The theme of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, revolves around one sin: adultery. This sin manages to ruin the lives of Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. One wonders whether the sin is actually as terrible as the Puritans believe it to be, though. They ruin all natural good with their “harsh determinism and […]
Tag Archives: Hester Prynne
The influences of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s upbringing in Salem, Massachusetts and his Puritan ancestry are evident in his literary works. Many of his writings are expressions of Puritan ideals and the correlation of those ideals with human nature. Considered serious and solitary by nature, Hawthorne used these character traits to clearly portray his feelings toward Puritanism. […]
The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is the first case of knowledge being gained through a sinful experience. Many years later this same theme is again depicted in the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, in which Hester goes through much persecution as the result of a sinful incident. […]
Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne emphasizes the intricate themes of isolation and alienation. Using a variety of literary techniques and descriptions of emotions and nature, Hawthorne is able to fully depict the inner feelings of hurt suffered by the central characters as a result of severe loneliness and seclusion. This, therefore, further […]
The Scarlet Letter has many different types of symbols. There is the meteor, scarlet letter, Pearl, scaffold, rosebush and many others. Almost anything in the story can be interpreted as a symbol, as long it brings some importance to the story. The scarlet letter, meteor and Pearl are the symbols that I believe are the […]
Sin and guilt is the inward conflict that is continuously mentioned in Nathaniel Hawthorn’s book The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth experience the effects of sin and guilt in different forms and are forced to handle they’re delimmas. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are both convicted for having the sin of […]