Adultery in Literature: Comparing 'The Scarlet Letter' and 'Chicago'

1370 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The weakness of adultery

The Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne commits adultery and gives birth to an illegitimate child. Although this story takes place in a complete different time than the roaring 20s, the central theme can be connected to the musical film Chicago where Roxie Hart, the protagonist, commits a similar crime to that of Hester Prynne. In Hester’s community it is looked down to have an affair while you are married even if you do feel alone and otherwise able to do so. Hester Prynne was having an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale while her husband, Roger Chillingworth, was away. While she was having the affair she was commiting a sin that will lead to severe consequences. This can also relate to the movie film Chicago where Roxie …show more content…

She is afraid that she will ruin the chance of her becoming a famous Jazz Performer. And she is also afraid of being hanged. All Roxie Hart wanted was to be the star of the show, because she wanted to be on top of everyone. This shows that Roxie can be very selfish. She believed that that she was too good for Amos and that she only cared about herself and she could care less about Amos feelings. This is the reason she treated Amos very bad because she knew that Amos was in love with her and that Amos will stay by her side no matter what she did to him.
Both Roxie Hart and Hester Prynne committed the act of adultery. For the reason being that they were in need of love and affection, so they went out to look for what they wanted. And they did find what they wanted but it was considered an act of adultery.
The resolution of both The Scarlet Letter and the film Chicago was that they are now forgiven by their townspeople. Hester no longer is being shamed by her town for wearing the scarlet letter in her chest. She now feels that she has freedom, she no longer has to be humiliated in front of the town of Boston. And Roxie Hart is now free she is no longer in jail or going through trials. She can now go on and live her dream of becoming a famous Jazz

Show More
Related

  • The Strength of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reading the Scarlet Letter reminds me of one of my own experience. When I was a fifth grade elementary student, two of my friends and I agreed to cheat on a geography test. On the day of the test, one of my friends was caught. The teacher found the cheat sheet where it showed the handwriting of the three of us. When he was asked who the other two is, he remained silent. The teacher said that he will be punished, standing in the corner of the classroom for one straight week, and it will be lighter if only he told our name. My friend still did not say a word, so he received the punishment. What he did was similar to what Hester Prynne does. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is portrayed as a woman with remarkable strength of character through direct and indirect characterization.

    Read More

  • Essay On Sinful Nature In The Scarlet Letter

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hester Prynne, the protagonist in the book The Scarlet Letter, has committed the sin of adultery, but learned to use that mistake as a form of strength. Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, sent her to America and was supposed to follow her, but never arrived in Boston. While Hester was waiting on Chillingworth, she had an affair with the town minister, Dimmesdale. As a result, Hester gave birth to a beautiful daughter and was forced to wear the scarlet

    Read More

  • Scarlet Letter Rhetorical Devices

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Scarlet Letter starts off by throwing Hester Prynne into drama after being convicted for adultery in a Puritan area. Traveling from Europe to America causes complications in her travel which also then separates her from her husband, Roger Chillingworth for about three years. Due to the separation, Hester has an affair with an unknown lover resulting in having a child. Ironically, her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, is a Reverend belonging to their church who also is part of the superiors punishing the adulterer. No matter how many punishments are administered to Hester, her reactions are not changed. Through various punishments, Hester Prynne embraces her sin by embroidering a scarlet letter “A” onto her breast. However, she is also traumatized deep within from everything she’s been through. Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts this story of sin by using rhetorical devices such as allusion, alliteration and symbolism.

    Read More

  • Essay on The Greater Sin in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unknowingly, Hester Prynne sailed from Europe to the Americas betrayed and tricked.  Waiting for the arrival of her husband, Roger Chillingworth, she lost hope in him ever arriving or even still being alive.  After enduring two years of tortured loneliness and lost love, Hester wished to feel the warmth of love again.  She tried to fill this emptiness by making love with the Reverend Dimmesdale.  When her child Pearl was born, Hester's adulterous sin was discovered and she was cast out from their society and required to wear an embroidered “A” on her bosom in punishment.  Hester felt guilt for her sin the rest of her life and sought repentance and absolution until the time she died.  Hester never had true love for Chillingworth, but was tricked into marriage.  She later told him this while speaking in her jail cell saying to him, “... thou knowest that I was frank with thee, I felt no love, nor feigned any” (Hawthorne, page #). Hester was betrayed, tricked and allowed herself to become caught up in the evil desires of another.  She then allowed herself to be trapped by sin, cau...

    Read More

  • Free Essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter - Spiritual Growth of Hester Prynne

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life.  However, the Romantic philosophies of Hawthorne put down the Puritanic beliefs.  She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven.  Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity" and she can do no wrong.  Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a Puritanical sign of disownment, is shown through the author's tone and diction as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece.

    Read More

  • The Gift of Evil in The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hester Prynne was the main character in the Scarlet Letter. Hester sin was committing adultery with minister Arthur Dimmsdale. Birthing a child named Pearl of pure sin. By committing her sin they punished her. “‘If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer!" (98 ) The community made her stand on the scaffold for public humiliation. Wearing the letter “A” on her garments meaning Adultery as another punishment. The community shunned Hester and Pearl looking at them as satans work. Hester believes that she should remain in Boston since that were her crime of adultery was committed making it as a reminder to herself what shes have done. Also staying to protect Dimmesdale from Chillingworth.

    Read More

  • Internal Conflict In The Scarlet Letter

    1893 Words  | 4 Pages

    The very heart of the novel’s conflict begins with the protagonist, Hester Prynne. Her crime of adultery is presented

    Read More

  • The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hester Prynne had been tainted with sin once she had committed the crimme of adultry. Mistress Prynne has "raised a great scandal" in the town of Boston.(chapter 3) Hester left to the new world before her husband had. Her husband has not returneed in the past two years, and she had a daughter of three months. Meaning Hester has sinned by cheating on her husband and having anothers man's child. This goes against the Puritians ways of being holy which means Hester is not only a sinner but a criminal as well. Prynned had commited one of the seven deadly sins which is lust. She is put onto a platform so society may look down at her for commiting a sin. However Hester doesnt view herself as the worst sinner in the town of Boston but, views Chillingsworth as the worst sinner of all. In chapter 15 Hester states how Chillingsworth has "done me worse wrong than I have done him." Hester believes all of her memories with Chillingsworth have been her ugliest remembrances. She views him as a monster for marrying her and thinking that they could be happy since she was young and he was a old scholar. hester no longer see's her old husband but a deformed monster in his place. She disregards any happy memories she ever had with and believes he has deeply wronged her which makes him the biggest sinner of all for ruinnig Hesters life. Hester tries to seek justice by escaping to the o...

    Read More

  • Guilt And Shame Essay

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter tells the story of a puritan community living in 17th century Boston, and how they deal with the aftermath of an act of adultery committed by Hester Prynne with an unnamed man. Hawthorne’s story deals with the themes of guilt and shame, and the effect that these forces have on the novel’s characters. Of the characters that are introduced in the novel, Hester Prynne represents and suffers from guilt; while Dimmesdale represents and suffers from shame.

    Read More

  • Alienation In Scarlet Letter

    590 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel, an adulterous relationship directly leads to alienation negatively impacting Hester and Dimmesdale’s lives. After committing adultery, they become alienated from society as punishment. Hester’s alienation transpires in the form of the scarlet letter. It acts as a constant reminder to the people around her of her sins. Hester feels the

    Read More

  • Changes of Hester Prynne in Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

    495 Words  | 1 Pages

    As Hester wears the scarlet letter, the reader can feel how much of an outcast Hester becomes. When walking through town, “…she never raised her head to receive their greeting. If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter and passed on” (Hawthorne, 127).She believes that she is not worthy of the towns acknowledgments and chooses to ignore them. The guilt that now rests in Hester is overwhelming to her and is a reason of her change in personality.

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter: Compare and Contrast

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    The characters of The Scarlet Letter showed the ruthless, orthodox society of Puritan society. Hester was a feministic, self-reliant conformist, living on her own. In the novel, she showed she wasn’t able to abandon her society completely, leading her to move on the outskirts of town. In essence, she could keep her distance but maintain her connection to the community. She and Mistress Hibbins, who she admired in the film and despised in the book, are the only characters in both the book and movie who behave according to their own personal beliefs. Hibbins’ minor function in the book evolved into an imperative role in the film. Her relationship with Governor Bellingham wasn’t well portrayed in the film, when this connection prevented her prosecution in the book.

    Read More

  • Essay on the Transformation of Hester in Scarlet Letter

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hester Prynne committed a crime so severe that it changed her life into coils of torment and defeat.  In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester is publicly recognized as an adulteress and expelled from society.  Alongside the theme of isolation, the scarlet letter, or symbol of sin, is meant to shame Hester but instead transforms her from a woman of ordinary living into a stronger person.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Chillingingworth, The Worst Sinner

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a town full of Puritan believers, three sinners arose: Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth (Prynne). The three all defied the Puritan God, and lived to face their consequences. Hester and Dimmesdale’s sins were closely tied, but Chillingworth 's was of a vastly different nature. Hester 's sin was adultery, as she had cheated on her husband Chillingworth. Likewise, Dimmesdale 's sin was sexual immorality. He knowingly had relations with Hester, a married woman. Generally, their sins are more tame in nature, as it was a consensual relationship, and did no harm. Dimmesdale also sinned against his God. He hid and lied by omission while publicly preaching about the dangers of lying. His sin of hypocrisy did no harm to others, but created distrust in his

    Read More

  • Hester Prynne Character Analysis Essay

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout all the sinful things Hester Prynne has done, she still managed to obtain good qualities. Hester was an adulterer from the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester was looked down upon by the citizens of Boston because of the sin she and another person committed, but no one knew who her partner in crime was because she refused to release his name. Towards the very end of the story Hester’s accomplice confessed and left Hester and Pearl feeling joyous, because now they didn’t have to keep in a secret. Hester is a trustworthy, helpful, and brave woman throughout The Scarlet Letter.

    Read More

More about Adultery in Literature: Comparing 'The Scarlet Letter' and 'Chicago'

Open Document