The Power of Sin in The Scarlet Letter
Sin is the main theme in the Scarlet Letter. All of the characters
in the book were somehow affected by the main sin, which was adultery.
The three main characters were the most widely affected, and their whole
lives were molded by the way they dealt with the sin. The sin surrounds,
encloses, and strangles them. There was no escaping from its harsh
consequences.
Hester Prynne's sin was as an adulteress, and the result of this
was that she had to wear the scarlet letter "A." She feels that her sin
has taken away everything she had, and given her one thing in return; her
baby. Although she had dignity and pride when she first stepped out of
the prison and when she stood upon the scaffold this "A" unfamilarized and
seperated her from the community, and she stood alone with her child as
she does for the most part of her life following this event. From then on,
she was to live away from the community with her baby, Pearl, and was
shunned by everyone. The sin she has committed has made her think that
death would be an easy way out and that she deserves little, for she says,
"I have thought of death, have wished for it, would have even prayed for
it, were it fit that such as I should pray for anything." Throughout the
next years, the sin Hester committed changes her personality and identity.
Once a beautiful woman, Hester now looks plain and drab. Once passionate,
she is now somber and serious. She had contained a precious quality of
womanhood that has now faded away. Her plain gray clothes symbolize her
temperament and disposition. There are also good effects that the sin has
on her. She becomes more giving and caring, and is endlessly helping the
poor and sick and doing neighbors favors. Hester feels that she owes it
to the community, and is also forcing herself into a life of service to
others. The sin stays with her throughout her life, and even when she
leaves her town, she feels obligated to come back and fullfill her
punishment. The sin made her lifestyle worse, but it changed her
Over their travels in the epic The Odyssey, both Odysseus’ and his son Telemachus’ adventures were parallel but at the same time different. These travels led them both to grow and change drastically, and both learned some very important life lessons over the course of this epic.
I chose this word because the plot of the second chapter details the crime committed by Hester Prynne. Her “sin” of conceiving a child under adulterous affairs was an intolerable act in a Puritan society. Her child became a symbol of her sin but also a symbol of love. The scarlet letter “A” that was supposed to represent her shame became
In Odyssey, Homer creates a parallel between Odysseus and Telemachos, father and son. The two are compared in the poem from every aspect. One parallel was the quest of Telemachos, in correlation with the journey of his father. In this, Odysseus is developed from a childish, passive, and untested boy, to a young man preparing to stand by his father's side. This is directly connected to the voyage of Odysseus, in that they both lead to the same finale, and are both stepping-stones towards wisdom, manhood, and scholarship.
Throughout the last books of The Odyssey Homer tells us how Odysseus restores his relationships with his friends and relatives at Ithaca. Perhaps one of the most revealing of these restoration episodes is Odysseus' re-encounter with his son, Telemachus. This re-encounter serves three main purposes. First, it serves to portray Telemachus' likeness to his father in the virtues of prudence, humility, patience, and planning. Secondly, it is Odysseus' chance to teach his son to be as great a ruler as Odysseus himself is. Lastly, Homer uses this re-encounter to emphasize the importance of a family structure to a society. To be able to understand the impact that this meeting had on Odysseus it is necessary to see that Telemachus has grown since his first appearances in the poem and obviously since his last contact with his father; Odysseus left Telemachus as an infant now their relationship is a man to man relationship rather than a man to child relationship.
The Hero’s Journey is never an easy one. This particular journey, as detailed in Homer’s The Odyssey, is one of struggle, loss, heartache, pain, growth and triumph. It is comprised of many steps that Odysseus has to overcome and battle through in order to achieve his final goal of reaching his home and his loved ones. From the Call to Adventure to the Freedom or Gift of living, Odysseus conquered them all. The story begins in the middle of the story, as many of the oral Greek traditions did, with the Journey of Telemachus to find his father. Although Telemachus has not yet met his father, it is almost as if they are journeying together, where the end of both of their journeys results in being reunited. Telemachus journeys from being a boy to becoming a man, while out in the sea Odysseus is battling Poseidon to return to the home that wife that he loves and the home he has left behind.
The relationship of father and son between Odysseus and Telemachus allows their progress in maturity to be linked. It creates an intangible journey that, although separated by distance, could be shared. Therefore, when the journey they share becomes tangible, “a boy daydreaming,” (5), can become the “true son of King Odysseus (301).
Throughout The Odyssey Telemachus grows in character from an unprepared teen to a young man who could one day rule Ithaca. He has many experiences traveling to learn more about his father and many that occur on Ithaca once Odysseus returns. All of these events help to shape him into the assertive young man he becomes.
One of the main themes in The Scarlet Letter is that of the secret. The plot of the book is centered on Hester Prynne’s secret sin of adultery. Nathaniel Hawthorne draws striking parallelism between secrets held and the physical and mental states of those who hold them. The Scarlet Letter demonstrates that a secret or feeling kept within slowly engulfs and destroys the soul such as Dimmesdale’s sin of hypocrisy and Chillingworth’s sin of vengeance, while a secret made public, such as Prynne’s adultery, can allow a soul to recover and even strengthen.
The Odyssey is a tale that has changed literature and storytelling. In this tale Odysseus is a Soldier from the battle of Troy trying to get home to his island of Ithaca, where he is king. His wife and son must wait ten years while he is trying to make his way home. In Odysseus’s absence wooer’s, or better known as suitors, learn of his absence and travel to Ithaca to win his wife’s hand in marriage. These men come every day feasting on Odysseus’s food and wine, and give his servant’s orders. His son Telemachus, does his best to keep the suitors from ruining his fathers house but he is only a boy, and doesn’t receive the respect of an adult. Telemachus then has a visit from the god Athena, whom Odysseus is friends with, who advises him to travel to find out about his father. In his travels he hears that Odysseus may still be alive. Meanwhile Odysseus goes through a series of adventures and hardships that prove his wisdom. It is interesting in contrast of the Iliad, even though Achilles was much stronger and a better warrior, Odysseus was portrayed as a greater hero due to his wisdom. He uses this wisdom to escape from the Cyclops.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's works are notable for their treatment of guilt and the complexities of moral choices. "Moral and religious concerns, in short, are almost always present in Hawthorne's work"(Foster, 56). Given Hawthorne's background, it is not a stretch of the imagination to say that his novels are critiques of Puritanism. Hawthorne lived in the deeply scarred New England area, separated from Puritanism by only one generation. His grandfather had been one of the judges in the Salem Witch Trials. Personal issues include the various ways Hawthorne's family and specific events in his life influenced his writing. Readers can easily recognize how "Young Goodman Brown" incorporates facts about his Puritan ancestors. Father Hooper in "The Minister's Black Veil" may be symbolically paralleled to Hawthorne's ancestors, trying to hide a sin they have committed. His descendants' remarks on him in The Custom House introduction to The Scarlet Letter mix pride in Hawthorne's prominence and a sense of inherited guilt for his deeds as judge. Hawthorne's guilt of wrongs committed by his ancestors was paramount in the development of his literary career. He investigates human weaknesses through the time period of his ancestors. Generally Hawthorne's writings contained powerful symbolic and psychological effects of pride, guilt, sin and punishment.
celebrity may be found in the words of one of America’s Founding Fathers, John Adams, who wrote, ‘‘The rewards . . . in this life are steem and admiration of others—the punishments are neglect and contempt. The desire of the esteem of others is as real a want of nature as hunger—and the neglect and contempt of the world as severe as a pain.” (Price, 463). The author suggests that fame is not at all w...
We are all sinners. Although one may try hard not to sin, all humans eventually succumb at some time or another to sin. While people may not able to avoid the fate which awaits them, the power of free will allows people to decide how they will respond to sin. While some may respond with guilt and regret, others may react with a sense of redemption and a renewed sense of responsibility.
The Holocaust was the murder and persecution of approximately 6 million Jews and many others by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. The Nazis came to power in Germany in January of 1933. The Nazis thought that the “inferior” Jews were a threat to the “racially superior” German racial community. The death camps were operated from 1941 to 1945, and many people lost their lives or were forced to work in concentration camps during these years. The story leading up to the Holocaust, how the terrible event affected people’s lives, and how it came to and end are all topics that make this historic event worth learning about.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, many of the characters suffer from the tolls of sin, but none as horribly as Hester's daughter Pearl. She alone suffers from sin that is not hers, but rather that of her mother's. From the day she is conceived, Pearl is portrayed as an offspring of vice. She is introduced into the discerning, pitiless domain of the Puritan religion from inside a jail; a place untouched by light, as is the depth of her mother's sin. The austere Puritan ways punish Hester through banishment from the community and the church, simultaneously punishing Pearl in the process. This isolation leads to an unspoken detachment and animosity between her and the other Puritan children. Thus we see how Pearl is conceived through sin, and how she suffers when her mother and the community situate this deed upon her like the scarlet letter on her mother's bosom.
The fame that comes from being a celebrity or entrepreneur does not render them immune from ridicule, speculations, loneliness, or exploit. Those chasing the American Dream may see this end goal of becoming wealthy enough for all of their problems to disappear, but this ...