery with the burden of wearing a scarlet “A” on all that she wears. Initially the...
During the romanticism period, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the novel, The Scarlet Letter, which used the romanticist idea of deep intuition and inner feelings, allowing the characters to have insight of the plots and secrets hidden in the strict Puritan community that they lived in. Throughout the novel many of the characters have this intuition, making the book more alluring to readers when trying to figure out what each character really knows.
In the beginning of the novel, the "A" symbolized shame and punishment. One villager voiced his opinion on the "A" when he stated, "At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead"(p.59). The villagers saw the "A" as public punishment. They saw Hester as lucky because her punishment was not harsh enough. Another villager saw Hester in a new light when she said, "She hath good skill in her needle...but did ever a woman...contrive such a way of showing it!...What is it but to laugh in the faces of our godly magistrates and make a pride out of what they, worthy gentlemen meant for punishment?" The "A" made clear what the villager's Puritan principles were and showed the Puritans judicial system in action. When Hester embroidered the "A" beautifully, she mocked their judgment. Thus, the villagers saw Hester has prideful. The "A" also exposed the Puritan's hidden shame. Hester recognized this when Hawthorne said, "She felt an eye- a human eye - upon the ignominious brand, that seemed to give a momentary relief, as if half of her agony were shared."(p.89). A few villagers saw the letter and Hester as a constant reminder of their own sin. Hester was the torturous representation of the lust that they kept hidden inside. The Scarlet letter was seen as a symbol of shame yet caused the villagers to see Hester as fortunate, boastful, and as a symbol of their own faults.
One symbol is Hester’s scarlet “A” that she wears on her bosom. She received this letter, specifically and “A”, because she had committed adultery in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. Hester had moved to Salem before her husband, who was supposed to arrive a few days later after leaving Amsterdam, but he never showed up for two years. However, Hester had become pregnant during these years without her husband, so it was obvious she was an adulte...
Pearl from The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne represents the archetypal form of the loner. She is the daughter of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale and represents the scarlet letter with her mom who was banished for committing adultery. Leonce from The Awakening by Kate Chopin represents the archetypal form of the ruler. He is the husband of Edna Pontellier and he views her more like property than an actual human being. Pearl and Leonce represent the archetypal form of the loner and the ruler in the different societies that they both live in, their relationship with other people, and how they change throughout the story.
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.
In the first chapters of the novel, Hester was punished to wear an "A" on her chest at all times. The "A" is a punishment for the adultery she committed with the towns own Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Instead of making it into something that people looked down upon, as something horrific and disgusting on her chest, she made it look like a beautiful, gleaming gem. She made it out of the most gorgeous sparkling gold threads that caught everyone's eye. A quote in chapter two described the scarlet letter as "so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself." That shows how she is a confident and very individual person. No other woman would have as much courage as she did to make a punishment into an attraction.
One of themes that Hawthorne conveys in The Scarlet Letter is that society is more willing to forgive people who ask for forgiveness with humility and generosity than those who demanded it as a right. This theme was conveys using Hester Prynne, a young women who committed adultery. This was considered to be one of the worst crime someone could commit in the Puritan society during the eighteen hundreds, where she resides in. As punishment, Hester was required to wear a scarlet letter "A" upon her garment in order for everyone to recognize her crime. Her society had condemn her, they believed that she "has brought shame upon all of us, and ought to die..."(59) Yet, as time went by, because of the way in which Hester carried herself wearing the scarlet letter, the symbol had taken a new meaning. Although, when the scarlet letter was first place on her bosom it was a symbol of Hester's crime, burden, seclusion, and shame. However, as a result of Hester's generosity and humility the scarlet letter had come to symbolize Hester's strength, philanthropy, and gained her very high respectability in her society.
Many different literary works contain complex representations that can be interpreted in many different ways. Authors portray these representations through the use of characters, objects, the setting, and much more. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the forest around the society represents different things, depending on who is there. It is an open place where anything can happen. It is filled with wild animals, Native Americans, and other wild threats to the townspeople. The forest gives off a different meaning to the people of the town. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne exhibits these meanings in many scenarios.
Literature and language is a powerful tool. It has the capabilities to move audiences, transform and mold societies, and give insights to a civilization’s thoughts. The feminist and transcendentalist movements occurred nearly simultaneously in history and pushed each other with their growing popularity. Feminism and transcendentalism boiled down to major components is the equality of women and men in society and individual thoughts, respectfully. The Scarlet Letter can be considered a feminist novel through the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, use of transcendentalist ideals to highlight universal women equality through the lead female characters’ actions.
The Scarlet Letter is about the Hester Prynne, a woman who was married, but got pregnant while the husband was away. This causes the town to ostracize her, especially because she does not reveal the identity of the baby's father. Then, Hester's husband comes back to town and tries to weed out the priest who has been the father the whole time, and make him sick with guilt. This book has many Romantic concepts throughout. The importance of the individual and the significance of nature are both very Romantic ideas that are strewn all throughout The Scarlet Letter. Romanticism was a movement that originated in the late 18th century. It was a reaction to the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Reason. Romanticism is mainly about the primacy of the individual and the importance of nature . Much of the big plans in the plot are made in the forest. Hawthorne almost always spends a little bit more time talking about nature when it appears. “This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness...” (42) Nathaniels spends about half of a page describing the past of the rose-bush. This shows how he cares about the importance of nature, which is one of the main concepts of Romanticism. The way The Scarlet Letter is written in first person-omniscient also shows how Hawthorne believes in the primacy of the individual. The focus on Hester explains the way this book has the Romantic concept of the primacy of the individual. Although the story is mainly focused on Hester, Arthur Dimmesdale, the adultering priest has many Romantic themes about him.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is considered to be a work of romanticism. Romanticism, a movement in art and literature throughout the 19th century, is a collection of ideas or values including individualism, imaginative idealization of childhood, families, love, nature, and the past (Craig White). Hawthorne uses strong feelings, interest in the common man and childhood, celebration of the individual, awe of nature, and importance of imagination throughout his novel to add interest and individuality to the story.
In the beginning of the story, Hester is being punished for adultery, and is forced to wear the letter A on her bosom. It is shown so that people will know her as an adulteress. The letter A also gives Hester some supernatural abilities. When some women look at the letter A on Hester’s chest, they make a face and look at her with disgust. Other women look at Hester and they seem to share something; “But sometimes...she felt a human eye--upon the ignominious brand, that seemed to give a momentary relief, as if half her agony were shared” (79). Hester knows that she is not the only one who committed adultery, and having the letter with her all the time seems to give her an intuitive power about it. As time goes on, people seem to forget that Hester had committed a sin and see her as a lovely and respectable person.
The opinions of an anti-transcendentalist on the Puritan religion and transcendentalist is addressed in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, “The Scarlet Letter”. A single sinful act changes the lives of three people forever. Hester Prynne, a woman who conceives a child out of wedlock, receives public punishment and will always have to wear a scarlet A on her clothing. Even though she could could lighten her sentence, she refuses to reveal the father of her child. As He writes her journey, one will see the hardships of Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale in light of the Puritan religion and transcendentalist beliefs as they try to make peace with one another and become a family for her daughter, Pearl, all while dealing with their own