Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne isn't noted for perfecting any famous literary style, for writing multiple best sellers, or even for contributing largely to classic American literature. His only real claim to fame is The Scarlet Letter: a novel that was originally only meant to be yet another Hawthorne short story. Because of this, it actually possesses many short story characteristics. "It is simpler and more complete than his other novels." (James 285) It also has an excellent plot backed by an expert use of literary techniques. One technique Hawthorne used was borrowed solely from drama: the use of the aside. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale delivers an aside in the midst of the action in chapter three, incorporating the reader into his personal thoughts and feelings directly. Many other things in The Scarlet Letter weren't so direct, though. Typically, Hawthorne left the reader implying events by being vague and not answering posed questions. An example of this technique is through the women's discussion about Hester Prynne in chapter one. But, among all of his techniques used in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne truly mastered only one. He refined the art of symbolism. Symbolism is found throughout all of The Scarlet Letter. Nearly every person or object is symbolic of some other thing or idea. The scarlet letter, the black glove Dimmesdale leaves on the scaffold, and the scaffold itself all have deeper significance. This makes the theme of The Scarlet Letter even more ever-present. It aids in illustrating the true intolerance and hypocrisy of Puritan customs.
At first reading, one might safely say that the scarlet letter means "Adulteress." Although this is partially correct, it lacks in-...
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Works Cited
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Sleep is one of our basic needs to survive and to function in day to day operations, but not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. Some people can survive on very little sleep, i.e. five hours a night, and some people need a lot of sleep, to the extend that they are sleeping up to 10 to sometimes 15 hours a night (Nature, 2005). According to Wilson (2005) the general rule states that most people need from seven to eight hours of sleep. The deprivation of sleep in our society in continually increasing with the demands in society increasing work loads, the myth that a few hours of sleep is only necessary to function properly and that sleep is sometimes considered as killing time (Nature, 2005). Sometimes sleep deprivation is also caused by other situations like sleep disorders, i.e. sleep apnea, chronic insomnia or medical conditions such as stress (Wilson, 2005).
...ame about as a notebook that Hawthorne had written during his mother’s death. That is actually one of the main reasons that The Scarlet Letter is filled with such emotion. Hawthorne also believed he needed to revitalize American literature as in this next quote. “Choosing adultery as the sin to which the Puritans were to react, and in so doing, according to some of his moralistic critics, "Frenchifying" American literature…” (American Studies @ Virginia paragraph 21) Henry James said "the book was the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in this country."
Hawthorne is a master of symbolism. Without careful analysis, most people would not notice the intricacy of the novel. For that matter, one cannot grasp the full complexity of The Scarlet Letter no matter how many times he or she reads it. Hawthorne’s use of interwoven symbolism is the essence of all his stories.
Phillips, J. (2011), ‘Asylum seekers and refugees: What are the facts?’, Background note, Parliamentry library, Canberra.
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A western bishop appraised: “Yet we honestly believe that "the Scarlet Letter" has already done not a little to degrade our literature, and to encourage social licentiousness: it has started other pens on like enterprises, and has loosed the restraint of many tongues, that have made it an apology for "the evil communications which corrupt good manners.” (Coxe.) Hawthorne’s sagacious perception revealed the dark and ugly side of the Puritan society and remonstrated the unfairness under the laws. He established his story not only based on the actual events but also leaned on his lavish imaginative conception and his personal experience. Hawthorne is a good ironic writer and most of his eyes focus on the unfairness and repulsive about human life and he’s novel concentrated revealing the evils and ugly side about humanity. One of the best writers during 1900s, Henry James wrote: “He is to a considerable degree ironical—this is part of his charm—part even, one may say, of his brightness; but he is neither bitter nor cynical—he is rarely even what I should call tragical.” (James.) His achievements inspired future writer such as Henry James, Faulkner, and Melville, thereby forming an important American literary historical writing tradition. He cleverly makes symbolism and romanticism bond together and makes his work interesting and enjoyable
Despite the historical and prevalent stigma and sensationalization associated with this field, many respected educational establishments have laboratories involved in the research of psi. The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research program, instituted in 1979 to investigate mind-matter interactions (2); the Parapsychological Association, a 1957 offshoot of the Duke Laboratory (3); the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at the University of Edinburgh (4); and Stanford University's 1946 endeavor, Stanford Research Institute are four of these. It should be noted that Stanford Research Institute separated from the university in 1970, and became SRI International. (5)
Throughout his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals character through the use of imagery and metaphor.
Sleep is an extremely interesting phenomenon in which the mind almost completely departs from the usual realm of consciousness. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness and a decreased ability to react to stimuli where we become less aware of our surroundings. However, it is more easily reversed than being in hibernation or a coma. It is a function that has been extensively researched by many. After all, we would not have evolved a mechanism that forces us to spend one-third of our lives sleeping unless sleep did us some good. What good does it do tough? Over the years, many theories have been proposed as to why we need sleep. The simplest is that it saves energy. An individual’s energy expenditure and demand is reduced during the day, or night, as an animalistic instinct when they are least efficient to search for food. This is also supported by the decrease of body temperature and caloric demand throughout sleep. For example, when NASA sent a robot to mars, it was programmed to shut down at night so exploration would not waste energy. This is like our bodies, as they need time to recuperate and to slow down. In addition, sleep provides an occasion for restorative functions of the brain where the body is allowed sufficient time to repair and rejuvenate itself. For example, animals that are deprived of sleep entirely lose all their immune function and will soon die in a matter of weeks. Other findings have shown that many restorative functions in the body like tissue repair, muscle growth, and growth hormone occur mainly during sleep. When people are deprived of sleep, inhibitory transmitters accumulate in the brain, interfering with attention and learning. People that are well rested will notice when their attention lapses, a...
Stromgberg, Maria. “Hawthorne’s Black Man: Image of Social Evil.” Explicator 67.4 (2009): 274-276. Academic Search Premiere. Web. 9 Oct. 2013.
Bruckner, Sally. "The Scarlet Letter: Critical Evaluation." Masterplots. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Pasadena: Salem, 1996. 5847-5851.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “ The Scarlet Letter’’ is a classical story about sin, punishment and revenge. It all began with a young woman named Hester Prynne who has committed adultery, and gave birth to a child in a Puritan society. Through the eyes of the puritans Hester has gone against their religious ways. Hester must now wear the symbol of the letter “A” on her clothing for the rest of her life as act of shame. Hester Prynne faces a long journey ahead and her strength enables her to continue on.
Many women not only feel comfortable seeking help, they also feel honored to seek it, accept it, and display gratitude. Men on the other hand feel honored to fill the request for help, whether or not it is convenient for them to do so.
Many studies of the role of sleep are partial or total sleep deprivation studies which support Oswold’s restoration theory. One of these supporting studies was Dement’s. He deprived participants of REM sleep and consequently found that they increased their number of attempted REM stages from 12 to 26 over 4-7 nights. During their first uninterrupted night, participants increased their REM sleep by 10% which is known as REM rebound. This suggests the importance of REM and the possibility that the purpose of sleep is to get into REM sleep. The participants reported anxiety, irritability and difficulty concentrating which shows that REM sleep is needed to avoid these affects and enable brain recovery which corresponds with Oswold’s theory. Even so, Dement’s study has low ecological validity, it has low population validity because there were only 8 participants and they were a self-selected sample. Participants would probably have shown demand characteristics because the experiment took place in a lab. It also has low mundane realism because people would not usually sleep in a lab and be interrupted repeatedly.