Scarlet Letter Essay

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Christa Clough
October 12, 2012
English III
1st Period
The Symbolism of The Scarlet Letter Have you ever read a book with lots of symbolism? Did you notice there was one symbol the author went to great extents to represent to the reader? The Scarlet Letter is a well known book that has been read for many generations. It is one of those books that has lots of symbolism but has one primary symbol that is concentrated on throughout the book. This major symbol is a scarlet letter A. This letter is worn by a young girl that has committed a detestable sin in her community. The young girl who endures wearing the letter is Hester Pryne. She lives in a society that wants to be perfect and they call themselves Puritans. The letter A, a symbol for adultery, was worn on Hester’s bosom as her penalty for her sin. She was to wear it for the rest of her existence as a daily reminder of what she had done. This made her a living and walking sermon of why people should not sin. When she would go out into town she would be that sermon to the people, and when she would go to church she would be someone for the preacher to have a sermon on. Hester was a striking, young woman who had been married off to an elderly man whom she did not love. Her husband, Chillingworth, sent her ahead of him to prepare a home for them in the puritan society, but after years of him not showing up she fell in love. She committed adultery with this man whom she loved named Arthur Dimmsedale. Her sin was revealed from the baby who she carried in her womb, but she would not tell of Arthur’s sin and bring him down with her. In the Scarlet Letter it tells of her showing her scarlet letter to the

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Mini-Report #2 (The Scarlet Letter Motif) In chapters nine through sixteen, Hawthorne alternates the meaning of the scarlet “A” from adultery to able. The letter now symbolizes Hester’s strength and ability. Metamorphosis says that the townspeople who once condemned her now believed her scarlet "A" to stand for her ability to create beautiful needlework and for her unselfish assistance to the poor and sick (Metamorphosis online). During this section of “The Scarlet Letter,” Hester begins to be…

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Sympathy In The Scarlet Letter

Surname 5 Name Professor Subject Date The Scarlet Letter This essay will take a defensive position on the assertion that people are not actually “humanized” or capable of sympathy until grief deeply touches them. Evidence will point out that people reactions to sympathy for others have to be emotionally induced, mostly by pain or unusual happenings and acts. Pearl is the daughter of Hester, and the book uses her as a symbol. She becomes an important character in the book through her ability to provoke…

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of the Letter in The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter includes many profound and important symbols. This device of symbolism is portrayed well in the novel, especially through the scarlet letter "A". The "A" is the best example because of the changes in the meaning throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel, the scarlet letter "A" is viewed as a symbol of sin. The middle of the novel is a transition period, where the scarlet letter…

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disagreed with the practices and dependency on religion, and he wrote The Scarlet Letter in backlash. Puritan society did not believe in putting individuals over the whole community nor did they believe in finding spirituality in nature. Transcendentalism is a literary movement presented in the book the Scarlet Letter, It is demonstrated through Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Pearl. The main character of The Scarlet Letter is Hester Prynne, a woman who committed adultery and who is publicly…

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Hycrisy In Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter is a romantic fiction, that was written by the American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850. The setting of the novel is Boston during the Puritan era, where a woman (Hester Prynne) who is not married gets pregnant which makes her an adulteress. Her punishment for adultery is to wear a the scarlet letter “A.” on her chest as a visible representation of her sin. The town then basically shuns her, especially because she does not disclose the identity of pearl’s (her child’s) father…

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The Scarlet Letter “The Scarlet Letter” is set in Puritan times when morals and beliefs greatly affected daily existence and people’s belief structure. The functional physical setting of “The Scarlet Letter” is to both foreshadow what will come and relate to the actual events occurring. For example, in the beginning of the story, the cemetery can represent the negativity in the following scene where Hester is made fun of at the scaffold. The forest represents evil because it is where witch meeting…

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Scarlet Letter Symbolism

that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow” (74) shows that the rose holds valuable significance throughout the story. The scarlet letter itself, the “A”, descriptively stands for “Adulterer”, which outlines the sin that Hester had committed. The letter holds a lot of pain and shame to it, shown by, “...for the remainder of her natural life to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom” (95). Another form of symbolism is the scaffold, which…

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Scarlet letter Essay

Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter is a figure of shame and sin. Hester is looked down upon and shunned by the townspeople because she's has committed adultery. She is forced to wear the letter "A" to tarnish her reputation. Hawthorne's attitude toward Hester is different from the rest of the townspeople because of the way her presents her and finishes the story. As the novel continues the meaning of the scarlet letter changes from adulterer to able, adding to Hawthorne's true view of Hester Prynne…

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Scarlet Letter Essay

A simple letter of the alphabet transforms into a symbol of sin, shame, and identity in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter. In the Scarlet letter, as a punishment for the crime of adultery, Hester becomes forced to wear the scarlet letter A for the duration of her life. In Puritan Boston, which the story sets, the town considers adultery an ignominious act. In the romance The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses diction, and point of view to create a critical and analytical tone in order…

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Scarlet Letter Essay

Hester Prynne may come off as a unrepentant, careless mother in the book "The Scarlet Letter". Many readers find her arogant but Hester is misunderstood and judged by the others. Hester Prynne is a good mother to her daughter Pearl. Hawthorne makes Hester an underdog in the book, which puts a target on her back when she sins. She is loving towards her daughter and considers her a treasure. Hester has been through so in the novel because of this sin but she continues to stick by Pearls side. Multiple…

Words 831 - Pages 4