Pride In The Scarlet Letter

Roger Chillingworth is a vile man who hides his disgrace of having a disloyal wife and finds pleasure in tormenting the poor Arthur Dimmesdale. When he comes to town at the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Chillingworth makes Hester promise not to tell anyone that he is her real husband.“ ‘Breath not, to any human soul, that thou didst ever call me husband!’…’because I will not encounter the dishonor that besmirches the husband of a faithless woman…’”(Hawthorne 52-53).

The setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet letter” is crucial to the understanding of the event that takes place in the story. The setting of the story is in Salem, Massachusetts during the Puritan era. During the Puritan era, adultery was taken as a very serious sin, and this is what Hester and Dimmesdale committ with each other. Because of the sin, their lives change, Hester has to walk around in public with a Scarlet Letter “A” which stands for adultery, and she is constantly being tortured and is thought of as less than a person. Dimmesdale walks around with his sin kept as secret, because he never admits his sin, his mental state is changing, and the sin degrades his well-being. Chillingworth

The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is set in Boston during the 1640s where the main religion was Puritanism. Hawthorne published his book during the Romantic period emphasizing individualism and a person’s relationship with God. This book also contains Gothic elements because it shows the psychological effects of being alienated from society and the darker sides of humanity. Throughout the book there are characters that demonstrate hubris. The character that most prominently shows excessive pride is Arthur Dimmesdale.

These two main characters wanted their husband or wife to change for their likings. In The Scarlet Letter, Chillingstworth is Hester Pryns husband. Everyone thinks that Chillingworth is dead because that's what Hester tells them, Chillingsworth comes back to find that his wife if pregnant. He begins to seek out and see who has gotten his wife pregnant out of adultery.

The theme of pride is seen most clearly through Chillingworth. He is not only mad at Hester, but he is vengeful towards Dimmesdale. His pride is strongly affecting his relationship with Hester. When he says, “What evil have I done the man?” he is convincing himself that he has not done anything wrong even though he is tormenting Dimmesdale.

"But she named the infant 'Pearl,' as being of great price- purchased with all she had- her mother's only pleasure" (Hawthorne 85). Pearl being one of the main characters and symbols in Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, is one of the biggest character because of what she represents. Pearl represents many things in this novel. Although many believe that Pearl is more of just a character to be the realistic symbol of Hester's mistake, Pearl is the main idea in this story. Pearl is a character that represents the complicatedness of love, proudness and pride, and most of all adultery involving Hester and Dimmesdale.

In the novel The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, all of the characters possess specific traits of the seven deadly sins which are lust, gluttony, greed, pride, wrath, envy and sloth. My character Roger Chillingworth possesses the sins, greed, wrath and pride. I will attempt to make a connection between the sins committed by Chillingworth and his motivation behind those sins and sins committed by people in our world today. For example, one could compare wrath to the destructive and horrible feats of today’s murders that feel they have been treated unjustly, therefore, take the lives of those they feel have wronged them. Another comparison is the effects that pride can have on today’s role models such as professional athletes and the result of greed on some of today’s entertainers who need more and more stuff, such as cars, homes, jewels and the list goes on and on.

Chillingworth tells Hester, “’It may be,’ he replied, ‘because I will not encounter the dishonor that besmirches the husband of a faithless woman’” (Hawthorne 70). As a new comer, if the town had knowledge that he was the husband of Hester, he would be pitied. Nevertheless, Chillingworth decided that it was better to be unknown than shamed. Thus, he struggles and suffers emotionally in the search for his new

The Outcast Oppression towards females in society goes way back in history. How back? Let us go back to the 1600’s, more specifically 1630; in a town called Massachusetts Bay Colony or what we know today as Boston. The Puritans arrived in New England from England with aspirations to live a life free from religious persecution, strictly lead pious lives, and to keep a well-knit family relationship; they accomplished all these goals with the exception of being abided by the strict guidelines of the church and government. This Puritan society had very strict rules, especially on sin.

"One token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another." (Hawthorne, 2) Guilt and shame are two of the most devastating feelings that can haunt and eat people alive for the rest of their lives. Everyone has experienced either guilt or shame in their lifetime, especially the two main characters in this book called The Scarlet Letter. Although Arthur Dimmesdale is not married, he still commits a sin with Hester Prynne, which is fornication and separating Hester and her husband, Roger Chillingworth. Hester, on the other hand, only commits adultery because she is married to Chillingworth and is sleeping with Dimmesdale who is not her husband. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, both Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne commit

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, narrates the experiences of Hester Prynne, a beautiful young woman in Puritan times, after committing the sin of adultery with the local Reverend, Mr. Arthur Dimmesdale. Because she became pregnant, she bears the public scorn of her sin, while the town does not uncover Mr. Dimmesdale’s participation in the act until the very end of the novel. Using the Puritan society as the setting, and the development of both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, Hawthorne explores the concepts of individuality, identity, and isolation. Through Hester and Dimmesdale, he presents two scenarios: one in which the character is isolated and freed from society,

The Scarlet Letter Introduction The Scarlet Letter is a classic tale of sin, punishment, and revenge. It was written in 1850 by the famous American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. It documents the lives of three tragic characters, each of whom suffer greatly because of his or her sins. Shot Plot The story begins with Hester Prynne, a resident of a small Puritan community, being led from the town jailhouse to a public scaffold where she must stand for three hours as punishment for adultery. She must also wear a scarlet A on her dress for the rest of her life as part of her punishment. As she is led to the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd complain that

In The Scarlet Letter, "rugged individualism" is a concept used by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne. "Rugged Individualism" is the main concept that is maintained through the main characters in The Scarlet Letter. This concept is used to help contributively develop an individual character. It mainly states that character will break free from society to become "Rugged Individualism" is seen through the two main characters Roger Chillingworth, the antagonist, as well as Hester Prynne, the protagonist.

The Scarlet Letter is a well known novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The novel is composed and written in Salem and Concord, as well as Boston, Massachusetts in the late 1840's. The narrator of the novel is in an omniscent state, meaning he knows more about the characters than the characters know about themselves. Although the narrartor is omniscent, he also makes sure to include his ideas and opinions on situations, making him also greatly subjective. Being subjective, as well as omniscent, historical fiction along with a story displaying constant symbolism is evident.

The Scarlet Letter Critical Analysis Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, the direct descendant of John Hawthorne, and a judge at the infamous Salemwitchcraft trials. The guilt that Hawthorne felt over the actions of his ancestor had an enormous impact on his writings. In his introduction of "The Scarlet Letter", Hawthorne accepts the guilt from his forefathers and offers to repent for their crimes (Waggoner, 5). This unusual way of viewing guilt and sin is one driving factor in Hawthorne's writing. The other, which is closely related to the first, is the relationship between men, and of man to humanity as a whole.