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Critical summary and analysis of scarlet letter
Analysis of The Scarlet Letter
Analysis of The Scarlet Letter
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Scarlet Letter
Hester’s Experiences
Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester’s experiences in and out of the Puritan society and the weight of the scarlet letter change her in many ways, including her level of confidence, her appearance and her outlook on the Puritan people, and the way she feels about the letter “A”. Due to the sin committed by Hester she became the outcast of the Puritan community. She was forced to begin a new life on her own with no support from anyone. The sudden vicissitudes in her life cause a great transformation in Hester.
In the beginning of the novel Hester shows a tremendous amount of confidence, which she is not afraid to show, but eventually she hides this boldness and yields to the torment of the Puritan people. When Hester is being led out of the jail by the town beadle “she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will.” (Pg 60) By stepping out of the jail like this Hester showed and amazing amount of courage, knowing that she was about to receive the peoples’ mockery. While Hester displayed confidence here, later in the novel she doesn’t show that assurance as much, and receives the ridicule with embarrassment and broken heartedness. The people of the town “were accustomed to distill drops of bitterness into her heart” but “Hester had schooled herself long and well; she never responded to these attacks, save by a flush of crimson that rose irrepressibly over the pale cheek.” (Pg 88) Hester emerged from the jail with strength but was forced to change, and hide this strength to get along the best she could and continue to support herself and her daughter.
Living outside of the Puritan society allowed Hester to change the way she saw the people of the town and the way she looked herself. Hester lived on the outskirts of town and was no longer a real part of the community, because of this she was able to see people from a different point of view. “The scarlet letter had endowed her with a new sense. She shuddered to believe that it gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts.” (Pg 89) Also Hester’s appearance changed.
There are situations during the first part of the Scarlet Letter where Hester responds to the community’s power differently. As Hester stood on the scaffold, babe in hand, community officials demanded she “Speak out the name!” (Ch. 3; Pg. 47). Though pressed with legitimate power, Hester refuses and withdraws from answering who the father of the sin-born baby is. The reader already begins to notice the strong spirit of Hester. The characterization of Hester continues to develop throughout this section when she “ … did not flee.” The adulterer’s inner strength to not withdraw is astonishing. Why not leave the people who just judged you and imprisoned you? Hester and Pearl lived “On the outskirts of the town … but not in close vicinity to any other habitation” (Ch. 4; Pg. 55). The mother decided to stay, but still withdrew from the community. Hester begins to do service for the poor as well as make clothing for a community that harshly judged her. She begins to embrace her position in this power imbalance by doing good deeds, and the narrator suggests that “None so ready as she to give of her little substance to every demand of poverty” (Ch. 13; Pg. 110). The view of Hester by the community changes towards the end of the book. Her “A” was now viewed to mean “able.” No longer did it mean it regular interpretation. Hester at first was on the negative spectrum of responses to power, but we see her embrace her position in the community in the third part of the
The death of Kiowa is the point in this story, and arguably the entire novel, where the true nature of war becomes evident. His death in any situation would have been tragic, and camping in that “shit field” alone would have been an emotionally scarring experience; however, that these events had to coincide in time only multiplies the gravity of the situation. Interestingly, every soldier has his own way of grappling with such overwhelming feelings of grief for his highly-esteemed comrade. Yet what every man has in common is that in the end he concludes that he alone is the one ultimately responsible for Kiowa’s death.
The central theme in The Scarlet Letter is that manifested sin will ostracize one from society and un-confessed sin will lead to the destruction of the inner spirit. Hawthorne uses the symbol of the scarlet letter to bring out this idea. In the novel, Hester is forced to wear the scarlet letter A (the symbol of her sin) because she committed adultery with the clergyman, Dimmesdale. Because the public's knowledge of her sin, Hester is excluded physically, mentally, and socially from the normal society of the Puritan settlement. She lives on the outskirts of town in a small cottage where she makes her living as a seamstress. Though she is known to be a great sewer amongst the people, Hester is still not able to sew certain items, such as a new bride's veil. Hester also has no interaction with others; instead she is taunted, if not completely ignored, by all that pass her by. Despite the ill treatment of the society, Hester's soul is not corrupted. Instead, she flourishes and improves herself in spite of the burden of wearing the scarlet letter and she repeatedly defies the conventional Puritan thoughts and values by showing what appears to us as strength of character. Her good works, such as helping the less fortunate, strengthen her inner spirit, and eventually partially welcome her back to the society that once shunned her.
"War is hell . . . war is mystery terror and adventure and courage and discovery and despair and . . . war is nasty (80)." When it all happened it was not like "a movie you aren't a hero and all you can do is whimper and wait (211)." O'Brien and the rest of the solders were just ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations. They needed to tell blatant lies" to "bring the body and soul back together (239)." They needed to eliminate the reality of death. As ordinary people they were not capable of dealing with the engulfing realities of death and war therefore they needed to create coping skills. O'Brien approaches the loss of his childhood friend, Linda, in the same way he approaches the loss of his comrades in the war as this is the only way he knows how to deal with death. A skill he learned, and needed, in the Vietnam War.
Human nature thrives on labels and stereotypes; they are methods society uses to better comprehend others disposition and justify their behavior. However, when placed stereotypes can override individuality, and this can force one to conform to such labels, hide their true character, and change their persona. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester is a victim of such a stereotype. The Puritan society in which she lives confines and defines her based on her sin, and not by a totality of her actions and character. Nevertheless she emerges, reborn, as her own person once again. Hester Prynne's development through the use of archetypes, symbols, and Romanticism reinforce the theme of the effects of stereotypes and labels and their refutal in The Scarlet Letter.
In The Things they carried, Tim O’Brien uses a large list of things a soldier carries. Weather it be a good luck charm, chewing gum, gun/ammunition or recreational drugs. This displays a window in to the emotional burdens that all soldier bear. One major burden for these poor soldier is confronting the tension between reality and fantasy. We see the tension in LT Jimmy Cross with his infatuation for Martha. Each day when the soldier made camp or rest he pulls out the letters from Martha and reads them, making sure that they remain well preserved. Cross also carries a tiny pebble in his mouth that Martha sent him. When Ted Lavender was shot, Cross realized that his love for Martha had led him away from the path of reality and had to snap out of the fantasy. Cross then burns the letters and pulls himself together to be there for his men.
In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne portrays a society filled with betrayel, secrecie, and sinners. The people of society do not show their true colors and hide their true intentions. Dimmsdale, Chillingsworth and Hester all have fallen to sin, however they all believe they are not the worse sinner and try to seek justice for themselves.
Normally when most people think of vampires, they envision a deathly, pale creature with fangs. But Thomas Foster seems to think differently, who argues that it is not necessary for a vampire to embody a stereotypical vampire. Surprisingly enough, even humans can be these types of monsters. From Foster 's perspective, being a vampire not only includes an individual 's aesthetics, but also their actions, personality, intent, and overall representation of personal identity. The classic novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, presents an excellent example of this occurrence, where the character Roger Chillingworth meets the criteria of a vampiric figure, based on Thomas Foster 's ideas of vampirism, found in his book How to Read Literature Like a Professor.
The environment in which Kiley was first deployed to lacked rules since authorities were not present to enforce them, the highest ranking NCO’s favorite pastimes ran from “dope to Darvon...there was no such thing as military discipline...You could let your hair grow...didn’t have to polish your boots or snap off salutes, or put up with the usual rear-end nonsense” (91). Thus along with the medical unit, Kiley’s exposure in a medical detachment far away from the tropical warzone gave him a deceptive impression of the Vietnam war. His ingenuous attitude shows that as a young soldier, Kiley had entered the war with a simplistic worldview, unsuspecting of the severity the war brought on to everybody within its sphere of influence. In one of the early chapters, “How To Tell A True War Story”, O’Brien recalled the time Lemon and Kiley went off by themselves after the platoon marched for two days, “A nature hike, [Rat Kiley and Curt Lemon] thought…giggling and calling each other yellow mother and playing a silly game they invented” (69). Kiley is momentarily portrayed as a kid, who is untouched by the harsh realities of the Vietnam War. But the juxtaposition of placing an unsuspecting child in a hostile war zone sets an ominous tone for Rat Kiley. Like most soldiers who had been drafted into the war, Kiley initially did not have the emotional
Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, focuses on the Puritan society. The Puritan society molded itself and created a government based upon the Bible and implemented it with force. The crime of adultery committed by Hester generated rage, and was qualified for serious punishment according to Puritan beliefs. Ultimately the town of Boston became intensely involved with Hester's life and her crime of adultery, and saw to it that she be publicly punished and tortured. Based upon the religious, governmental, and social design of the Puritan society, Hester's entire existence revolved around her sin and the Puritan perception. Therefore it is evident within The Scarlet Letter that the Puritan community to some degree has constructed Hester's character.
At the beginning of the Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is labeled as the “bad guy”. The townspeople demand the other adulterer’s name, but Hester denies this revelation. She does not reveal it because she knows that the information will crumble the foundation of the Puritan religion and the town itself. “‘But, Hester, the man lives who has wronged us both! Who is he?’ ‘Ask me not!’ replied Hester Prynne, looking firmly into his face. ‘That thou shalt never know!’(Hawthorne 52). Hester knows that finding out that the father of the child, the Minister that is leading the town, will diminish credibility for the church and for Dimmesdale, the Minister. During her punishment, Hester decides to move out near the woods and make a living as a seamstress. Hester is regarded as an outcast from Boston, but she still gives back to the society that shuns her. ‘“Do you see that woman with the embroidered badge?’ they would say to strangers. ‘It is our Hester, —the town's own Hester, —who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!’”(Hawthorne 111). Her acts of kindness, helping the sick and comforting the afflicted, toward the society that makes her an outcast shows the inner goodness of a person. Throu...
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s well known novel, The Scarlet Letter, extensive diction and intense imagery are used to portray the overall tone of the characters. In particular, Hester Prynne, the wearer of the Scarlet Letter, receives plentiful positive characterization throughout the novel. Hester’s character most notably develops through the town’s peoples ever-changing views on the scarlet letter, the copious mentions of her bravery, and her ability to take care of herself, Pearl, and others, even when she reaches the point where most would give up and wallow in their suffering.
“A bloody scourge…rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance.” (Hawthorne, 141) In the Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Minister Dimmesdale starved himself, whipped himself, and tortured himself to get rid of the guilt caused by his sin with Hester Prynne. Hawthorne describes the minister’s guilt as the evil that anchored him down and shows how Dimmesdale tortures himself but can never get rid of it. His guilt came from many things. First was his guilt for committing the crime with Hester Prynne. Second is his guilt for not being with her at the time that she was put upon the scaffold. Last was his guilt from not revealing himself to his own daughter and from having to stay out of her life due to fear of being shamed by the community. Hawthorne’s views on guilt and Dimmesdale are mostly that his guilt controlled his life completely until the very end when the power of the sin and guilt took over to the point where he couldn’t control himself.
One form of guilt that the soldiers face is the weight of not being able to save their friends. As always in the case of war, there are several casualties that rock the platoon of men and each feels responsible in one death or another. After Ted Lavender is shot and killed while Lieutenant Cross is busy daydreaming about a girl back home, Cross is unable to keep himself from shaking and sobbing in his foxhole. Cross feels such guilt for not protecting his soldiers that he decides to burn the pictures and letters from Martha, so as to not be distracted by the thought of her. The fatality of Kiowa also weighs heavy on the mind of Norman Bowker. After another failure in leadership by Lieutenant Cross, the platoon sets up camp in a low lying field of human waste. As the rain pounds the soldiers and raises the depth of muck, a mortar hits Kiowa and buries him. Norman Bowker attempts to rescue his friend, but is overwhelmed by smell and taste of the sludge. He loses his grasp of Kiowa’s boot and Norman’s friend is lost in the mud. Although Lieutenant Cross and another unnamed soldier carry some feelings of guilt for Kiowa’s death, it is Norman Bowker who cannot forgive himself for letting go of Kiowa’s boot. Later in the story, O’Brien discloses that Norman hangs himself in the local YMCA after years of guilt. The author also shares his own personal feelings of
The Scarlet Letter is a blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses historical settings for this fictional novel and even gives historical background information for the inspiration of the story of Hester Prynne in the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, ‘The Custom-House’. The psychological exploration of the characters and the author’s use of realistic dialogue only add to the realism of the novel. The most obvious symbol of the novel is the actual scarlet letter ‘A’ that Hester wears on her chest every day, but Hawthorne also uses Hester’s daughter Pearl and their surroundings as symbols as well. Allegory is present as well in The Scarlet Letter and is created through the character types of several characters in the novel.