The human desire to fight for rights is unavoidable. History has proven that people will always fight against a societal practice they deem unjust as shown during the abolition and suffrage movements. Although Hawthorne opposed abolitionists and feminists because he believed they would cause too much conflict and violence, he acknowledged that slavery was wrong and realized these movements were unstoppable. Nathaniel Hawthorne addresses the consequences of radical change in his book, The Scarlet Letter, through the sin of Hester Prynne. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne defies the Puritan society’s harsh laws by committing adultery and later redeems herself by becoming a helpful member of Puritan society. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Put your mind to the general welfare of the population of this town. If people were to move on from the unnecessarystress and anxiety that the "sinful" woman has caused, our town could achieve peace! Hence, it is imperative that the lady Hester's current punishment of strict jailtime be repealed and the consequences that the scarlet letter itself holds be our justice.In essence, it is important to look at both of the consequential punishments in question; from an outside perspective. The true matter of importance here is the people's welfare. If the mass wish to divert their attention to Hester and her wrongdoing, then they themselves with be overcome with restlessness in the end. As an overall perspective, leaving Hester to be on her own forever is the ultimate punishment. The "sinful" Hester Prynne is put to jail for life, it is unlikely she will learn her lesson. Hester Prynne will never understand her wrongdoings. Doing a comparison such as this is important. It grants us the foresight to understand how and why we decide her fate. Within the novel, it is stated that "Throughout them all, giving up her individuality, she would become the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point..." (Hawthorne 66). This is an indication as to the power that is granted to her with that all the attention that is given to the sinner.
“And the infectious poison of that sin had been thus rapidly diffused throughout his moral system” (Hawthorne 174). In The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale serves as the holiest person many people meet in their moral lifetime, and as the purest embodiment of God’s word. However, Dimmesdale has a wounding secret, a cancer, that tears his soul apart throughout his time in America. Dimmesdale falls prey to sin in a moment of passion with Hester, resulting in her condemnation by the townspeople, and the birth of their child, Pearl. For years, Dimmesdale’s life is defined by an internal conflict - his job demands his purity in the eye of the townspeople, but he desires the acceptance of herself that Hester achieves through her sin being made public. His
What is justice to you? Well justice is different for everyone because we have all had different life experiences. In the scarlet letter, by nathaniel hawthorne, a woman named hester prim is punished for having a chilled out for welock. As her punishment she is forced to wear a scarlet A upon her clothing, with this mark she will become out cast and ridiculed by the town. Hester accepts the letter at first because it is the regulated punishment decided by the society and what they see as a just punishment. But then as the story progress she realizes that the same duration of the punishment isn 't always the best for the situation. But then by the end of the story she comes to the realization that the punishment doesn 't define her.
Throughout the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is publicly insulted and shamed as a result of her punishment for breaking the Puritan faith by committing adultery. She is then forced into standing in front of the whole town for hours as the crowd is breaking her down with hateful and abusive language. After, she had been released, "the scene was not without a mixture of awe, such as much always invest the spectacle of guilt and shame of a fellow creature" (Hawthorne 63). They almost had satisfaction in her punishment, having the perception that they had cleansed the town, and therefore only leaving a pure society. The society had thought that if they treated her so horribly no individual would attempt in committing acts that
“It’s okay to not be perfect. It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to do something that you wish you hadn’t done, because if we don’t do those things we never grow.”- Dawn Stanyon. Hester Prynne was one of the main characters in the book The Scarlet Letter and she made a horrible mistake which in the end became the best mistake she ever made. In the beginning of the book Hester Prynne had committed adultery and had a baby because of it which caused people to look down upon her and they made her wear a scarlet A on her clothes to show that she committed adultery. Hester instantly regretted the decision she made, but she never knew how this decision could impact her life for the better. She became emotionally stronger, she became a wiser and
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne explores recurring themes of suffering surrounding the main characters, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester and Dimmesdale both commit adultery with each other, and, as a result of this, both experience gruesome and occasionally unbearable forms of suffering. Though they undergo different forms of pain, both of their experiences are highly reliant on how the Puritan society treats them. Hester 's pain stems from the shame and estrangement she receives from the community, while Dimmesdale’s is due to the reverence with which the community regards him. Although, in spite of the fact that both Hester and Dimmesdale receive harsh penalty for their sin, by the end of the book, Hawthorne shows how their suffering is, in fact, the key to their salvation. The hardships and punishments of both Hester and Dimmesdale, while difficult to endure at the time, were eventually beneficial and allowed them to free themselves from the Puritan community and escape their pain.
People that are isolated and alone are often changed by the crushing weight of their seclusion. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester’s sphere of isolation plays a pivotal role in giving Hester influence in Puritan society which Hawthorne creates by employing feminist ideals in the novel.
People in life go through many hardships and challenges, but it is in the way we handle those hardships in which our true character is shown. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne shows his audience many ways to people interpret hardships, and some people do not take them very well. For instance the Reverend Dimmesdale. Arthur Dimmesdale 's believes his actions of self-punishment and sin created a world in which he could no longer live a life of truth and holiness.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is an extreme outcast in her society following her public ignominy and being sinfully branded as the adulterer. Succeeding Hester’s removal of the “A” from her chest, she initially believes that “the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit” (182). Hester feels as though the removal of the “A” has removed the stigma pertaining to the “A”, as well as the constraints and disregard society has cast upon her. But whether or not Hester contains a physical marker of her ignominy, she will be abandoned within society. After seven years of being accustomed to Hester’s sin, townspeople still believe Hester was “dead, in respect to any claim of sympathy” (203). Hester remains a victim
Because even her name conjures up many conflicting thoughts, the true nature of Hester Prynne from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is heavily debated among critics. Mark Van Doren and D.H. Lawrence both assert their conflicting perspectives with a multitude of convincing devices, but D.H. Lawrence more effectively portrays Hester Prynne as an enemy through the use of thought-provoking allusions, critical diction and repetition, and an unconventional syntax in his essay, On Hester Prynne.
Selflessness does not mean how charitable or benevolent the act looks, it means truly doing something without expecting anything in return. Another example of choosing to be selfless in literature can be the situation of the characters in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. In Salinas Valley during the Great Depression, the story introduces the character George as a caretaker and friend of the mentally challenged Lennie, who has been in George’s care ever since Lennie’s aunt had died. As migrant workers, George and Lennie had difficulty finding jobs in California farming
Compassion is an emotion that can help change the lives of others. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird the protagonists express compassion, causing them to learn about the grim truths of the world around them. Jem is empathetic when he invites Walter Cunningham Jr. over for dinner, and in recognizing the racist county they live in, he learns that in Maycomb, people do not care about who you are on the inside. Scout is compassionate when she respects Boo for his shy nature, and when she stands up for Walter Cunningham Jr. learning that not every family is a privileged one. Atticus shows sympathy by helping Mrs. Dubose get over her addiction and by defending Tom Robinson in court, in doing
Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American author during the 19th century witnessed the power of sin to wreak havoc not only to an individual but a whole community. His novel The Scarlet Letter expresses this very idea by exposing the follies of mankind and the potentially detrimental effects of sin through Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth
Hester Prynne was an example of sin, guilt, and redemption. Hawthorne uses bible passages as examples. The consequences for our sins are determined by God and where we will go. Hester’s punishment is wearing the letter, ‘A’ on her breast. "God, as a direct consequence of the sin which man thus punished, had given her a lovely child, whose place was on that same dishonoured bosom, to connect her parent for ever with the race and descent of mortals, and to be finally a blessed soul in heaven!"- (pg 55). Hester freed herself from sin by removing The Scarlet Letter and realizing she loves Dimmesdale, with this she asks for his forgiveness and confesses. “Let God punish! Thou shalt forgive!”(pg.118) Hester did a good deed when she kept Dimmesdale’s identity a secret. “I deem it not likely that he will betray the secret.He will doubtless seek