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“Do we call down hellfire on the man who has sinned against the Word?” (Lawrence and Lee 66). In a town where no one dared to commit the act of blasphemy, one man had the audacity to speak against his people’s beliefs. The name of this brave man is Bertram Cates. Cates was a school teacher who decided to teach his students about the concepts of evolution. According to the mayor, reverend, and local people, Cates’ acts were wrong and illegal. The towns people strongly believed that anything that contradicted their religious beliefs was a sin. Bertram Cates is the most important character in the play because he set an example for others to follow their hearts, was brave enough to openly challenge his town’s religious beliefs, and had the strength
Life is unpredictable, and through trial and error humanity learns how to respond to conflicts and learns how to benefit from mistakes. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a character who changes and gains knowledge from the trials he faces, but first he has to go through physical, spiritual, and emotional agony. In the midst of all the havoc, the young theologian is contaminated with evil but fortunately his character develops from fragile to powerful, and the transformation Dimmesdale undergoes contributes to the plot’s climax.
'Among many morals which press upon us from the poor minister's miserable experience, we put only this into a sentence: Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!';(Ch.24: 236) Hawthorne expresses the purpose of writing this novel in that short sentence. He creates characters who have sin and disguise these sins for their own salvation. Slowly these sins evolve the characters, it strengthens Hester, humanizes Dimmesdale, and turns Chillingworth into a demon. The story is Hawthorne's depiction of the effects of sin on the hearts and minds of humanity during the Puritan society through the characters Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth.
...e parable “Minister’s Black Veil” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, symbols were often used to represent many themes that are still relevant in society and religion now. Hidden sin, guilt, and the shame attached to sin in Puritan beliefs are amongst some of the themes symbolized in the story. Known for playing with the dark side of human nature, in this parable, Hawthorne writes in an intentionally ambivalent tone that leaves endless speculation of Hooper’s actions. This parable is important to today’s life because it teaches the readers to not shudder away from darkness and sin that we often pretend do not exist. It also emphasizes that, in death, everything that is owned and use to cover up transgressions will be stripped and all pretense will be no longer. The themes represented in “Minister’s Black Veil” are timeless and will always be a big problem in society.
During the time when Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was being written, there was much religious unrest. It had been only three decades since the gruesome Salem trials which led to the imprisonment and death of hundreds. This shocking massacre of innocent people led to a religious movement called the Great Awakening which Edwards led the charge in. Edwards preached to the masses about the revival of the interest in religion and a need for redemption in the eyes of God. Edward’s success in influencing the masses came not only because of the subjects about what he was speaking, but also because of his clever rhetorical strategies. Some of the rhetorical tools he employed were rhetorical questioning, similes, and anaphora.
In her novel, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen used the character of Elizabeth Bennet to epitomize the harmonious balance between reason and emotion in a woman, making her a truly admirable and attractive character.
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Rhetorical Analysis “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards uses imagery and symbolism to persuade the audience to become more devout Christians by channeling fear and emphasizing religious values. Jonathan Edwards was a Puritan minister who preached during the time of the Great Awakening in America. During this period of religious revival, Edwards wanted people to return to the devout ways of the early Puritans in America. The spirit of the revival led Edwards to believe that sinners would enter hell. Edwards’ sermon was primarily addressed to sinners for the purpose of alerting them about their sins and inspiring them to take action to become more devoted to God.
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, a main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, proves to be a sinner against man, against God and most importantly against himself because he has committed adultery with Hester Prynne, resulting in an illegitimate child, Pearl. His sinning against himself, for which he ultimately paid the
Tragedies will always exist as a part of life, no matter how many precautions provided. Some people, such as Reverend Robert May however, try to take these awful situations to reach out to others to encourage certain morals or push ideas. After a fire in a theater with numerous casualties, Robert tried to capitalize on this situation as an opportunity to tell the youth in a message not to go to the theaters. Although he uses decent points at times, it is rather obvious that he abuses the situation to twist or make up what he calls truth. Robert appears to overreach his position as a reverend when he imposes his personal beliefs on impressionable youth.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the reader is able to observe how one sin devastates three lives. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth are all guilty of succumbing to temptation, anger, and desire, causing all to fit the definition of a sinner. Yet, Chillingworth's iniquities raise him up above Hester and Dimmesdale on the level of diabolic acts.
The play employs three key characters, but Tom Wingfield is the prime character. Not only is Tom the most-important character, but he is also the narrator. The audience needs to be mindful that Tom is the narrator, because this changes the entire theme of the play. For instance, Tom is a miserable character that is recollecting past events that involve his mother, Amanda and sister, Laura. His relationship with his mother is turbulent and demonstrates this early in the play by stating “I haven’t enjoyed one bite of this dinner because of / your constant directions on how to eat it. It’s you that / makes me rush through meals with your hawk-like / attention to every bite I take. Sickening-spoils my / appetite – all this discussion of animals’ secretion- /
The first rhetorical device is characterization. The way the main characters are described by Hawthorne sets up how they will be perceived. It is through this that we see the first inklings of biblical figures. Biblical characters are seen in Pearl, Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the Puritan people. The first is that Hester has many traits in common with the Virgin Mary. Both are originally shunned by society, but later accepted. Although Hester has sinned, within her the reader sees a character who is very loving and with the birth of Pearl, motherly. The fact that Pearl is the child of Hester, or the Virgin Mary as we have now identified her, it is only natural that we examine her as Jesus. The origins of Pearl and Jesus are similar in that both their mothers do not expect to have the child. But as they grow up, it becomes clear that the are not ordinary children. Both characters posses an innate ability to "read" people and who their emotions, as is seen in Pearl’s ability to visualize an “A” on Dimmesdale even though he does not wear a physical one. Jesus can also be seen in Dimmesdale during his last days of life. Dimmesdale’s death is caused by his sin and Jesus died for the sins of all people, both men dying without objection. Another Biblical character is seen in Chillingworth. Throughout the novel he is described as a man whose life is based on revenge and hatred. This “was a striking evidence of man’s faculty of transforming himself into the devil.” (155) The final part of characterization is in the similarities between the societies of the two times, Biblical and Puritan. Both the Jews/Romans and the Puritans accused and persecuted those who the saw as unholy, while in fact they were the least holy of all. Their pride in being religiously strict caused them to lash out at those who in hindsight are the holy ones. With this basic ...
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, there are many moral and social themes develped throughout the novel. Each theme is very important to the overall effect of the novel. In essence, The Scarlet Letter is a story of sin, punishment and the importance of truth. One theme which plays a big role in The Scarlet Letter is that of sin and its effects. Throughout the novel there were many sins committed by various characters. The effects of these sins are different in each character and every character was punished in a unique way. Two characters were perfect examples of this theme in the novel. Hester Prynne and The Reverend Dimmesdale best demonstrated the theme of the effects of sin.
As the cold, metal bar inches closer and closer to my face, the eminent threat of the 250 lb weight becomes insistently more overbearing. My chest is concaving from the excruciating pressure and it’s all I can do to not give in and fall prisoner to the weight. However, the end result is undeniably inevitable: the weight will crush me completely. This feeling of intense pressure and the struggle bench pressing ensues is highly comparable to the overwhelming effects that sin can cause in one’s life. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the complicated nature of sin is revealed through the way that sin affects multiple characters’ souls and entire lives. This is more specifically demonstrated by Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, and Hester. Throughout the novel, Roger Chillingworth’s form of sin shows how sin can cause the evil nature of mankind to be brought out and how sin can consume someone’s entire life. Similarly, Dimmesdale’s character reveals how sin can deplete even the strongest human being by way of guilt. The complexity of sin is demonstrated even more thoroughly by Hester’s sin that causes constant ignominy, but ultimately has a more positive affect on her life. All of these three characters are examples of the major impacts that sin can have on your life. Chillingworth’s encounter with sin caused him to turn his whole self in to the devil and undergo a dramatic transformation of his heart and soul.
Marlowe's tragedy stands in a uniquely transformative relationship to the tradition of England's morality plays; more than simply an evolution, the play assimilates, incorporates, and creates new uses for the conventional elements of the morality play. The morality play, the most popular examples of which include Everyman and Mankind, was rooted in the didacticism of medieval Christian theology and developed as a means for the conveyance of Biblical truth to the masses. Its basis, as a literary work, was "an archetypal human perception: the fall out of innocence into experience" (Potter 9).
Ultimately, I feel that this play is putting to perspective the Christian religious practices; by at the end of the play [the reader] should be able to understand that through forgiveness, a reward is possible. I feel that this play teaches those who follow the Christian faith that they’re people in the world who carry out and do the most outlandish of ideas which may get them caught. Instead of the person being punished for their deed of infraction or as part of punishment, forgive them and you shall be rewarded based on your ability to forgive those who trespass against you (reference to Moses’ Ten Commandments).