Two classical themes in literature are concealed guilt and confessed guilt and in many instances the reader sees the affects of these on individuals. In the examination and exploration of The Scarlet Letter and Macbeth the necessary comparison for both is provided. The guilt in The Scarlet Letter is seen in the minds and outward appearance of each main character, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. In Macbeth the readers sees an obvious guilt in the main character, Macbeth. When one does wrong, the common reaction is to hide it and pretend as if nothing happened. Because of the human conscience it is difficult to completely forget about a wrongdoing. Through our conscience guilt is built up and eventually that guilt shatters enough barriers and in turn causes the doer to admit his/her wrong. Hester Prynne has a fairly unconventional approach to her “sin.” She does not feel ashamed of her wrong and therefore does not feel guilt as others in The Scarlet Letter do. She is marked with a large “A” for her sin of adultery and embraces this by embroidering the letter. "And never had ...
The presence of guilt has been felt by all human beings. As guilt grows in a
What is guilt and what major impact does it have in the play Macbeth by William
Hester Prynne, an adulteress, is imprisoned by the laws of Puritan society and instead of running away, struggles to accept her badge of shame as a very real part of who she is. When she is first commanded to wear a scarlet letter A, she sees it as a curse. For the first few years she tries to ignore the ignominy under a mask of indifference. “Hester Prynne, meanwhile, kept her place upon the pedestal of shame, with glazed eyes, and an air or weary indifference,” Hawthorne writes. (page 48) Even so, she cannot hide from what her sin has produced. Every day her daughter Pearl reminds her of her sin. The only way to freedom is to avoid being defined by the society in which she finds herself. It is a gradual process but slowly, due to her compassion for the poor and sick, people start to view Hester's badge as meaning “Able” rather than “Adulteress”. Eventually her badge becomes a blessing as other women come to her for advice and counseling in that,
Hester Prynne's life was difficult and unique, with many trying events and circumstances that changed her and separated her from the common people. Great rifts eventually formed between her and the community in which she lived. These differences could be put into two categories: the outward distinction, and the inward change. The outward distinction is easy to identify. It is Hester's adultery, and it is signified in the scarlet letter A and her daughter Pearl. The inward change is much more subtle and harder to express. It is the alteration in Hester's mind and soul that could be said to have originated from the day of her public shame. Outwardly she seemed to have repented and reformed, embracing the Puritan theology wholeheartedly, but in her mind and heart she was a different person and had turned away from the Puritans' way of life. Not only had she turned away from the Puritans, but she had turned away from God, too. This was shown in some of the things that she did.
When it comes to dealing with her sin of adultery, Hester takes a peculiar approach. Instead of displaying her guilt and remorse for her sin like the townspeople expected, Hester goes ahead and taunts the townspeople by embracing the scarlet letter “A”. In the beginning of the novel
Hester Prynne the main character of The Scarlet Letter is plagued with the adulteress “A” throughout the novel. Her Puritan society shuns, scorns, and talks negatively about her behind her back and to her face. Aware of society’s lack of acceptance of her sin Hester looks to nature for her own sense of security and freedom. “She had wandered without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast and as intricate as the untamed Forrest…Her intellect and heart had their home as it were in desert places where it roamed as freely as the wild Indian in his woods (1440).” The forrest for Hester was freedom from the “A” that society damned upon her. In the forrest she had the ability to take off the “A” and be her natural self. Chapter 18 states, “She undid her clasp that fastened the scarlet letter and taking it from her bosom through it among the withered leaves (1441).” After taking off the letter in her place of freedom she was clean of society’s evil eye against her. “O exquisite relief! She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom (1442).” Hester Prynne’s daughter Pearl also proves the burdens of society can be overcome with the beauty of nature.
After having admitted to her fault but refusing to say that the town clergyman Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale committed the adultery with her and instead keeping it in secret to protect him, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” for the entirety of her life as a reminder of her sin. Her secret comes to represent her destruction through her never-ending guilt and public scrutiny. For example, a young townswoman comments on the scarlet letter, “Ah, but…let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always be in her heart” (Hawthorne 47). By saying this, the woman is noting the fact that though Hester may try to hide the incident, the guilt of her ways will
From the moment Hester Prynne is introduced into the plot of The Scarlet Letter in chapter 2, "The Marketplace", the reader realizes how prideful she is. As an adultress, she is forced to endure ignominy by her peers and is doomed to have the letter A bound to her heart. When standing on the scaffold as pun- ishment for her sins, she never truly falters. She hold a three month old infant in her arms and attempts to cover her brand with the child. However, she realizes that the baby symbolizes her sin just as much as the letter, and decides it's pointless.
One of themes that Hawthorne conveys in The Scarlet Letter is that society is more willing to forgive people who ask for forgiveness with humility and generosity than those who demanded it as a right. This theme was conveys using Hester Prynne, a young women who committed adultery. This was considered to be one of the worst crime someone could commit in the Puritan society during the eighteen hundreds, where she resides in. As punishment, Hester was required to wear a scarlet letter "A" upon her garment in order for everyone to recognize her crime. Her society had condemn her, they believed that she "has brought shame upon all of us, and ought to die..."(59) Yet, as time went by, because of the way in which Hester carried herself wearing the scarlet letter, the symbol had taken a new meaning. Although, when the scarlet letter was first place on her bosom it was a symbol of Hester's crime, burden, seclusion, and shame. However, as a result of Hester's generosity and humility the scarlet letter had come to symbolize Hester's strength, philanthropy, and gained her very high respectability in her society.
Hester Prynne is a woman whose shameful act is literally seen on her bosom, yet she finds strength from that label. She uses the stigma of the adultery as a way to create a new path in her life, to go to places where other women never venture to and do things that other women do not dare to do. In accordance with this idea, Hawthorne writes, “The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers,—stern and wild ones,—and they had made her strong” (180). This shows that even though Hester had been prosecuted by the to...
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
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, he chronicled the story of Macbeth’s rise to power and all he encountered during that journey. One theme that is present throughout the entirety of the play is guilt. As the story progressed, it can be seen that guilt affects each character differently depending on their role in the play. However, every person deals with the guilt in their own way. Everyone is influenced by a feeling of regret at some point in their lives, and the way they deal with it will affect them in the long run. It can be seen taking a drastic toll, particularly on the characters of Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth. Ultimately, the presence of guilt in someone is determined by how easily they let it affect them.
Hester Prynne’s sin was adultery. This sin was regarded very seriously by the Puritans, and was often punished by death. Hester’s punishment was to endure a public shaming on a scaffold for three hours and wear a scarlet letter "A" on her chest for the rest of her life in the town. Although Hawthorne does not pardon Hester’s sin, he considers it less serious than those of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Hester’s sin was a sin of passion. This sin was openly acknowledged as she wore the "A" on her chest. Hester did not commit the greatest sin of the novel. She did not deliberately mean to commit her sin or mean to hurt others.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the theme of guilt and conscience is one of many explored throughout the play. Macbeth, is a well respected Scottish noble who in the beginning of the play is a man everyone looks up to; however as the play progresses he makes a number of bad decisions. Eventually, as a result of his actions he suffers guilt and this plays heavily upon his character until his personality is completely destroyed. Shakespeare uses a range of techniques in order to develop this theme such as, characters, imagery.
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.