Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is generally considered to
be the first American symbolic novel. A symbol is something which is used
to represent something broader in meaning.
The most obvious symbol in the novel is the actual scarlet "A" which
both the criticism and I agree upon. This "A" is the literal symbol of the
sin of adultery. The letter A then appears in many different forms
throughout the novel. The gold-embroidered A on Hester Prynne's fascinates
Pearl Prynne. It is magnified in the armor breast plate at Governor
Bellingham's mansion which is so extreme that it seems to hide and cover
Hester. On the night of Arthur Dimmesdale vigil, he sees a red A in the
sky. And finally, the letter is revealed on Dimmsdale's chest in front of
the whole village.
The A also takes on many meanings. It has the original meaning as
well as different meanings to various characters. To Hester, the A means
humiliation. The A to Dimmesdale is a reminder of his own contrition. To
Pearl, the A is peculiarity and Roger Chillingworth sees the A as a journey
for retaliation. Other then adultery, the A can also stand for "Angel" and
"Able". Angel, for it appears in the sky after Governor Winthrop's death.
Able, for Hester has won the respect of the Puritans even if she has sinned
terribly.
Hawthorne uses the prison building to describe crime and punishment in
contrast with the tombstone at the end of ...
... middle of paper ...
...t price is Hester's reputation
and her standing in the community. Pearl is also a self-contained symbol.
The result of her parent's sin is shown in her often imprudent comments and
unbridled behavior.
Each character in the novel suffers from a sin which they try to
crush and bemoan with goodness from their own heart.
The Scarlet Letter is a book filled with symbolism. I feel the
symbolism helps to relate a situation to a position the reader knows about.
The critic which I based this on feels that there is voluminous accounts
of symbolism, even too much. I must disagree with this. Hawthorne's The
Scarlet Letter is an amazingly written book for its time with just the
right amount of powerful symbolism.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlet Letter, has an extremely elaborate, and well-depicted vocabulary. Many of his sentences and paragraphs tend to be very verbose, but at the same time very helpful in giving the reader an accurate representation of the exactly how Chillingworth reacts when he first sees Hester. Within the passage on page sixty-seven Hawthorne is giving an intricate description of Chillingworth’s reaction when he first sees Hester after she is released from prison. With his usage of both syntax and imagery throughout this passage, he most effectively illustrates his vision of Chillingworth. Hawthorne gives us quite a bit of description within this passage, which allows us to see an intellectual side of Chillingworth. Generally people are intellectual or religious, the big bang vs. Genesis. Chillingworth is portrayed as intellectual, which conflicts with the Puritan views of religion.
One of Hester’s greatest qualities is her unrelenting selflessness. Despite her constant mental anguish due to her sin, the constant stares and rude comments, and the
During the Persian War, Sparta and Athens worked together to defeat the Persians. The discipline and strength of Spartan Army helped saved Greece from invasion. Afterwards Sparta and Athens alliances were formed. Athenians had superior naval force and enforced the democratic rule in states allied to Athens. Neighboring allied states depended on the trade provided by Athens navy. In the same time Athens had established themselves as the head of the empire. (Lecture 7 notes). Sparta had superior land army and they destroyed Athens crops in order to have a hold on Athens and force them to surrender. The war lasted 10 years with neither side winning the war. At the end they agreed to a truce. A few years later, Athens tried to conquer Sicily, but the Sicilians defeated Athens. Athens lost much of its army and navy. The Spartans took advantage of this weakness and attacked Athens and cut of their trade routes and food supplies. Spartans won and Sparta became the most powerful city in
Nor were the democratic Athenians comfortable with the artificial collision of oligarchical armored farmer. In the wake of the Persian Retreat (479B.C.E) Athens fleet increased. Nurtured on the tribute of vassal states in Aegean, Athens did not mothball its triremosi instead, they became a “beginning”. Police force of sources for its Greek subject allies overseas. Like some Spartans, imperial Athens too saw little needs to limit warfare to a single afternoon.
Hawthorne manages to create many metaphors within his novel The Scarlet Letter. The rose bush outside the prison door, the black man, and the scaffold are three metaphors. Perhaps the most important metaphor would be the scaffold, which plays a great role throughout the entire story. The three scaffold scenes which Hawthorne incorporated into The Scarlet Letter contain a great deal of significance and importance the plot. Each scene brings a different aspect of the main characters, the crowd or more minor characters, and what truth or punishment is being brought forth.
One of those traits is that although Athenian citizens and soldiers live a more leisurely life and are not trained as rigorously as the Spartans in land warfare, Athenians’ natural courage makes up for that (Thucydides pg. 42). Athens was definitely the dominant naval power in Greece at the time, but the Athenians’ devaluing of land warfare led to a stalemate in the first phase of the Peloponnesian War before the Peace of Nicias in which Sparta ravaged Athens’ countryside and forced its citizens to be holed up in the city walls and to live in close quarters, making them susceptible to the plague. Another trait of Athens that can be argued as not a positive factor is its institution of democracy. Athenian democracy was quite limited in the modern sense since its citizenry only included ethnic Athenian males over the age of 20, but it was remarkable in the ancient world for the amount of civic participation it allowed of those that it considered citizens. The Athenians prided themselves on including people of lower economic status into the citizenry, but this trait may be not as positive as Pericles proclaimed (Thucydides pg. 40). In an oligarchic system such as Sparta’s, if the city-state was to win a war, it
The Peloponnesian War consisted of two equal but different powers in control of Greece, Athens and Sparta. Athens and Sparta were in 480 BC when they both received an independent state of living from the Persians. The Athenians had a phenomenal navy as well as being heavy into commerce and trade by using the waterways. The Spartans lead gracefully in the agriculture community which boosted them as well as having a stupendous army. As you can tell, both powers are complete opposites, which made them bot...
The Peloponnesian War could easily be considered one of the most life changing and significant wars that occurred in classical Greece. It was fought between two empires which originally stood together against a common enemy, the Persians. However, once this common enemy was defeated, Sparta and Athens began to become great rivals vying for control of Greece. This resulted in the First and Second Peloponnesian Wars, which saw the rise and fall of the Athenian Empire. Sparta eventually rose to be the victor with the assistance of their former enemy Persia, but the era city-states would not live on for very much longer. The Peloponnesian Wars should be studied, because it details the rise and fall of one of the greatest city-states in Greek history.
Throughout the course of history, advances in medical technology have prolonged the length of life and delayed death; however, terminal illnesses still exist and modern medicine is often unable to prevent death. Many people turn to a procedure known as Physician-Assisted suicide, a process by which a doctor aids in ending a terminally ill patient’s life. This procedure is painless and effective, allowing patients to control their death and alleviate unnecessary suffering. In spite of these benefits, Physician-Assisted suicide is illegal in many places both nationally and internationally. Despite the fact that Physician-Assisted suicide is opposed by many Americans and much of the world on ethical and moral grounds such as those based on religion and the morality of taking another life, it should still be legalized because it alleviates suffering of patients, allows patients to choose a dignified death, and allows patients to control their own fate instead of their disease controlling them.
Throughout the Ancient Greek world, there have been many wars and standoffs. However, there has been only one which changed the course of Greek history forever; the Peloponnesian War. Caused by the growing tension between Athens and Sparta, it came and left, leaving only destruction in its wake. The defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War caused the downfall of Greece, and the end of the Classical Age.
The "human tenderness" Hester exerts shows how she did not care what the Puritans thought and acted. Her sin is also an example of her independence; Hester acted on her feelings and didn’t allow the Puritan’s views to interfere with her emotions.
Physician-assisted suicide should be a legal option, if requested, for terminally ill patients. For decades the question has been asked and a clear answer has yet to surface. It was formed out of a profound commitment to the idea that personal end-of-life decisions should be made solely between a patient and a physician. Can someone's life be put into an answer? Shouldn't someone's decision in life be just that; their decision? When someone has suffered from a car accident, or battled long enough from cancer, shouldn't the option be available? Assisted suicide shouldn't be seen as cheating death, but as a way to pay homage to the life once lived. As far as including the mentally challenged in this equation, I am against it. The mentally challenged, although less likely to grasp information, still has the physical awareness to grow. It can be subdued with medicine and psychotherapy. From personal experience I am a witness of being around mentally challenged adults who love life regardless of their conditions. Most don't have the ability to express a request such as life or death. Living life is a daily task just like it is for healthy citizens. Most if not all mentally challenged people aren't in any pain throughout their entire life. For this they shouldn't be targeted for assisted suicide. Death is an occurrence in life, whether it's unexpected or expected, it can't be cheated nor can it be avoided. The terminally ill should have the option to end their suffering with dignity.
The right to assisted suicide is an intricate topic posed upon those in the United States and several other countries throughout the world. Assisted suicide proposes a controversy of whether or not a person has a right to solicit death through the help of a licensed physician. This issue has sparked an intense moral controversy.
The character of Athenian support loomed from the shadow of war. The empire had lost the war, starvation, famine and diseases were present. Athenians, when a people that have not rendered any important service or support to their neighbors in times past, for which they might claim to be repaid… In the art of interpretation, the Athenians were arrogant, proud people. They were strict on who they helped, and let into their city. However, because the loss the war, the ego of Athens was wounded and the blame was set on
Hester is indeed a sinner, adultery is no light matter, even today. On the other hand, her sin has brought her not evil, but good. Her charity to the poor, her comfort to the broken-hearted, her unquestionable presence in times of trouble are all direct results of her quest for repe...