Auston Walden 11th Advanced English C. Ellison 28 April 2017 Comparing “The House of the Seven Gables” and “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne has written many books. Although, none of his works are the same stories, he often uses the same theme and each book has many similarities. In this essay, I’m going to compare his books, “The House of the Seven Gables” and “The Scarlet Letter”. First, the setting of “The House of the Seven Gables” is a town in the county of Essex, Massachusetts in the 1850s. “The Scarlet Letter” takes place in a colony in Boston, Massachusetts in the mid-17th century. Both of these books were written in different time periods, but they have the same setting as they were both in Massachusetts. …show more content…
This is one similarity that Hawthorne uses in these two stories. These two stories also took place during the colonial period. Second, Hawthorne uses symbolism in both “The House of the Seven Gables” and “The Scarlet Letter.” In “The House of the Seven Gables,” one example of symbolism is the house.
Hawthorne gives the house human traits. The house is an example of personification. One example of symbolism in “The Scarlet Letter” is the rose bush. The rose bush sat outside of the jail, where it grew wild and free. This represents the relationship between Hester and the views of Puritan beliefs. Symbolism is another similarity in both “The House of the Seven Gables” and “The Scarlet Letter”. Finally, the theme in “The House of the Seven Gables” and “The Scarlet Letter” are very similar. The effect of sin is obvious in both of these novels. In “The House of the Seven Gables”, Colonel and Jaffrey Pyncheons greediness for money and power leads them to kill a less powerful man for his land and inheritance is shown in the story. In “The Scarlet Letter,” Dimmesdale feels so guilty for committing adultery that he beat himself every night, starved, and rarely slept. He was compelled to do this because he was weighed down by his sins. In conclusion, there are many similarities in “The House of the Seven Gables” and “The Scarlet Letter.” The setting, symbolism, and the effect
of sin are just a few of the ways these two stories are similar. These two books are just a couple of examples of how Hawthorne uses the same theme for many of his books without making them too similar. Works Cited Page Hawthorne, Nathaniel. *The Scarlet Letter*. New York: Modern Library, 1950. Print. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. *The **House of the Seven Gables*. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields,1851. Print. "*The Scarlet Letter*." *Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism*, edited by Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker, vol. 158, Gale, 2006. *Literature Resource Center. *Accessed 27 Apr. 2017. "Overview: *The House of the Seven Gables*." *Novels for Students*, edited by Ira Mark Milne and Timothy Sisler, vol. 20, Gale, 2005. *Literature Resource Center. *Accessed 27 Apr. 2017.
The two novels The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee may tell vastly different stories but, both touch upon a similar subject. By using the two affectionate characters of Boo Radley and Hester Prynne the authors explain their similar view on punishment, but with a different camera lens for each story.
...e, more modern sort of neighborhood for the part of the book that takes place in a townhouse. But the general area that I’d start with is the East St. Louis area.
Hawthorne and Fitzgerald, two great American romantics, display new attitudes towards nature, humanity, and society within their novels. The novels The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby are very similar with their adjacent themes, motifs, and symbols. The comparison between these two literary pieces show the transition from adultery to ability, societal standards during the chosen time periods, and good vs. evil.
The song, "Long Black Veil", written by Johnny Cash has many similar elements to The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Both have to do with the sin of adultery that ends up hurting the characters in the stories. In "Long Black Veil" a man is convicted of a murder because he cannot provide an alibi for the night that another man was killed. It turns out that the night of the murder, this man had been "in the arms of his best friend's wife." The man ends up being executed while the woman punishes herself for not saving his life by wearing a long black veil. "Long Black Veil" and The Scarlet Letter both demonstrate how secrets can destroy one's life. This theme is shown through the sin of adultery, the punishments that the characters go through and the symbolism of the long black veil and the scarlet letter.
In “The Scarlet Letter’s Similarity to the Holocaust,” by Samuel Petit, Jesse Hall, and Trent Wicks, a connection between the Holocaust and the treatment of the Jewish people is made with the treatment of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. In the early 1930’s, in Germany, many people thought of the Jewish community in a very poor manner. They were treated as second class citizens, and the treatment of the Jewish population only got worse as Adolf Hitler rose to power before the second world war, and turned the Jewish population into Germany’s scapegoat. Adolf Hitler made it his personal mission to rid the planet of the Jewish people, for whom so many Europeans had misplaced hatred upon. The Jewish people, however, were able to survive the
Throughout his literary endeavors, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism to present a certain theme that pertains to human nature and life. In his works, The Scarlet Letter and "The Minister's Black Veil", Hawthorne uses symbolism to present a common theme pertaining to religion; that though manifested sin will ostracize a person from society, un-confessed sin will destroy the soul.
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson shows us clearly through this quote, that we should not follow the paths set for us by society instead, we should create our own way through life and leave a trail a legacy of our own. A perfect example of protagonists leading their own trail to self discovery is in the books The Help and The Scarlet Letter . Skeeter Phelan and Hester Prynne both develop throughout the books and contrast society’s wishes,the authors show this through a fierce sense of realism. However, The Help puts in evidence a volume of racism towards people of color whereas The Scarlet Letter puts a lot of emphasis on the committing of
In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes imagery to convey that Dimmesdale can represent Puritan Society rather than the round character that can be seen on the surface level. This is seen through the imagery and symbolism of hypocrisy, Dimmesdale as a Christ figure, and the scarlet letter.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is one of the most respected and admired novels of all time. Often criticized for lacking substance and using more elaborate camera work, freely adapted films usually do not follow the original plot line. Following this cliché, Roland Joffe’s version of The Scarlet Letter received an overwhelmingly negative reception. Unrealistic plots and actions are added to the films for added drama; for example, Hester is about to be killed up on the scaffold, when Algonquin members arrive and rescue her. After close analysis, it becomes evident of the amount of work that is put into each, but one must ask, why has the director adapted their own style of depicting the story? How has the story of Hester Prynne been modified? Regarding works, major differences and similarities between the characterization, visual imagery, symbolism, narration and plot, shows how free adaptation is the correct term used.
The entire narrative takes place as George and Hazel sit in front of the TV. The living room and the television are the significant setting for this story because much of the story takes place in the Bergeron 's house, but the author does not describe the inside of the house details except the TV in the living room. No other details such as no décor, no color or no furniture, none of the personal touch that would make a house a
“To the untrue man, the whole universe is false,--it is impalpable,--it shrinks to nothing within his grasp. And he himself, in so far as he shows himself in a false light, becomes a shadow, or, indeed, ceases to exist.” (Hawthorne 115) Throughout the hostile novel The Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne used contrasting settings to represent opposed ideas that were central to the meaning of the work. Some have argued that when it came to the theme that secrets have a destructive effect on the secret-keeper and truth, by contrast, was natural, a character evaluation would best advocate these differences. However, two settings, Dimmesdale’s house and the secrets that lie within, and the scaffold representing the truth, better embody the adverse ideas posed by the point at issue.
The houses are all lined in formation, with similar colors and structure. Even the colors and decorations in the houses are all pretty much the same, pinkish red and yellow, that makes everything feminine and monotonous, perhaps even boring, just like the houses on the outside. The people of the town are all different, but are all narrow-minded in the same way, which is shown when they gather and gossip about Edward (Burton, 1990). These are all examples of how there is not much difference from one another in a way that they are all controlled by the same, concrete social group. What the beginning of the film brings us is a type of realism where people live in the excessive stereotype of suburban America.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of America's most renowned authors, demonstrates his extraordinary talents in two of his most famed novels, The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. To compare these two books seems bizarre, as their plots are distinctly different. Though the books are quite seemingly different, the central themes and Hawthorne's style are closely related (Carey, p. 62). American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne is most famous for his books THE SCARLET LETTER and THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES, which are closely related in theme, the use of symbolism, characterization, and style.
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.
The setting is the backbone for a novel it sets the tone and gives the reader a mental image of the time and places the story takes place. The Wuthering Heights Estate in Emily Bronte’s novel “Wuthering Heights” is one of the most important settings in the story. Wuthering Heights sets mood for the scenes taken place in the house, and reflects the life of Heathcliff through its description, furniture, windows, gates, and the vegetation.