The Scarlet Letter: An Analysis of Puritanism and Sin
The Scarlet Letter is a modern classic of American literature written about controversy and published with controversy. The main topic of the book, adultery, is written in a dark and sad way, as Hawthorne describes injustice, fate or predetermination and conscience ( Van Doren, 1998) . No other American novel of the time has such a controversial theme as Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter. The setting of Nathanial Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is the seventeenth century Puritan New England. But Hawthorne's writing for this book is heavily influenced by his own nineteenth century culture. Hawthorne strongly believed in Providence. Hawthorne was descended from the Puritan traditions, growing up in Salem, Massachusetts. One of his relatives, Judge Hawthorne, was a judge during the Salem Witch Trials. But Hawthorne was very critical of the Puritan ethic and demonstrated that through this book (Bloom, 1986). Hawthorne believed that anyone trying to interfere with natural law was trying to interfere with Providence . Hawthorne also believed than man was not wise enough to do God's work . (Colacurcio, 1985). According to Craven (1959), the idea of America as a New World and Americans as a new species of man came from the thinking that America was a sacred nation with a divine purpose. The journey back to the very beginning of the New World sets the stage for a journey back to purity - away from the sins of the current day. Hawthorne's focus in the book on the Puritan ethic of the times, the effects of sins and the use of the supernatural all contribute to the many aspects of the novel and Hawthorne's story and message.
Hawthorne used the Puritan ethic as his basis for r...
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...characters makes The Scarlet Letter the classic American novel it remains today.
References
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Baym, Nina. Introduction. The Scarlet Letter. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York City: Penguin Books USA, Inc. 1986.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ancestor is John Hathorne, the “hanging judge” of the Salem witch trials. He and his family were deeply troubled by this fact, so they changed the spelling of their last name from Hathorne to Hawthorne. Nathaniel couldn’t stand the cruelty of his Puritan ancestors. These ancestors contribute a small inspiration for the writing of this book. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a romance between two sinners. This book is centered on keeping sin a secret like Dimmesdale, where it mentally and physically hurt him, therefore, Hester had a better, easier life after her sin was revealed.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’ was considered by many as the controversial novel of its time, given its themes of pride, sin and vengeance. It was also set in a time when very few were thinking about the equality of of men and women, but Hawthorne managed to bring gender-based inequality to light through the novel’s male-dominated Puritan setting and by reversing the gender roles of characters, such as Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Scarlet Letter." Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York: Norton, 1987.
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a highly acclaimed work which centerpiece is the focus on the effects of sin in Puritan society. Hawthorne carried a heavy burden of truth hidden within the Puritan code, which has in turn created frenzy for his book since its publication in 1850. The age-old tale is of Hester Prynne a married woman in Boston, who is charged with adultery with an unknown partner. As punishment Hester must adorn a Scarlet A symbolizing her sin and shaping her existence. When one vigorously analyzes the overall theme of the novel, sin and its corollaries appear to be the main premise for the storyline. There exist little in The Scarlet Letter that cannot be traced back to the dark, debilitating, and destitute repercussions correlating with fleshly sin. Moreover, the effect of sin in The Scarlet Letter materializes through the evolution and individualization of Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is one of the classics that is experiencing this renaissance. Director Roland Joffe has enlisted the aid of writers Michael Mann and Christopher Crowe to produce a body of work also entitled The Scarlet Letter. The effort to introduce the American audience to this classical piece of literature was undertaken, as the film’s star Demi Moore asserts, because "not many people have read the book" (qtd. in Mr. Showbiz, par. 4). However, in doing so, Joffe has taken away the essence of Hawthorne. "It [is] sorrowful to think how many days and weeks and months and years of toil [have] been wasted on these musty papers [of Hawthorne’s] never more to be glanced at by human eyes. But, then, what reams of other manuscripts - filled [·] with the thought of inventive brains and the rich effusion of deep hearts - [have] gone equally to oblivion" (Hawthorne 46; The Custom House).
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne expresses the aspects of relationships, religion, community, discipline and punishment in the puritan community of 17th century Boston.
These demonstrations of psychotic refusal rebuff and even execute off-the ladies and respect the male characters the completely discharge lives they appear to be all along to look for. This kind of cacophony has driven some effective researchers to a more distrustful perspective of the "woman 's rights" of Hawthorne 's work, and, to be sure, of its claim to liberator, or "subversive," or socially basic compel all the more to a great extent. The best of these contentions don 't preclude the legitimacy from securing Baym 's example, or the presence of an intensely thoughtful recognizable proof amongst Hawthorne and, say, Hester (The Scarlet Letter has a tendency to be the critical content here.) But these pursuers see not a submitted, women 's activist Hawthorne but rather an undecided, even a tormented man, attracted capably to contain the subversive conceivable outcomes unleashed by his own particular beset
The Scarlet Letter is an intricate allegory that takes place in a puritan society in the 1600’s. Author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, vividly articulated his anti-transcendentalist views. Written in the 1800’s, The Scarlet Letter challenges one’s mind to find the to find the light in the dark. Hawthorne also challenges the reader’s mind with the use of symbolism, where he uses objects or words as symbols that hold a deeper meaning. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of wild rosebush, Pearl, and Dimmesdale to contribute to the overall theme of imperfection.
Chase, Richard (1996). "The Lessons of the Scarlet Letter." Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne (pp. 145-152). San Diego: Greenhaven.
Sewall, Richard B. "The Scarlet Letter: Criticism." Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 319-27.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter has been one of the most powerful factors in shaping the modern understanding of Puritan society, even though it was written in the Romantic era. The book is essentially a long parable, driven by Hester Prynne and Minister Arthur Dimmesdale’s adultery. Consequently, Hawthorne constructs the events and the setting of The Scarlet Letter to support a central idea: the hypocrisy of the Puritans. The text portrays the Puritans' New England accurately, but it is highly unlikely that the failures of their planned utopia ever played out with the blatant symbolism of the scarlet letter 'A'. Hawthorne instead meant to reveal classifications made by the Puritans' collective mentality,
The Scarlet Letter is a fictional novel that begins with an introductory passage titled ‘The Custom-House’. This passage gives a historical background of the novel and conveys the narrator’s purpose for writing about the legend of Hester Prynne even though the narrator envisions his ancestors criticizing him and calling him a “degenerate” because his career was not “glorifying God”, which is very typical of the strict, moralistic Puritans. Also, although Hawthorne is a Romantic writer, he incorporates properties of Realism into his novel by not idealizing the characters and by representing them in a more authentic manner. He does this by using very formal dialogue common to the harsh Puritan society of the seventeenth century and reflecting their ideals through this dialogue. The Puritans held somewhat similar views as the Transcendentalists in that they believed in the unity of God and the world and saw signs and symbols in human events, such as when the citizens related the meteo...