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puritanism in american literature
nathaniel hawthorne works
nathaniel hawthorne works
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Nathaniel Hawthorne uses his novel, The Scarlet Letter to critique the Puritan faith. In developing his story of the adulteress Hester Prynne, he uses both religious and natural imagery to show his disdain for the Puritan religion. The Scarlet Letter is a vivid portrayal of his utter dislike for the Puritans and everything that they stand for. Hawthorne is in complete disagreement with them and makes it clear throughout the book. Though it is shown throughout The Scarlet Letter that Nathaniel Hawthorne is completely against the Puritan faith, his views, other than those shown in the book, happen to be quite similar as well. He feels that the Puritans are but whole-hearted hypocrites in that the standards necessary to be a Puritan, are met by absolutely none of them. Part of being a Puritan is to be without sin. Being of sound mind, Hawthorne knows that everyone at some point in their life has sinned and therefore sees their hypocritical mentality. Nathaniel also feels that the Puritan faith conventions are unrealistic and are not at all what it means to be a Puritan. One of the Puritan faith conventions states that the Bible is an indispensable guide to life. Assuming that the Puritans followed their own faith conventions you would think that they read the Bible and based their life upon it. Hawthorne feels that this is not the case unless gossiping, lying, and putting yourself above others is part of the Bible. In addition he feels the Puritans are the complete opposite of what he considers as an acceptable religion and he wants nothing to do with them. The puritans gossip and exploit others sins, which just does not cut it for Hawthorne. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s feelings towards the Puritans, though already very clear, are portrayed vividly in his novel, The Scarlet Letter; particularly through his use of both religious and natural imagery. Hawthorne’s use of religious imagery is seen when Hester Prynne is at church. While she is there she is ridiculed because she committed the sin of adultery. Even though the other Puritans that ridiculed her had sinned themselves they still had the nerve to look down upon Hester as a sinner. Hawthorne shows in this scene how hypocritical the Puritans truly are. They scold Hester without even realizing that they too, are sinners. Religious imagery is used yet again when the women of the story don’t allow Hester, a seamstress, to make or even touch their wedding dresses.
Readers generally characterize the Puritan Townspeople in The Scarlet Letter by their attitudes in the beginning of the novel. When Hester first walks into the scene, most of the townspeople are very harsh and strict in their religions. They believe that adultery is one of the worst sins possible. One unyielding woman says, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly, there is, both in the Scripture and in the statutebook. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray.'; Although a young woman and a righteous man try to intervene with the angry old women, their voices are never heard. Also, Hawthorne associates ugliness with wickedness; therefore, all of the stingy women are described as being very ugly. They regard her not as a fellow sinner but as a woman so evil that she must be ostracized from her “perfect'; community. They view the scarlet letter that she wears upon her breast as a symbol of her atrocious crime of adultery and nothing more. The women in the beginning of the novel are so quick to pass judgment on others, yet they fail to recognize the sin in themselves. Once they realize this obstacle, the townspeople will become more understanding of Hester’s situation.
The Scarlet Letter starts off by throwing Hester Prynne into drama after being convicted for adultery in a Puritan area. Traveling from Europe to America causes complications in her travel which also then separates her from her husband, Roger Chillingworth for about three years. Due to the separation, Hester has an affair with an unknown lover resulting in having a child. Ironically, her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, is a Reverend belonging to their church who also is part of the superiors punishing the adulterer. No matter how many punishments are administered to Hester, her reactions are not changed. Through various punishments, Hester Prynne embraces her sin by embroidering a scarlet letter “A” onto her breast. However, she is also traumatized deep within from everything she’s been through. Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts this story of sin by using rhetorical devices such as allusion, alliteration and symbolism.
Failure to respect God's standards often roots obscurity in recognizing one's own sins. For this reason, Nathaniel Hawthorne attempts to maintain a dark and truthful view of mankind, his romantic historical fiction novel; The Scarlet Letter reveals both the author and man's common struggle to discern the difference between Civil and Natural Law, the means by which they deceive themselves, justify their actions, and seek redemption. Not to mention, the setting impacts the evolution of the plot dramatically as certain bold individuals take on the role of romantic heroes, fighting the Puritan Utopia in both a proper and improper manner. Consequently, a recurring theme is continually developed as transcendentalists view man as inherently good and Hawthorne exposes the reality of man’s wickedness. However, Hawthorne's conflicting views of human nature are clearly evident as he both sympathizes and rebukes the transgressions of the Puritan society though each of four main characters.
“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.
During the 17th century, Puritans believed scripture dictated every aspect of their lives. It appeared evident in the Puritan faith that their defiant actions and inner thoughts were to remain repressed. Puritans felt the urge to resist their impulses because by law, each desire they had, exemplified a tug from the devil. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathanial Hawthorne takes his character, Hester Prynne, who commits acts of infidelity, and turns her against the Puritan community. Although the scarlet “A” objectifies Hester’s humanity and exposes strict Puritan society, it also liberates her as a result of her ultimate transformation.
Have you ever committed a sin so appalling that you couldn’t tell a single soul, which, in result, gnawed away at the very foundation of passion and ecstasy in your life? The truth is every individual sins at some point. Certain people more than others and some people worse than others. What matters most is how you respond and how you let the emotional wrath of repentance take ahold of your life. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth to symbolize the effects of guilt and how destructive or reinforcing a life full of remorse can be.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of famed novel, The Scarlet Letter, came from a long line of puritans. The family name of Hawthorne, was one of strict puritanistic ideals, which translated into topics covered in his literary works. When Hawthorne’s father died of yellow fever at sea when he was only four, his mother became overly protective and pushed him to isolation. All of Hawthorne’s fictional characters are believed to be figurative confrontations of good and evil. Almost all of his characters can be classified as one of these two types. Most of Hawthorne's early stories were published anonymously in magazines and giftbooks, 19th century, lavishly decorated compilations of collected essays, short fiction, and poetry. Through both emotional and physical drama and literary elements such as symbolism, Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys his thoughts about who can truly judge a person for their sins, saying that it is not society’s job to judge but rather God himself.
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.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the Puritan community banned all forms of sin. Sin was looked upon as evil, being connected to the devil and his dark ways. Hester Prynne, the main character of the story, was shunned by the rest of the Puritan world after committing the sin of adultery. She lived in a world where it was not accepted. She was isolated from the world around her, having little hope. Throughout the novel, symbols such as the character of the kind woman, the wild rose bush outside of the prison doors and the character of Pearl, Hester Prynne's illegitimate child, are used to show that even in a world full of sin and darkness, there is always hope.
He who plays with fire is bound to get burned. This commonplace expression outlines the painful outcome of trifling with things as wild and uncontrollable as fire. Sometimes, powerful, passionate sentiments are like a fire that we lose control of, and lead to unintended outcomes. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, characters’ emotions in the heat of the moment often cause them to make decisions with devastating consequences. In the novel Hawthorne uses fire to symbolize the passions in the hearts of his characters, and the results of fire (cinders, burns, embers) to symbolize the repercussions of those passions.
The first way Hawthorne showed this theme was how the puritan society viewed others actions, specifically those of Hester and Pearl. One of the ways Hawthorne detailed the society’s hate of Hester’s actions of adultery was very early in the book during Hester’s public humiliation. “Haughty as her demeanor was, she perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung into the street for them all to spurn and trample upon.” (Hawthorne, 38). Hawthorne uses great symbolism to detail how the people of Boston were so eager to not only see Hester being ridiculed for her actions but to rip her apart and make sure that she knew what she did was wrong in the most vengeful and callous ways. Another point Hawthorne uses to emphasize the people’s view of Hester’s actions is how the school children pelt young Pearl, the daughter spawned of sin, with mud. “‘Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter; and, of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along by her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!’” (Hawthorne, 70). This shows that even from a young age, the puritans were taught that a sinner should be ostracized and tormented. The final point Hawthorne uses to show others view on someone’s actions is the acceptance of Hester and the legend of the scarlet letter. “But, in the laps of...
The portrayal of Hester Prynne in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, has been highly criticized, and many debate upon the angelic or sinful light that Hester Prynne represents. The author and critic, D.H. Lawrence, focuses on Hester’s sin in his critical essay, where Lawrence targets her, not as the victim, but as an ultimate sinner as she should be viewed, based on traditional Puritan values. Lawrence achieves his purpose that Hester should be viewed in a sinful light through his bullet-like syntax, negative and hateful diction, and his critical and disapproving tone.
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne repeatedly portrays the Puritanical views of sin and evil. The Puritans are constantly displayed as believing that evil comes from an unyielding bond being formed between love and hate. For such reasons they looked towards Hester's commitment of adultery as an action of pure, condemned evil. However, through the use of light and dark imagery, Hawthorne displays who truly holds evil in their hearts. The one who is the embodiment of evil creates hypocrisy of Puritanical views towards sin and evil. Hawthorne displays that those who expose sin to the public and the daylight are the most pure and those who conceal their sin under a dark shadow are destined to be defeated. Through his use of light and dark imagery and the contrast of his beliefs versus the beliefs of the Puritans, Hawthorne exposes the hypocritical beliefs of the Puritans by portraying Dimmesdale as destined for demise for concealing his sin, and ironically Hester the most pure for admitting her sin.
In the Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne commits adultery, a disgraceful sin, and she is severely punished. Yet although her sin was not a good choice, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, attempts to justify her actions. His writing indicates that he does not accept of her behavior but that it was not completely her fault. Being a Puritan, Hester was forced into one way of life, the only acceptable way in the eyes of her community. This pressure to adhere to numerous strict rules was metaphorically compared to a difficult journey down a narrow, winding road in the forest with little light. The Puritanical way of life curbed deviant behavior and is a justification for Hester's sin because every so often, everyone strays from the path but it the reaction to the wrongdoings that should be defining and Hester remained strong and took the consequences.
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...