The Message of The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne, a critically acclaimed American writer of the 19th century, was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. The novelist's book, The Scarlet Letter, is supposedly his best work, and universally considered a literary classic. Concerned with sin and consequences of dealing with it, Hawthorne's work relates to his own personal sense of shame about his ancestor's persecuting roles in the 17th century Salem Witch Trials. By indirectly dealing with his sense of guilt through fictional circumstances, he shows his viewpoint as being highly critical of the Puritans while teaching a strong moral lesson in the process. Graduating in the middle of his class from Bowdain College in 1825, he went on to write a variety of long stories, short stories, and articles. Generally his writings contained powerful symbolic and psychological aspects of "the effects of pride, guilt, sin, and secrecy" (Encarta, 1997).
Although many moral lessons are dealt with in the book, the most significant thesis Hawthorne proved was salvation can only be earned by being open about and true to what you are. Using excellent characterization, description and expression he develops his thesis by showing the consequences of hiding sin, like Arthur Dimmesdale, and of publicly acknowleding it, like Hester Prynne. Through Hester's daily struggle with her public punishment to wear a scarlet letter A on her clothing to remind her and everyone in the Puritan community of her adultery, she learns how to cope with and triumph over her sin against humanity. On the other hand, Reverand Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester's equally guilty partner in the crime, refuses within himself to publicly confess his sin until the end of the novel, whereas shortly after he dies. Thus, Hawthorne summarizes the delayed importance of being truthful about oneself in his quote, "Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred, (236)!"
The authors overall presentation is very clear because to the emphasis of his main point of truth setting people free. It drags the reader into the action and enables them to live with the characters, at the same time as teaching a valuable lesson in dealing with life's obstacles. The style of his writing is very symbolic, descriptive, and detailed. He creates very vivid images of the story through elaborate adjectives.
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne attempted to expose the varying ways in which different people deal with lingering guilt from sins they have perpetrated. The contrasting characters of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale ideally exemplified the differences in thought and behavior people have for guilt. Although they were both guilty of committing the same crime, these two individuals differed in that one punished themselves with physical and mental torture and the other chose to continue on with their life, devoting it to those less fortunate than they.
painting with dimensions about 9 feet wide and 7 feet high. The medium of this work is oil on
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He got a lot of his inspiration from his mother. She loved painting with water colors and making
It seems to be his style of painting, thick brush strokes. It is not simple, there is much to the painting, there is emotion in the painting. It is a stunning piece made by him.
In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes imagery to convey that Dimmesdale can represent Puritan Society rather than the round character that can be seen on the surface level. This is seen through the imagery and symbolism of hypocrisy, Dimmesdale as a Christ figure, and the scarlet letter.
The virtue of truth and the evil of secret sin are clearly illustrated in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The three main characters in this novel display their own honesty and sins.
The two focal figures are illustrated with complementary colors, the woman 's dress being orange, and the man’s pants being blue. Benton uses these colors to bring life into the painting. The background is made up mostly of earthy colors like, greens, browns, and greys and a light blue for the sky. Benton seems to add white to every color he uses, which gives the painting an opaque look. The deepest hues found in this painting are the blue one the man’s pants and the orange on the woman’s dress, everything else around them looks washed out and Benton does this to emphasize his focal points
1911 from the Louvre in Paris, and it became instantly iconic. Pictures of the piece of art
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that shows the Puritanical way of life. Society does not accept the fact that Hester has committed the sin of adultery so they cast her out by making her wear a scarlet letter 'A' across her chest. Pearl is the product of Hester's sin, the scarlet letter is the product of society. This idea shows that Pearl is the scarlet letter and the scarlet letter is Pearl. There are many ways in which Pearl is shown to be as the scarlet letter because she is considered to be a part of nature, she is the physical connection between Dimmesdale and Hester, and Pearl is the reason that makes Dimmesdale and Hester to finally accept their sin and make their confession in front of society and the people within society. The reasons are listed in this manner because in the first one nature is a stronger force that human force, then comes her connection between Dimmesdale and Hester because she is the natural connection which is a link from the first one to the second and also her being the reason Dimmesdale and Hester accepting the sin is last because there is a stronger connection between the child and the parents here which is linked from the previous reason.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Mr. Dimmesdale’s greatest fear is that the townspeople will find out about his sin of adultery with Hester Prynne. Mr. Dimmesdale fears that his soul could not take the shame of such a disclosure, as he is an important moral figure in society. However, in not confessing his sin to the public, he suffers through the guilt of his sin, a pain which is exacerbated by the tortures of Roger Chillingworth. Though he consistently chooses guilt over shame, Mr. Dimmesdale goes through a much more painful experience than Hester, who endured the public shame of the scarlet letter. Mr. Dimmesdale’s guilt is much more damaging to his soul than any shame that he might have endured.
Without an honorable reputation a person is not worthy of respect from others in their society. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, the struggle to shake off the past is an underlying theme throughout the novel. Characters in this novel go through their lives struggling with trying to cope with the guilt and shame associated with actions that lost them their honorable reputation. Particularly, Hawthorne shows the lasting effect that sin and guilt has on two of the main characters in the book: Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale.
The author of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, expressed ideas of love, passion, shame, and punishment throughout his 1800s based novel. Due to the fact that this novel was based in a Puritan time period, it brought many mental and sometimes physical difficulties for the main character, Hester Prynne. The Puritans solely believed in God and all of his rules. With that said, the author decided to illustrate the drama of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s adultery in order to describe the change in Hester’s attitude. Because of the many events, adversities and struggles, Hester had a complete change in attitude from shame and embarrassment to love, proudness and satisfaction.
A western bishop appraised: “Yet we honestly believe that "the Scarlet Letter" has already done not a little to degrade our literature, and to encourage social licentiousness: it has started other pens on like enterprises, and has loosed the restraint of many tongues, that have made it an apology for "the evil communications which corrupt good manners.” (Coxe.) Hawthorne’s sagacious perception revealed the dark and ugly side of the Puritan society and remonstrated the unfairness under the laws. He established his story not only based on the actual events but also leaned on his lavish imaginative conception and his personal experience. Hawthorne is a good ironic writer and most of his eyes focus on the unfairness and repulsive about human life and he’s novel concentrated revealing the evils and ugly side about humanity. One of the best writers during 1900s, Henry James wrote: “He is to a considerable degree ironical—this is part of his charm—part even, one may say, of his brightness; but he is neither bitter nor cynical—he is rarely even what I should call tragical.” (James.) His achievements inspired future writer such as Henry James, Faulkner, and Melville, thereby forming an important American literary historical writing tradition. He cleverly makes symbolism and romanticism bond together and makes his work interesting and enjoyable
Renoir, Pierre Auguste. Young Woman Sewing. 1879. Oil on canvas. The Art Institute of Chicago, Illnois.