The Nature of the Heart in The Scarlet Letter
Sacrificing of the soul and dedication can lead to suffering for some, but meaning in life for others. This is the main theme of The Scarlet Letter,by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in the seventeenth century in Puritan New England. The main character of the legend is Hester Prynne, who has an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister, and they produce Pearl. Hester's husband, Roger Chillingworth is the town physician. He is seen as the healer, collecting magical herbs to make medicine. Hawthorne twists the purpose of the physician by turning these healing powers into vengeance for an unhappy man.
Hawthorne takes the theme and symbolizes the different characters as a part of nature. He also uses imagery to show the different relationships between the characters. He achieves this by showing the dramatic differences between good and evil through light, darkness and shadows being cast upon the earth. When he does this, he draws the reader in and lets them visualize the human nature of struggling lovers.
The story opens with a view of the Prison-Door. Near the door are glimpses of men and women surrounded by a cloud of gray. The first hint at nature is to "a wild rosebush, covered . . . with delicate gems . . . offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner" (53). The rosebush was shown as the heart of nature that provided pity and comfort to any prisoner which was within its walls.
Nearly seven years after Hester's public exhibition for her sin in the Marketplace, she and her young daughter are visiting in the Governor's Hall. Pearl was immediately drawn to the rosebushes in the garden. She begins to scream and throws a fit in her desire...
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...eminders of how sinners can truly learn about what type of person they honestly are. Hester would always help people and Dimmesdale would never be true to himself about his religion. The doctor was perhaps the most significant character of the whole story. He would always help people, even if it meant helping them die. Pearl was the reminder of how a free person can really prevail. Hawthorne used his symbolism through nature to show how people develop and rediscover themselves and life. His symbolism also showed how different parts of nature die and how others thrive based on the way they decide to live. He made this connection with the sinners and let the readers picture the relationship between them by using the symbolism through nature.
"Works Cited"
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The World's Great Classics: The Scarlet Letter. New York: Grolier Incorporated.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, tells the story of a young adulteress named Hester Prynne and her bastard daughter, Pearl, as they endure their residence in a small town of the Massachusetts British settlement in the1600s. Pearl’s illegitimate birth is the result of the relationship between Hester Prynne and a minister of the Puritan church, Arthur Dimmesdale. Through public defamation and a perpetual embroidery of an “A” upon her dress, Hester is punished for her crime. Whereas, Arthur choses to suppress the secret over illuminating the truth and endures internal and self-inflicted punishment as consequence.
Document C from Mini-Q packet on "How did the Treaty of Versailles help cause World War II"
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's work, The Scarlet Letter, nature plays a very symbolic role. Throughout the book, nature is incorporated into the story line. One example of this is with the character of Pearl. Pearl is very different than all the other characters due to her special relationship with Nature. Hawthorne personifies Nature as sympathetic towards sins against the puritan way of life. Hester's sin causes Nature to accept Pearl.
Globalization helps many people achieve greatness. But for the majority it brings hardships and struggle. People will be plagued by the effects of globalization and will have a tough time over coming it. We are far from reaching a point where we can say we have sustainable prosperity throughout our world. But before we focus in on sustaining prosperity, we must first reach prosperity and bring it to all corners or the earth.
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. Hawthorne's moods or prevailing feelings during certain scenes are revealed to the reader through nature. For example, one of the first scenes in the book demonstrates this unique writing talent that Hawthorne uses to enrich his writing. He describes Hester Prynne and her child being released from the local prison into the light of day. She bore in her arms a child, a baby of some three months old, who winked and turned aside its little face from the vivid light of day; because its experience, heretofore, had brought it acquainted only with the gray twilight of a dungeon, or other darksome apartment of the prison (49).
Rodney, Sydney. "Pericles." Ancient Greece. University Inc., 11 May 2003. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. .
Walker, Mark. "The Ludlow Massacre: Class, Warfare, and Historical Memory in Southern Colorado." Historical Archaeology. 37.3 (2003): 66-80. Print.
Lane, Dr. I. William, and Linda Comac. Sharks Donít Get Cancer. Garden City Park: Avery Publishing Group Inc., 1992.
The Treaty of Versailles, initially created to keep peace in Europe and ensure that another war like World War I wouldn’t happen again, had in fact, backfired and spiraled the world down into a deeper, bloodier battle. The treaty discriminated strongly against Germany, with the loss of territories, military restrictions, economic reparations, and the War Guilt Clause. It caused humiliation and anger within Germany, and led to Hitler and the Nazi Party coming to power. World War II was not only started by Adolf Hitler and Germany, but had a lot to do with the humiliation that Germany felt when the terms for the Treaty of Versailles were laid down. The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles may be indirectly related to the cause of World War II, but nonetheless was a huge factor in starting the war.
The Scarlet letter is a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The plot focuses on sin in the Puritan society. Hester Prynne, the protagonist, has an affair with Reverend Dimmesdale, which means they are adulterers and sinners. As a result, Pearl is born and Hester is forced to where the scarlet letter. Pearl is a unique character. She is Hester’s human form of her scarlet letter, which constantly reminds her of her sin, yet at the same time, Pearl is a blessing to have since she represents the passion that Hester once had.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, there are many moral and social themes develped throughout the novel. Each theme is very important to the overall effect of the novel. In essence, The Scarlet Letter is a story of sin, punishment and the importance of truth. One theme which plays a big role in The Scarlet Letter is that of sin and its effects. Throughout the novel there were many sins committed by various characters. The effects of these sins are different in each character and every character was punished in a unique way. Two characters were perfect examples of this theme in the novel. Hester Prynne and The Reverend Dimmesdale best demonstrated the theme of the effects of sin.
Starr , D. (2012, August 7). How people faking insanity give themselves away . Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science
The author of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, expressed ideas of love, passion, shame, and punishment throughout his 1800s based novel. Due to the fact that this novel was based in a Puritan time period, it brought many mental and sometimes physical difficulties for the main character, Hester Prynne. The Puritans solely believed in God and all of his rules. With that said, the author decided to illustrate the drama of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s adultery in order to describe the change in Hester’s attitude. Because of the many events, adversities and struggles, Hester had a complete change in attitude from shame and embarrassment to love, proudness and satisfaction.
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.
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