All people think differently, and see things in different ways. Seymour gross wrote “Solitude, and Love, and Anguish”: The Tragic Design of The Scarlet Letter. Gross’s article that experience, understanding of tone, and deep thought, play a vital role when analyzing a novel, or any piece of writing.
When analyzing a novel experience is key. Gross expresses his extend knowledge of writing in this quote, “I believe that The Scarlet Letter, like all great novels, enriches our sense of human experience and complicates and humanizes our approach to it.” (336) He reflects on his knowledge of other novels, and explains how they affect us. He further explains his experience in his writing, “The inadequacy of a didactic reading of The Scarlet
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Gross shows his in depth interpretation of the novel by analyzing parts that we just assume and move on. “In Hester’s view, as we have already said, she has not sinned against community, husband, or God; but she has sinned against Dimmesdale (it is a convenient coincidence that the “A” she wears is the initial of her lover’s first name)”. (337) Gross brings across an aspect of the novel most people overlook, most people when analyzing the novel assume the “A” stands for Adultery, and don’t go in depth with the meaning of it. Gross, however analyzes the symbol more in depth and finds another important meaning of it. “ The absence of pain is not happiness, yet the absence of pain is all she allows herself to hope for. Hester accepts this life…for herself because she loves the man she ruined.” (339) This quote shows that gross believes Hester does not feel pity for herself, but for what she did to Arthur Dimmesdale. It shows the in depth thought process and reasoning behind his belief, by showing her acceptance yet unhappy state she is in.
Seymour Gross’s article shows that experience, tone, and deep thought play a vital role in analyzing the novel. Other important aspects when analyzing a novel are wide vocabulary, understanding of metaphors, understanding of symbols, etc. Gross uses all of these in his very well understood interpretation of The Scarlet Letter. However all people think differently and many may disagree with Gross’s thought and interpretations. In the end, the only person who really knows is Nathaniel
In The Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne efficiently conveys his purpose to the audience through the use of numerous rhetorical devices in his novel. Two such rhetorical strategies Hawthorne establishes to convey his purpose of informing the audience of valuable life lessons in The Scarlet Letter are characterization and the theme of duality.
First, Hester is a main symbol in the book and she is a symbol of sin, confession, shame, and repentance. The first two symbols Hester represents are shame and sin. She has committed adultery and was forced to stand on the scaffold for public humiliation. She has to wear the scarlet letter ‘A’. The scarlet letter ‘A’ stands for adultery and is a symbol of shame. Hester is forced to wear this so she will always be reminded of the sin she has committed and so everyone knows that she has committed adultery. Although Hester has to wear the scarlet letter, she is a very strong, independent woman even without a male influence in her life. Hester is also a symbol of strength because she has to hold all of the shame and punishment in the sin that her and Reverend Dimmesdale committed. On Election Day Reverend Dimmesdale gives his sermon and people say it is the most powerful speech he has ever given. They think that
A human being is subject to feelings that range from happiness to depression to indifferent. Whenever an author captures even some of the emotions that a person goes through, the author has made the characters realistic. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson are two perfect examples of authors who master the art of capturing feelings within the characters. Both books display instances where the characters are subject to the feelings of deceit, despair, and dejection; therefore, the characters seem as though they were alive and breathing.
Critics view the books by Pullman and Ransom as examples of literary excellence. In order to evaluate this opinion it is necessary to discuss what aspects critics consider contribute to a good book and how these books illustrate them. The American Library Associate (ALA) uses the term ‘edubrow’ (Kidd, (2009) p158) to mean the middle ground of literature with an educational emphasis. This emphasis is at the centre of the criteria for a good book by increasing the experiences of the reader through varied language, dynamic themes, rounded characterisation with comprehensive plots. The critics favour works that involve the reader in a non-passive manner to gain insights into universal aspects of human existence like love, identity, revenge, sexuality and betrayal.
Sewall, Richard B. "The Scarlet Letter: Criticism." Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 319-27.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter introduces themes within the story that recur in several settings and serve as metaphors for the underlying conflicts. The trouble in interpreting The Scarlet Letter is the fact that the story is packed full of symbolism that can be either overlooked, or misinterpreted. From the actual letter ‘A’, down to the use of colors, Hawthorne wrote his story with the intention of making the reader work harder and read deeper into the characters and actual meaning of the story.
One symbol is Hester’s scarlet “A” that she wears on her bosom. She received this letter, specifically and “A”, because she had committed adultery in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. Hester had moved to Salem before her husband, who was supposed to arrive a few days later after leaving Amsterdam, but he never showed up for two years. However, Hester had become pregnant during these years without her husband, so it was obvious she was an adulte...
“To the untrue man, the whole universe is false,--it is impalpable,--it shrinks to nothing within his grasp. And he himself, in so far as he shows himself in a false light, becomes a shadow, or, indeed, ceases to exist.” (Hawthorne 115) Throughout the hostile novel The Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne used contrasting settings to represent opposed ideas that were central to the meaning of the work. Some have argued that when it came to the theme that secrets have a destructive effect on the secret-keeper and truth, by contrast, was natural, a character evaluation would best advocate these differences. However, two settings, Dimmesdale’s house and the secrets that lie within, and the scaffold representing the truth, better embody the adverse ideas posed by the point at issue.
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.
Hester Prynne lived in a society of the Puritans. Puritans stuck to their beliefs and heavily enforced them. She was forced to follow these laws, and couldn’t break free. Hester became the biggest symbol of sin once she had committed the most impure action of all, adultery. She had become a figure of evil and was shamed upon for the rest of her life. Yet, in all of the shame she lived through, she was able to become a stronger woman. The “A”, the symbol of sin began to mean much more to her than just a sin. It cleared up her imagery, gave her the ability to see things others couldn’t. Doing what was seen as the most evil possible sin, she couldn’t possibly do anything worse.
Gerber, John C. "Form and Content in The Scarlet Letter." The Scarlet Letter: A Norton Critical Edition. Eds. Seymour Gross, Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1988.
...ting this novel was to reveal the hypocrisy of a Puritans life. He wanted to provide a moral message and psychological complexity. The Scarlet Letter may be one of the few novels that will continue to be taught in literature as it deals with sin, punishment, and guilt.
Gross, Seymour L. “ ‘Solitude and Love, and Anguish’: The Tragic Design of The Scarlet Letter.” CLA Journal 3. (1960): 154-165). Print.
The historical context, psychological exploration of the characters, and realistic dialogue make this fictional novel more realistic. The symbolic representation of the scarlet letter, Pearl, and the settings along with the morals taught by the stories of the characters make the novel more insightful, symbolic, and allegorical. These aspects of The Scarlet Letter make the novel a brilliant combination of the literary devices of Realism, symbolism, and allegory, and fill the novel with profundity, suspense, romance, and tragedy.