Born in 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work belonged to Romanticism or Dark Romanticism. Many of his works were inspired by the Puritan Society of the New England usually combined with the historical Romances and surrealism. One of the Romantic works of Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Scarlet Letter” was published in 1850. The setting and the plot of the Novel canters on the seventeenth century Puritan society. He starts off with an introduction of the prison and followed by crowd starring at Hester Prynne who was being punished for her sins. Though Hester Prynne is on the foreground of the story some argue that her character and role is an unattainable one. To some extent Hawthorne does portray Hester Prynne’s and her deeds disapproving to the puritan morals and values, he however simplifies her attitude towards the situation she submits herself to, he focuses more on her positive strengths such as being honest to face her …show more content…
One can actually say that the novel begins in medias res, in the opening of the scene the audience is not very much clear about Hester except that she has committed a crime and she is now being punished for her crime. In the Penguins Study Edition of The Scarlet Letter the introduction of Hester standing on the scaffold with her illegitimate daughter in her arms seeking at once to efface and flaunt the scarlet letter, the narrator introduces a note to the Puritan procedure for ‘punishing’ the ‘sinner’. Puritan society had strict moral values; the women in particular were not allowed to perform any actions that would affect her status and status of women as a whole. Hawthorne in his introductory fraction in the novel begins with negative
Born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote many novels and short stories. Hawthorne’s best novel, The Scarlet Letter, overtook the role of the first truly, American novel. His use of rhetorical devices, especially symbolism, established him as one of the most studied authors of all time. In order to convey meaning or to persuade, Hawthorne utilized numerous rhetorical devices. Rhetorical devices in The Scarlet Letter evoked emotions of the audience. In Hawthorne’s work, the devices helped the audience elaborate on the novel. Hawthorne used rhetorical devices to show his character's turmoil. He did this through the character of Hester Prynne, a social outcast bound to isolation by her sins. In novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne depicts Hester’s inner turmoil through the portrayal of the sinful nature of human beings utilizing rhetorical devices.
Hawthorne chooses to have Hester overcome her struggles. At the end of the book, Hester finds at least some degree of peace. The struggles and pain she went through were not pleasant, but they did provoke her to improve her relationship with God. Her burden seems lessened and if there is nothing else for her to be joyful about, her daughter Pearl has adapted and thrived in her new life. Hester Prynne shows mercy upon the sick and does charity work even when it goes unappreciated. She gave her time and effort to help the poor even when they rebuked her as well. Her dedication to try and fix her mistakes is admirable and the reader feels as if Hester has really changed for the better. The change in Hester makes the people respect her and come to her for advice at the end of the story. In chapter 13, Hawthorne writes about how the Puritans have mixed feelings about Hester, but the majority of the people now forgive and hold her in high regard. “They said it meant ‘Able’; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength.” (pg. 158) This quote shows how the interpretation of the letter and of Hester herself has changed. The new view of Hester gained by the Puritans is based on her response to the scarlet letter, a symbol meant to ruin her but in reality it made her
With all the chaos present in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, there is a central point at which the novel revolves around: Hester Prynne’s sin. Because of her adulterous actions, she is mocked by both modern and Puritan society. It is through her character as an adulteress that D.H. Lawrence scorns and evaluates Hester Prynne’s flaws through his use of brief diction, sarcastic tone, and biblical allusions.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" is set in the early days of Puritan America. Hester Prynne, a seamstress, comes to the New World before her husband in order to prepare a place for them. During his absence, she develops a relationship with Arthur Dimmesdale, a rising minister in the newly founded Puritan community. Hester becomes pregnant. The novel is widely viewed to be a story about her trials and tribulations; however, critic Randall Steward argues that, " Hester is not the protagonist, the chief actor, and the tragedy of the novel is not her tragedy but Arthur's. He is the persecuted one, the tempted one. He it was whom the sorrows of death encompassed His public confession is one of
In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne develops the dynamic characterization of Hester Prynne from a beautiful, innocent girl into a somber, hardened women to showcase the evils and hypocrisy of Puritan New England’s culture of shaming. Hawthorne employs rhetorical devices such as metaphor and juxtaposition to further develop the characterization and his critique of Puritan society. When initially describing Hester, Hawthorne emphasizes her incredible beauty, and juxtaposes this with the other ugly, judging Puritan women, adding to the hypocrisy of her being shamed for sinning. Hawthorne emphasizes the verbal assault on Hester by employing metaphor and imagery in its description. After the community shuns and shames Hester for years, Hawthorne uses metaphor again to show how Hester’s body and character changes for the worst, emphasizes the malice and evil of public shame.
The Scarlet Letter is a novel that took place in the 17th century, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The heartbreaking story of the main character, Hester Prynne dispersed the reader's’ thoughts. Hester Prynne suffered from adultery, where she had a child without father’s presence and support. Hester also suffered from bullying, where she was conjectured by superior people in the Puritan Legacy. The Scarlet Letter illustrated many bullying examples throughout certain chapters of the book.
Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne has one question floating throughout the town; who sinned with Hester Prynne? This uncertainity keeps the suspense alive throughout both the novel and the Puritian town. Hester Prynne’s husband, captured by the Indians and absent for around two years, results in her out of wedlock pregnancy. This deed gave Hester the title of the biggest sinner in town.
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
Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the ideology of Puritan society in the novel the Scarlet Letter; however reader also get to witness his characters being an illustration of hypocrisy and victims to their own guilt. In the Scarlet Letter, as in many of Hawthorne’s shorter works, he makes profuse use of the Puritan past: its odd exclusionary belief, its harsh code of ruling, its concern with sex and witchcraft. The Scarlet Letter is a story that is embellished but yet simple. Many readers may view this novel as a soap opera due to the way Hawthorne conveys this Puritan society’s sense of strictness and inability to express true emotion along with the secrecy and how deceiving the characters are being. As the story unfolds the main character Hester Prynne is bounded in marriage at an early age. She engages in an adulterous affair with an unknown member of their small village. Hester soon becomes pregnant and with her husband’s absence the chances of this child belonging to her husband are slim. The towns’ people know that she has committed a sin and imprisons her for her crime.
Anne Hutchinson, a Puritan settler, gets exiled from the Puritan Settlement because of her actions. Similarly, Hester Prynne’s sinful action results in her confinement in prison, away from the town people. In the 1850’s, Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes The Scarlet Letter. Set in a Puritanical Society, The Scarlet Letter tells the story of how one simple act of passion upsets the very basic thread of society. In the novel, Hester Prynne personally transcends the judgments of society through her discoveries in nature, while she lives a simplistic life and becomes more self-reliant.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in 1849. This novel won him much fame and a good reputation as a writer. In writing The Scarlet Letter, Hawethorne was creating a form of fiction he called the psychological romance. A psychological romance is a story that contains all of the conventional trappings of a typical romance, but deeply portrays humans in conflict with themselves. The Scarlet Letter won Hawthorne great critical acclaim, and even today the book remains on the best seller list. The Scarlet Letter is so popular maybe because generations of readers can interpret it and see subtle meanings that somewhat reflect their own lives. Each of us, has
In addition to Hester’s rebellious nature, she also defies the Puritan's standards through her great confidence. Hester Prynne of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter disregards the Puritan Society's standards of women through her astounding confidence. The Following scene takes place when Hester is being escorted out of prison by the town beadle. He places his hands on her shoulders and she confidently repels him, using her own free will, which is very unlikely for women at the time. “Stretching forth the official staff in his left hand, he laid his right upon the shoulder of a young woman, whom he thus drew forward, until, on the threshold of the prison-door, she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air as if by her own free will”(Hawthorne 36). Hester’s confidence when he repels the town beadle away, shows that she defies the standards for women. The Puritan women were not usually being escorted from jail, but Hester does this with confidence, showing that not only does she disregard the image of women in the Puritan Society but she does it with confidence as she pushes the beadle away, and continues to walk out of jail by her own free will. In addition, the governor notices
What makes a hero? Some may say saving lives, or stopping evil, but in literature, these are not the only requirements for the title of “hero.” It is monstrously debated amongst literary scholars whether or not Hester Prynne of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is a true heroine or not. She displays heroic qualities, but many believe otherwise. The novel opens with her being publicly humiliated. Her sin was adultery, a transgression that puritans of the 1600's would take to heart. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, had not been seen for two years, and she slept
In the 1850’s, America was undergoing a massive internal changes via the industrial revolution. With this new era, American culture was drastically changed as women started to take a more prominent role in American society. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne attempts to stimulate this change by illustrating the positive influence of a strong female character in a Puritanical society through his heroine, Hester Prynne, by putting her in a scandalous situation capable of drawing out the worst in people.
The character of Hester Prynne changed significantly throughout the novel "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery. For this irrevocably harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life.