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The scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne essay
Character analysis essay on hester prynne
Symbolic meaning of A in the scarlet letter
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Change In the novel, The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne, the main character, was forced to wear a letter “A” because of the sin she had committed. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne changed the way Hester and the villagers looked at her. At the beginning of the novel, her letter stood for “adultery,” but by the end of the novel, the meaning of the letter had changed from bad to good, it changed from being the symbol of shame, to the symbol of ability and honor.
When Hester was first introduced in the novel, the letter “A” symbolized shame, and punishment. She was publicly humiliated and everyone looked at her with disgust, she was the shame of the town. “At the very least, they should have put the brand of
Through the rhetorical device characterization, Hawthorne is able to promote his motive of exposing the audience to the life lesson: People grow stronger by recognizing their own weakness. Hester Prynne, the female protagonist in the Scarlet Letter charged with adultery, is forced to wear the embroidered letter “A” on her chest to symbolize the stigma of her sin. In the beginning of the novel,
Hawthorne uses the scarlet letter “A” that Hester Prynne was required to wear as an inanimate symbol of her adultery. She had to bear the sin with her as long as she rested in that town. Pearl, Hester’s daughter from the affair, was the living, breathing symbol of her past sin. As many years passed, Hester began to wear the letter with pride and changed the meaning in her mind to ability. This was significant because it demonstrated her capability to overcome the stares and judgements from her fellow townspeople and to learn to be proud of her daughter, a gift from god. The adultery in The Scarlet Letter relates to The Great Gatsby in many ways.
Hawthorn's Novel, The Scarlet Letter, is brimming with many vivid symbols, the most apparent of which is the scarlet letter "A", that Hester Prynne is made to wear upon her chest. Throughout the novel, hawthorn presents the scarlet letter to the reader in a variety of ways. Yet an important question emerges, as the life of Hester Prynne is described, which deals with the affects that both the scarlet letter and Hester have on each other. There is no clear-cut answer to this question, as many examples supporting both arguments can be found throughout the novel. The letter obviously causes Hester much grief, as she is mocked and ostracized by many of the townspeople, yet on the other hand, later in the novel Hester's courage and pride help to change the meaning of scarlet letter in the eyes of both herself and the public.
In it, the main character Hester is forced to wear a red, or more specifically scarlet, letter “A” on her dress because she had conceived a daughter under an adulterous affair, which, at the time, was an extremely punishable offence. Hawthorne uses the punishment she did receive to illustrate that even the worst of offenders sometimes deserve a second chance. However, this is not the only claim that Hawthorne makes about Hester’s predicament. Hawthorne writes in his book that Hester became an outcast when she committed adultery. When she was branded with the scarlet letter, it exposed to the society she lived in what she truly was: different.
In The Scarlet Letter, the symbol of most importance is the letter A which Hester Prynne is condemned to wear, having been found guilty of adultery. Literally, the letter A is an arbitrary visual representation of particular sounds used in languages. Nothing in the shape of the letter A or any other aspect of its being represents adultery. This shape is agreed upon by people who use the Roman alphabet to begin the series of marks that visually signifies the word adultery. This is not a universally symbolic relationship. The letter A means nothing in itself until the Puritans agree to a meaning in order to mark Hester and this meaning is altered according to the mindset of those interpreting it. Hester with this "mark of shame upon her bosom" is meant to "be a living sermon against sin" (59) yet the residents of Boston "had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin . . . but of her many good deeds since. . . . The scarlet letter had the effect of the cross on a nun's bosom. It imparted to the wearer a kind of sacredness, which enabled her to walk securely amid all peril" (149). Some people begin saying that A stands for "able" (148).
In the beginning of the novel, the "A" symbolized shame and punishment. One villager voiced his opinion on the "A" when he stated, "At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead"(p.59). The villagers saw the "A" as public punishment. They saw Hester as lucky because her punishment was not harsh enough. Another villager saw Hester in a new light when she said, "She hath good skill in her needle...but did ever a woman...contrive such a way of showing it!...What is it but to laugh in the faces of our godly magistrates and make a pride out of what they, worthy gentlemen meant for punishment?" The "A" made clear what the villager's Puritan principles were and showed the Puritans judicial system in action. When Hester embroidered the "A" beautifully, she mocked their judgment. Thus, the villagers saw Hester has prideful. The "A" also exposed the Puritan's hidden shame. Hester recognized this when Hawthorne said, "She felt an eye- a human eye - upon the ignominious brand, that seemed to give a momentary relief, as if half of her agony were shared."(p.89). A few villagers saw the letter and Hester as a constant reminder of their own sin. Hester was the torturous representation of the lust that they kept hidden inside. The Scarlet letter was seen as a symbol of shame yet caused the villagers to see Hester as fortunate, boastful, and as a symbol of their own faults.
free from the laws and regulations made by the king of England. In the new
The letter "A," worn on Hester's bodice, is a symbol of her adultery against Roger Chillingworth. This letter is meant to be worn in shame, and to make Hester feel unwanted. "Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment . . ." Hester is ashamed of her sin, but she chooses not to show it. She committed this sin in the heat of passion, and fully admits it because, though she is ashamed, she also received her greatest treasure, Pearl, out of it. She is a very strong woman to be able to hold up so well, against what she must face. Many would have fled Boston, and sought a place where no one knew of her great sin. Hester chose to stay though, which showed a lot of strength and integrity. Any woman with enough nerve to hold up against a town which despised her very existence, and to stay in a place where her daughter is referred to as a "devil child” is a very tough woman.
In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, the letter is understood as a label of punishment and sin being publicized. Hester Prynne bears the label of “A” signifining adulterer upon her chest. Because of this scorching red color label she becomes the outcast of her society. She wears this symbol of punishment and it become a burden throughout her life. The letter “produces only a reflection of her scarlet letter; likewise, the townspeople's image of Hester revolves around her sin. The evil associated with Hester's actions and the letter on her chest consume all aspects of her life, concealing her true beauty, mind, and soul” (R. Warfel 421-425). Society pushed blame upon Hester Prynne, and these events lead to the change of her life. The Puritans whom Prynne is surround by view the letter as a symbol from the devil, controversially some individuals look upon the letter, sigh and fell sympathy towards her because they have or are involved in this same situation. Nonetheless the haunting torture Hester Prynne battles daily drags on, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows this torture “of an impulse and passionate nature. She had fortified herself to encounter the stings and venomous stabs of public contumely wreaking itself in every variety of insult but...
Initially, in Chapter 14, Hester has a sense of pity towards Roger Chillingworth, where she notices how the physician has changed from being a shy, light-hearted man to this so called, “spawn of the devil”, where he now has a darker, more evil demeanor to him now. This is shown in the novel where Hawthorne states, “All this while, Hester had been looking steadily at the old man, and was shocked, as well as wonder-smitten, to discern what a change had been wrought upon him within the past seven years.It was not so much that he had grown older; for though the traces of advancing life were visible, he bore his age well, and seemed to retain a wiry vigor and alertness. But the former aspect of an intellectual and studious man, calm and quiet, which was what she best remembered
A change is to make or become different. In the Scarlet Letter change is very evident in the main character Hester Prynne. Hester has undergone both physical and emotional changes that have made her more acceptable to the Puritan Society.
In Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the reader meets the character Hester Prynne who as the novel progresses, one notices the changes in her character are very dramatic. The changes are both physical and in her mannerism’s. There are many significant events which took place before the start of the novel and during the novel. Some of these events that lead to this dramatic change include the affect of wearing the scarlet letter, the secrets which she keeps, and her daughter Pearl’s evil characteristics. By these events, Hester Prynne’s image is transformed throughout the time of the story.
The letter ‘A’ that she wore on her bosom plastered Hester’s scandal all over the community. Pearl, the daughter of the sinner’s, was being parented by Hester, which constantly reminded her of the sin everyday. The community looked down upon Hester and Pearl, but instead of letting it get to them, Hester accepted the consequences therefore she tried to move on. Although the family dealt with a lot of criticism from fellow Puritans, they did not let those thoughts get into their heads. Hester was a popular seamstress in her time, even though she was unable to make wedding veils because of the sin she committed. “Why, look you, she may cover it with a brooch, or suchlike heathenish adornment, and so walk the streets as brave as ever!” (Hawthorne 49). The sin made Hester determined because she came to self-realization and broke free.
In the beginning of the story, Hester is being punished for adultery, and is forced to wear the letter A on her bosom. It is shown so that people will know her as an adulteress. The letter A also gives Hester some supernatural abilities. When some women look at the letter A on Hester’s chest, they make a face and look at her with disgust. Other women look at Hester and they seem to share something; “But sometimes...she felt a human eye--upon the ignominious brand, that seemed to give a momentary relief, as if half her agony were shared” (79). Hester knows that she is not the only one who committed adultery, and having the letter with her all the time seems to give her an intuitive power about it. As time goes on, people seem to forget that Hester had committed a sin and see her as a lovely and respectable person.
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.