Scarlet Letter Ambiguity Essay

1091 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Conflict in the scarlet letter

Ambiguity is the only constant in life. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne illustrates the issues of rejecting ambiguity as a society. Hawthorne presents the changing meaning of the Scarlet Letter, the way Pearl is viewed by society, and the ambiguity of the woods to suggest that everything in society is ambiguous and the rigidity of the Puritanical society norms is illogical, therefore society must accept and embrace ambiguity so people can live life to its fullest.
The changing of the definition of the Scarlet Letter represents Hawthorne’s view that society must no longer label people due to a single misdemeanor, but should instead judge a person by all their attributes. Although the Puritans try to force Hester into
The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread (Hawthorne 138).”Instead of accepting the label that is given to her by society, Hester uses the freedom that comes from being isolated from a rigid society to explore her own beliefs and way of life without other people scrutinizing her. By leaving society, Hester is able to learn from her misery in order to sympathize with others, such as the homeless men and women. Her affair was only the start of Hester’s fate, the end is her ability to feel compassionate for everyone, including Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Hester chooses to make the Scarlet Letter a part of her character and showcase her good qualities in order to change the definition of the “A”. The way that Hawthorne describes Hester’s fate shows that Hester’s affair was not a mistake, but it was inevitable. Although Hester “wanders without rule or guidance”, she does not wander aimlessly. While she originally did not have much hope for her future, Hawthorne foreshadows that she will end up being an important person because she is the first to explore her morality without being biased by society. By having no set plan to follow, Hester is able
The forest is the only setting in the book where there is no human law. Because of the lack of man-made law, there is freedom to enjoy life without consequences. “Such was the sympathy of Nature -- that wild, heathen Nature of the forest, never subjugated by human law, nor illumined by higher truth… Love.. must always create a sunshine.. Had the forest still kept its gloom, it would have been bright in Hester’s eyes, and bright in Arthur Dimmesdale’s (139)!” Hawthorne capitalizes nature to enforce his idea that nature is the most powerful thing in the universe; it trumps anything artificial made by humans. He further enhances his point that nature does not punish, it only offers sympathy and harmony. Unlike the townspeople, nature does not discriminate. It does not care that the love between Hester and Dimmesdale is forbidden. Nature only thinks that love is a positive in life, as it brings happiness and “sunshine”. There is no darkness to love in nature’s eyes, unlike the eyes of the Puritans. Nature only shines due to happiness, it does not shine because of the truth. And even if the forest is gloomy for those who emphasize the truth over happiness, it does not matter for Hester, Dimmesdale, or Pearl, because nature will choose to shine for them. There is

Show More
Related

  • A Comparison of "The Scarlet Letter" and "The Minister's Black Veil"

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Morally Ambiguous Characters in The Scarlet Letter

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    Roger Chillingworth could be considered a morally ambiguous character because of his deceptivenss, cleverness, and nebulous past. It is with these three elements that Roger Chillingworth’s moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Straightforwardly, all of the characters in The Scarlet Letter also could be considered to comprise some degree of moral ambiguity. Arthur Dimmesdale, for example, is morally ambiguous because of his exertion to ensconce his identity as the father of Pearl. Moral ambiguity is emphatically significant in The Scarlet Letter because not only does it act as an attribute for characters, but is an extensive theme in The Scarlet Letter as well. Therefore, moral ambiguity is not only extant in Roger Chillingworth, but very much rather in all of The Scarlet Letter.

    Read More

  • Changes of Hester Prynne in Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

    495 Words  | 1 Pages

    As Hester wears the scarlet letter, the reader can feel how much of an outcast Hester becomes. When walking through town, “…she never raised her head to receive their greeting. If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter and passed on” (Hawthorne, 127).She believes that she is not worthy of the towns acknowledgments and chooses to ignore them. The guilt that now rests in Hester is overwhelming to her and is a reason of her change in personality.

    Read More

  • Personification In The Scarlet Letter

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the early pages of the first chapter of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne is already using personification involving nature. “But on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush…which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him” (Hawthorne 41). This personification of the rosebush serves as a

    Read More

  • Nurse Ratched As Depicted In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    She is not a feminist because the patients view her as a cruel tyrant rather than an equal. Similarly, Hester is mistaken for an elite in her community. In a public gathering, Indians assume “that the wearer of this brilliantly embroidered badge must needs be a personage of high dignity among her people” (368). For the Indians to think this means that she actually is of nobility, and Hawthorne includes this account in his novel to portray this to the reader. The scarlet letter comes to mean much more than a punishment as it becomes part of Hester’s character when she defies cultural gender injustice. By the end of the novel, it reveals that she is someone greater than just an outsider. Although not admitted by the people of the Puritan culture, they view her as an honorable and admirable woman above the others, just as the Indians do. Because others see Hester and Ratched as greater than equals and their struggles as a fight for power rather than equality categorizes them as not

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Humanity In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    He says, “It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates.” (p. 140) Additionally, he describes love as an infectious sentiment that spreads and cannot help but illuminate life. Dimmesdale and Pearl, for different reasons, are unable to experience all of these sensations for much of the story. Pearl because she has none to share, Dimmesdale because his public office and private shame prevent him from doing so. Pearl’s baptism into the sphere of passion serves as her introduction to life, too, as Hawthorne’s words promise that she would not, “…for ever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it.” (p. 222) Prior to this moment, Pearl would act aggressively toward the local towns children, throwing things at them and making foul noises when they looked at her. But with this she is granted a second birth, but this time without her duty as a “messenger of anguish.” (p. 222) Finally she is able to live. Dimmesdale finds himself questioning whether or not he will earn his daughter 's acceptance as he wonders aloud, “So thou thinkest the child will love me?” (p. 178) After seven years of suppression and knowing that he cannot, “…any longer live without her (Hester’s) companionship;” (p. 175), once Dimmesdale at last finds his relief, “…there came what seemed a

    Read More

  • The Unchanged Character of Hester in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    At one point in the story, Hawthorne explains that Hester has learned much from the letter (ch 18 – "The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, —stern and wild ones, —and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss."). Although Hester has changed in some ways, the change that was supposed to be brought about by the scarlet letter never happened. In the end, Hester was still planning to commit adultery again.

    Read More

  • The Forest In The Scarlet Letter

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    The forest is generally sought out as a place where no good happens in many stories such as Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. It is no different in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. It is where many mysterious things reside in the wilderness. The town in the book can contrast the forest as a sanction where people are are immune from the darkness. They differ, but they also aid in conveying the bigger themes of the story. Some people might see the forest as a “happy place” for Hester and Pearl, but it should really be looked upon as a place of sin when comparing it to its foil, the town, which in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter contrasts to aid in the themes of the nature of evi, civilization versus wilderness, and identity

    Read More

  • Essay on the Transformation of Hester in Scarlet Letter

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    The purpose of the scarlet letter is not fulfilled according to the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne.  It was put upon Hester’s bosom to claim her unholiness but instead the "punishment" served as a way for Hester to grow stronger.  The townspeople were the first to see first introduction of Hester.  She was looked down on since the branding of the letter “A” upon her bosom.  She was a "figure of perfect elegance" compared to the Puritan women of "brief beauty" (Hawthorne pg.: 55, 57).  Right from the start, Hester appears to be different from those around her, suggesting a rebellious attitude to the traditions and customs of the time where church and state were still considered to be the central government at the time.  She was different from others due to her nature of her being.  Hester wasn’t like all other women.  If another woman were to be branded an adulteress, that woman would have probably try to keep her sin away from the townspeople and forever keep their peace.  Hester on the other hand, had the bravery and boldness in her that did not frighten her to show off what she did wrong.  She may have had the intention that...

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter: The Response to Sin

    1857 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne's Purpose

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hawthorne was a talented and skilled writer, who was greatly influenced by the the community in which he lived. Instead of giving in to society dashing his hopes of becoming a successful writer, he wrote about Hester to express himself and explain his conflicts with the crooked, oppressive society and beliefs of the time. He discusses the problems in a way that every reader can relate to and sympathize with the characters. He skillfully transforms a symbol of shame and sin into a symbol of maternity and nurturance. The Scarlet Letter is truly a symbol of believing in people's capabilities. It is a symbol of resistance to society if all it causes people to do is reject their identities and who they really are.

    Read More

  • The Individual versus Society in the Scarlet Letter

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    The harshness of Puritan Society in The Scarlet Letter is opposed by the rose-bush, the letter “A” and Hester’s illegitimate child. By utilizing these three symbols, Hawthorne demonstrates the resistance of the individual opposing the society. Because as long as there’s society, people, in someway or another, will always attempt to rebel against it. These actions can either be welcomed or reviled but opposition to society’s conformity is essential to our individualism and our uniqueness. Without any type of resistance, we would cease to be distinct and our sole identity would be lost forever.

    Read More

  • Nature And Pearl In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, nature and Pearl are depicted as innocence and evil. Hester brings her daughter, Pearl, to live in the forest because they are not accepted by society due to the Scarlet letter. The relationship between these two is Pearl creates a bond with nature mentally since society rejects her as a product of sin. Nature is viewed in the eyes of a Puritan as a place where witches live to perform witchcraft and where darkness inhabits. However, the relationship between nature and Pearl gives her freedom and growth.

    Read More

  • The Symbolism of the Forest in The Scarlet Letter

    923 Words  | 2 Pages

    “She had wandered, without rules or guidance, in a moral wilderness: as vas, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest” (180). Nature plays an essential part in this American Romance novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter. The forest is a prominent factor symbolizing many ideas about nature’s relationship with man, as an individual and a society. The narrator does so by simply narrating about events and characters before, during and after the forest scenes. The narrator also displays the people’s feelings towards the forest and nature in general. The forest as a symbol helps the book develop the literary devices of theme, mood, and irony in The Scarlet Letter.

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

More about Scarlet Letter Ambiguity Essay

Open Document