Since the dawn of man people have been challenged by evil. Whether it was Eve eating and than offering the apple to Adam, or the Caveman murdering his neighbor for personal benefit. Using Nathaniel Hawthorns novel The Scarlet Letter we can see how evil consumes someone’s day to day live even if it is filled with the morals brought fourth upon them by their god. Three of the four main characters in this book were sinners who were faced with evil and chose to suffer, combat, or bargain with it. With good intentions the townspeople also played a role letting evil exist with the intentions of stomping it out.
In the 1600’s because of fear from their vengeful god Puritans tried to be moral and just. They chose a life where the 10 commandments was the law of the land and there was no exception. The sixth commandment Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery was not a rule that people ignored. With the intentions of comforting Hester Prynne’s lonesomeness and grief for her missing husband, Arthur Dimmesdale became passionate. They both shared intimacy knowing the result was not praised in Heaven. She later found that she was pregnant and our novel begins to show a struggle between good and evil.
After Hester Prynne’s child was born, she was forced to take her walk of shame out of the prison doors to stand on a Scaffold to be publicly humiliated. The townspeople in the marketplace were astonished that a woman can let her lust overwhelm her into the point of adultery. Harsh statements came out of their mouths. “`At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead. `Said one of the angry puritans” (1360). The townspeople have good intentions by trying to teach others that Adultery was a sin yet are doing the work of the Dark Man. By mentally crucifying this woman and making her wear the letter they are forming their own lust and vengefulness.
While on the Scaffold she looks down to see her missing husband Rodger Chillingworth and he is horrified and ashamed. It is hard to forgive and Chillingworth mentally vows revenge to the one who impregnated his wife. He later tells her not to let his identity to be known. Even in chapter four The Interview it is hard for us to see the path of evil he is about to follow.
People all over the world continuously commit sins some are bigger than others and some do more damage. In the book, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman, Hester Prynne, is publicly shamed and force to wear a scarlet A upon her bosom for committing adultery. Throughout the book, Hester and her daughter, Pearl, try to adapt to life as an outsider. The two are continuously judged for Hester’s sin, and humiliated, however, they overcome this judgment and are seen in a different way. Hester and Pearl have been publicly shamed, Pearl has been considered an elfish devil like child, and after all the humiliation they were able to turn their lives around.
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.
Hester wants to protect the ones that she loves --, Pearl, Dimmesdale, her husband -- , even though she suffers more from it. In the Bible, it is one of the commandments is, to not commit adultery. When the gGossips were saying that they wanted Hester put to death (Hawthorn, 1994, p.g 36 lines 17-18), they were following the law of the Old Testament, but now that Christ died for our sins, we do not have to be put to death for our sins; we can ask for forgiveness of our sins. Nathaniel Hawthorne wanted to portray the life of an adulteress in a Puritan colony; he did so by writing how Hester’s sin affected other people, as well as the character’s strength throughout the book. The law from the Old Testament is portrayed by the people of the colony when Hester was on trial. At the end of the book, Hester Prynne is still wearing the letter, but she was presenting herself differently compared to the beginning despite the fact that the letter still made her heart ache from memories of the
Nathaniel Hawthorne was a truly outstanding author. His detailed descriptions and imagery will surely keep people interested in reading The Scarlet Letter for years to come. In writing this book he used themes evident throughout the entirety of the novel. These themes are illustrated in what happens to the characters and how they react. By examining how these themes affect the main characters, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, one can obtain a better understanding of what Hawthorne was trying to impress upon his readers.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was not a Puritan. But Hawthrone’s forefathers were Puritans, so he had an understanding of their belief system and their basis behind it. He stated that he hoped the sins of his forefathers had been forgiven. Hoping to expose those ideas which he understood, yet despised, Hawthorne purposely presented many important Puritan beliefs as import aspects to the Scarlet Letter. In the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne addresses three main Puritan beliefs: providence, predestination, and the strict code of ethics that the settlers of New Englanders lived by.
As humans we are affected by our environment, either the social aspects, or the location of residence, or interior of the world we live in. These effects can either be positive to one’s nature or deteriorating to one’s morals. When we look at the substantial impacts of a positive culture, such as the enlightenment that boosted the intelligence and desire to learn of expanding countries all around, we see that it can truly make a difference. On the other hand, if a child is raised in a cruel environment or drug ridden neighborhood, they to will most likely follow in the path. So our society and environment greatly impacts our human behavior and thoughts, this is especially shown in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter throughout the moral and physical changes in Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.
Hester’s sin is the sin which gives the book its title and around which the action of the book resolves. Adultery, which was prohibited by the Seventh Amendment, was usually punished by death. A woman in the crowd stated, “At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forhead…She may cover it (the scarlet letter) with a brooch, or such like heathenish adornment, and so walk the streets as brave as ever (pg. 53)!” Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale shows truth by his occupation.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne has introduced a character that has been judged harshly. Because, she has been misinformed of her husband’s death; therefore, she was greave and had sought comfort resulting in a baby from the lover whom gave her comfort. When her secret had been discovered she was isolated for committing a treacherous crime of adultery, as one of her punishments she was forced to wear an A on her chest. The novel presents a structure of a society, using symbolism and diction to give underline meaning to the themes, portraying religious tendencies ruled by the philosophy of good and evil.
Obtaining virtue was expected to secure order and peace within the Puritan community. The Church officials, who played a direct role in the government, calculated the penalties for various sins. When sins arose, the government took the role as chief executive of corrective punishment and instituted castigation. Hester found herself very much a part of the local Church and government’s heavy hand. Everyone was aware of her sinful act, for she was placed on a scaffold amidst the entire people for a painful viewing. The religious morals instilled in the Puritan society caused her much pain long after the public humiliation. Permanently “symbolized as a sinner”, Hester was branded for life with a cloth letter worn on her bosom.
In the book, Chillingworth is a physician who had been captured by Native Americans sometime ago and subsequently released by them into Boston, Massachusetts, who was strictly a Puritan settlement at the time. In the years of his imprisonment by the Indians, he was taught many native herbs and plants of the New World, and their uses on the human body. Through this, he entered Boston as a physician, known to have "gathered herbs, and the blossoms of wild-flowers, and dug up roots, and plucked off twigs from the forest-trees, like one acquainted with hidden virtues in what was valueless to common eyes." ( The Scarlet Letter , p. 120). Chillingworth had the knowledge of a particular drug, Atropine, which caused a sickness that closely resembled the condition of Dimmesdale. Chillingworth's motive for retribution to Dimmesdale for his adultery was very clear throughout the book, "There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of him. I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares. Sooner or later, he must needs be mine." (p. 80). Chillingworth's vengeful nature consumed his life and his only goal in life became the torment of Hester's adulterous husband, Dimmesdale. He was already showing signs of sickness, assumed by the reader to be attributed to his guilty conscience, and these were only amplified by the poisoning Chillingworth had inflicted upon him.
In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, the letter is understood as a label of punishment and sin being publicized. Hester Prynne bears the label of “A” signifining adulterer upon her chest. Because of this scorching red color label she becomes the outcast of her society. She wears this symbol of punishment and it become a burden throughout her life. The letter “produces only a reflection of her scarlet letter; likewise, the townspeople's image of Hester revolves around her sin. The evil associated with Hester's actions and the letter on her chest consume all aspects of her life, concealing her true beauty, mind, and soul” (R. Warfel 421-425). Society pushed blame upon Hester Prynne, and these events lead to the change of her life. The Puritans whom Prynne is surround by view the letter as a symbol from the devil, controversially some individuals look upon the letter, sigh and fell sympathy towards her because they have or are involved in this same situation. Nonetheless the haunting torture Hester Prynne battles daily drags on, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows this torture “of an impulse and passionate nature. She had fortified herself to encounter the stings and venomous stabs of public contumely wreaking itself in every variety of insult but...
In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne analyzes Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth. In the story, Hester is the main character of the story and was called Mistress Prynne (Hawthorne 70). Dimmesdale, in the story was referred to as Reverend Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 90). Chillingworth was originally named, Roger Prynne but later in the story he changed his name to Roger Chillingworth. In the story, Hester committed adultery with Dimmesdale against Chillingworth and in the beginning she got punished and sent to prison and later she got to get out of prison but with the exception of having to wear the letter A on her breast every time she went out in to town.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is virtually banished from the Puritan society because of her crime. She was guilty for adultery with the town’s minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. However, the reader is kept in the dark that Dimmesdale is the child’s father until latter part of the novel. Although Hawthorne’s novel accurately depicts the consequences that Hester and Dimmesdale suffer from their sin, the novel does not accomplish the task of reflecting upon the 17th century Puritan gender roles in Hester and Dimmesdale. For one, the mental and physical states of Hester and Dimmesdale are switched. Hester takes on the more courageous role throughout the novel whereas Dimmesdale takes on the more sensitive role. In addition, Hester is examined in accordance to the gender roles set for today’s American women. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is written in a manner that accurately depicts 17th century Puritan society, but does not accurately show gender roles.
The first chapter sets the scene for the novel: Boston, during the seventeenth century. During this period, religion is the foundation for both the laws and the society. We are introduced to the town's cemetery and nearby prison. Next to the prison grows a wild rosebush. We can think of the wild rosebush as representing the beauty of nature, and the prison as the symbol of societies need to tame nature.
Hester Prynne’s sin was adultery. This sin was regarded very seriously by the Puritans, and was often punished by death. Hester’s punishment was to endure a public shaming on a scaffold for three hours and wear a scarlet letter "A" on her chest for the rest of her life in the town. Although Hawthorne does not pardon Hester’s sin, he considers it less serious than those of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Hester’s sin was a sin of passion. This sin was openly acknowledged as she wore the "A" on her chest. Hester did not commit the greatest sin of the novel. She did not deliberately mean to commit her sin or mean to hurt others.