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Theme Of Punishment In Scarlet Letter
Themes of guilt and punishment in The Scarlet Letter
Theme Of Punishment In Scarlet Letter
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The Scarlet Letter takes place in a Puritan town in the 1600s. It was written by anti-transcendentalist Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850. In this story, punishment is a very crucial part of their society. In fact, it is so important that it is done publicly, at the center of town on a platform. This shows that the town revolves around punishment. A beautiful lady, by the name of Hester Prynne, was forced to stand on the platform, with her infant in her arms. She had committed adultery and relentlessly refused to confess that the child’s father is Mr. Dimmesdale, the town’s minister. Now, Hester is condemned to bear the scarlet letter “A”, which stands for adultery, on her breast for the rest of her life. She will even have the bear the letter after she dies. When she passes away, the letter A will …show more content…
Sunlight represents the light of the Lord and purity, and it only shines on those who do not have a secret sin. Hester and Pearl are in the forest when they see this ray of light. Pearl says to Hester, “Mother, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom.” (Hawthorne 183). Pearl is referring to Hester’s scarlet letter. Hester is holding on to a secret sin, and it is preventing the sun’s light from shining on her. Pearl continues speaking, and she says, “Stand you here, and let me catch it… It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!” (Hawthorne 183). A pearl is white and pure, and that’s how Hester’s daughter is. Pearl knows that the scarlet letter has a deeper and darker meaning, and that it is not pure. She also knows that the scarlet letter is not something you would want to have. Pearl is not hiding a sin, and because of this, she is pure. The sun will continue to shine on her. As for Hester and Dimmesdale, they will be reminded of their secret sin by the sunlight because the sun will not shine on
Both characters had to live with the shame and guilt, but how they dealt with it during their lives was different. The two both had a physical symbol on them that they had to live with for their whole lives. Unlike Hester, Dimmesdale’s mark was branded on his chest where no one could see it. The community was clueless to what Dimmesdale had done. He concealed his transgression from the town, causing his guilt to build up inside of him. In contrast, everyone knew that Hester had committed adultery. She was forced to stand on a scaffold and be publicly humiliated in front of everyone. The scarlet letter “A” was displayed on her clothes for everyone to see. Instead of Hester being ashamed and living in guilt her whole life, like Dimmesdale did, she used her transgression as a form of strength. Even though Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale committed the same sin, the path in which they took to cope with that sin set them apart as
Hester is a youthful, beautiful, proud woman who has committed an awful sin and a scandal that changes her life in a major way. She commits adultery with a man known as Arthur Dimmesdale, leader of the local Puritan church and Hester’s minister. The adultery committed results in a baby girl named Pearl. This child she clutches to her chest is the proof of her sin. This behavior is unacceptable. Hester is sent to prison and then punished. Hester is the only one who gets punished for this horrendous act, because no one knows who the man is that Hester has this scandalous affair with. Hester’s sin is confessed, and she lives with two constant reminders of that sin: the scarlet letter itself, and Pearl, the child conceived with Dimmesdale. Her punishment is that she must stand upon a scaffold receiving public humiliation for several hours each day, wearing the scarlet letter “A” on her chest, represe...
Pearl is first introduced as the young babe clutched to Hester's chest, as she stands before a crowd of puritans beholding her humiliation. Embarrassed of the glaring letter on her chest, Hester thinks to hold little Pearl in front of her scarlet mark; however, she resolves that “one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another” (P.37). It is here that we see for the first time that Pearl has been reduced to nothing more than a symbol of Hester's sin, synonymous with the scarlet letter. As Pearl grows, so does the obvious nature with which Hawthorne portrays her as the scarlet letter. Throughout the book, we see Pearl dressed in bright clothes,
From the moment she is born in the cold, heartless prison, Pearl is placed under scrutiny. The townspeople see her as a visible reminder of sin, and it isn't long until even her own mother searches for evil in her. The girl is described as "the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!"(Hawthorne 103). With her fascination from an early age with the scarlet letter, Hester believes that Pearl's very reason for existence is to torment her mother. Hester fails to realize that the letter is just something bright and significant to which Pearl reacts; instead, she sees every glance, every word aimed at the letter, every touch of Pearl's tiny fingers to her bosom as an added torture resulting from her adultery. Hester, considering Pearl's very existence, goes so far as to question if the impish child is even her own. "Thou art not my child! Thou art no Pearl of mine!"(Hawthorne 99) she tells Pearl, only half-jokingly. In her own way, she wonders whether Pearl was sent to her by God or by a demon wishing to cause her pain. She is not alone in this speculation; many of the town's citizens believe there is something of the Devil in Pearl.
Early in the novel, Pearl notices that sunlight strays away from Hester: “Mother, said little Pearl, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom” (Hawthorne 166). This shows that the scarlet letter and the sin, wanted to stay in the darkness, and that the light did not want touch Hester’s sinful body. Even young Pearl is able to recognize the evilness associated with the scarlet letter and how the light shy’s away from it due to its absence of good. In a scene later in the novel, sunlight shines on Hester when she removes the scarlet letter A from her bosom: “she undid the clasp that fastened the scarlet letter, and, taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves. . . All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest” (Hawthorne 184-185). The light represents the purity that Hester desires. Once Hester frees herself from the evilness and sin associated with the scarlet letter, she is showered in sunlight, which reveals the good nature that lies within her. This signifies a rebirth, and also reiterates the symbol of
Through the use of numerous symbols, Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter serves as an allegory for the story of Adam and Eve and its relation to sin, knowledge, and the human condition that is present in human society. Curious for the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, which resulted in the revelation of their “humanness” and expulsion from the “divine garden” as they then suffered the pain and joy of being humans. Just as Adam and Eve were expelled from their society and suffered in their own being, so were Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter. Hester was out casted and shunned, while Dimmesdale suffered under his own guilt. After knowledge of her affair is made known, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest to symbolize her crime of adultery, and is separated from the Puritan society. Another “A” appears in the story, and is not embroidered, but instead scarred on Dimmesdale’s chest as a symbol of guilt and suffering. Hester’s symbol of guilt comes in the form of her daughter, Pearl, who is the manifestation of her adultery, and also the living version of her scarlet letter. Each of these symbols come together to represent that with sin comes personal growth and advancement of oneself in society as the sinner endures the good and bad consequences.
The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and was first published in 1850. Hawthorne’s purpose for The Scarlet Letter was to show how anybody can sin, and that sin should be used as an example to learn from. Hawthorne also made clear that good can come from sin and that sin can help a person grow.
His committed adultery deteriorated his physical appearance and sickens him. Additionally, Dimmesdale begins to starve and beat himself, hoping that punishment will make him feel better or give him the courage to admit to his sins; however, he “could not purify” himself (141). He becomes more ascetic to redeem his sins but still finds the guilt manifesting in his heart. By including this allusion, Hawthorne shows that Dimmesdale wants to expose his sins, but does not have the bravery to do it. This changes at the Election Day Sermon when Reverend Dimmesdale calls to Hester and Pearl to stand on the platform together as a family. Hathorne sets this scene on the “pedestal of shame” where Hester first took the “agony” of Dimmesdale as well as her own to shelter her lover's reputation from the harsh opinions of the townspeople (67, 66). Seven years later, the pedestal is no longer the symbol of agony, but it has a “tender” and “slightly triumphant” aura to it (147). This parallels the change in Reverend Dimmesdale, as seven years ago he “hath not the courage” to admit to his sin and love for Hester on his own, while now he gladly reveals to all the townspeople that it is he who committed adultery with Hester so long ago (65). By his confession, Dimmesdale frees himself from the bonds of guilt that plagued him in the past and allowed
Hester tries to stretch her hand into the circle of light, but the sunshine vanishes (192). She then suggests that they go into the forest and rest (193). This short scene actually represents Hester's daily struggle in life. The light represents what Hester wants to be, which is pure. The movement of the light represents Hester's constant denial of acceptance. Hester's lack of surprise and quick suggestion to go into the forest, where it is dark, shows that she never expected to be admitted and is resigned to her station in life. Another way light and darkness is used in symbolism is by the way Hester and Dimmesdale's plan to escape is doomed. Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the shadows of the forest with a gloomy sky and a threatening storm overhead when they discuss their plans for the future (200). The gloomy weather and shadows exemplify the fact that they can't get away from the repressive force of their sins. It is later proven when Dimmesdale dies on the scaffold instead of leaving with Hester and going to England (269). A final example occurs by the way Hester and Dimmesdale can not acknowledge their love in front of others. When they meet in the woods, they feel that, "No golden light had ever been so precious as the gloom of this dark forest (206). This emotion foretells that they will never last together openly because their sin has separated them too much from normal life. The scarlet letter also takes many different forms in the novel. The first and clearest form that the letter A takes is "Adulteress.
Initially Pearl is the symbol of Hesters public punishment for her adultery. As the novel progresses and Pearl matures she symbolizes the deteriation of Hester's like by constantly asking her about the scarlet letter "A". Pearl in a sense wants her mother to live up to her sin and, she achieves this by constantly asking her about the scarlet letter. Another peice of evidence that shows how Pearl symbolizes the sin Hester has committed, is when the town government wants to take Pearl away from her Revrend Dimmsdale convinces the government that Pearl is a living reminder of her sin. This is essentialy true, Hester without Pearl is like having Hester without sin.
When a secret is hidden inside it can engulf and even destroy a person. Arthur Dimmesdale, a revered young minister in the town, demonstrates what happens to the soul. Dimmesdale, as it is later made known, commits the serious crime of adultery with a young married woman named Hester Prynne living in the Plymouth Colony. Hester is unwilling to reveal her partner in sin. Dimmesdale’s fear of persecution and humiliation forces him to keep his sin a secret. So he watches as Hester is placed before her peers on a platform in front of the whole town and is then called to speak to her and urge that she reveal her fellow adulterer. In essence, he is called upon to commit yet another sin, that of hypocrisy. Dimmesdale’s accumulated sins build inside of him, constantly afflicting his soul until it begins to affect him physically. Thinking himself a hypocrite, he tries to ease his conscience and requite his sin by scourging himself on the chest during the night, fasting for days on end and even climbing the same platform on which Hester began her humiliation.
Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth are all sinners, but they each handle their guilt in different ways. Hester tries to earn forgiveness by acts of service. Dimmesdale allows his guilt to build up to the point that it kills him. Chillingworth becomes obsessed with getting revenge. None of them receive the benefit of forgiveness. There is no true redemption, because there is no Savior in The Scarlet Letter. Without a merciful, loving, and gracious Savior, there can not be forgiveness of sin and reconciliation of broken relationships. This barren hopelessness leaves the characters desperate, alone, and in need of a Rescuer.
Hester Prynne was a young woman living in a Puritan community in the "New World." Her husband, Roger Chillingworth was said to be lost at sea, and Hester assumed his death. Upon this basis, young Hester committed a crime of adultery with her fellow Minister Arthur Dimmesdale. The result of this extra marital affair was the birth of young Pearl, an "elf-like" child. When the townspeople become aware of what Hester has done, they forced her to wear an ultimate sign of punishment, the scarlet letter. This letter "A" for adultery had to be worn on Hester's bosom at all times.
beginning of Pearl's existence Hester was forced into wearing the scarlet letter "A" on her
There is nothing more pliable than the mind of a child, and because of the world that she lives in, Pearl has been forced into the deeper understanding of what eternally plasters her mother’s chest; this is even in infancy. “One day, as her mother stooped over the cradle, the infant’s eyes had been caught by the glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter; and, putting up her little hand, she grasped it, smiling not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam that gave her face the look of a much older child” (Hawthorne 79-80). Though it terrifies Hester, the fact that Pearl is able to identify that the letter exists is only the gateway to the growth of her knowledge of it. This comes into effect more prominently in the following years when she finally begins to comprehend the scarlet letter’s importance. Pearl realizes that because her mother wears the letter, people treat her differently. She does not know why or how, but she knows that it is not right. One person in particular who treats Hester differently is Dimmesdale. Though at the time she does not know her father, Pearl understands that the scarlet letter controls his life just as much as it does Hester’s, but he is not treated differently. Even so, her innocence takes over and questions why he does not have the same burden as Hester. A quote on page 127 can support this: “Pearl