Gothic Elements In Scarlet Letter

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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an American gothic novel, set in the 17th Century Boston during Puritan times. The main character, Hester Prynne, commits adultery against her husband, Roger Chillingworth, while he is away somewhere. As a result of her sin she is forced to wear a red letter “A” on her chest and stand on a scaffold for many hours, with her illegitimate child Pearl. Hester does not reveal the name of the father who happens to be the town’s new young minister Arthur Dimmesdale. Roger Chillingworth, when he arrives in Boston and learns of Hester Prynne’s sins, sets to find the man; he does and he tortures the minister by pretending not to notice his obvious inner pain and guilt. Another American gothic novel is Moby …show more content…

Ishmael is lead to the Pequod and joins the crew with Queequeg despite warnings of the doom by a man named Elijah. Once upon the ship Ishmael meets the Captain, Ahab, and learns of his mission to find and kill the white whale, who took Ahab’s leg. Ahab leads the ship to far away odd places with his insane antics of murder. Everyone on the ship dies, except for Ishmael who finds a ship and arrives back to Nantucket. Since both are on a mission of revenge and torture, Roger Chillingworth and Captain Ahab are both evil characters with profound similarities.

In The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth is inferred to be a truly evil character. Roger Chillingworth, much like Captain Ahab is on a mission of vengeance. This is seen when Chillingworth tells Hester Prynne that he will find out who the father of Pearl is. This is part of the mission of vengeance because if Chillingworth were not completely obsessed with revenge then he wouldn’t want to know the man that Hester Prynne cheated on him with. Another point about the mission of vengeance, Chillingworth feels wronged by Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale, so he continues to pretend not to know. This is seen in the novel when Chillingworth

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