Character Foils In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

In the end of the short story, the narrator couldn’t bear “the hypocrital smiles” nor “the beating of his hideous heart” and admitted his crime. He cannot stop the beating of the heart growing louder; his conscience is haunting him. He cannot contain the tale which the heart had to tell. It is often too late when we finally realize what damage we have done—how we ruined someone else’s life. Then we fear what we’ve brought ourselves into; we fear the consequences we’d have to face.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne centers around the idea of shame, a controlling characteristic of life that influences every characters actions. This novel focuses on the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a strict Puritan society. When Hester Prynne commits adultery in this town, she is forced into a lifetime of public shame. This not only changes her way of life, but her daughter’s as well. Yet the man that she commits adultery with is not exposed, and instead endures his own private shame, which is arguably more brutal than if he revealed himself as her lover.

The book The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne has symbolism all throughout it. People and objects are symbolic of events and thoughts. Throughout the book, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester, Pearl, and Arthur Dimmesdale to signify philosophies that are evident during this time period. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against their ways, committing adultery. For this sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life.

This broken promise is also one of the stones that later drives her mad. So a reader may find it interesting that even in her state of madness she is able to communicate her heartbreak and touch down on topics most would never consider. While Ophelia does show some good examples of feminism, Queen Gertrude shows even more compelling evidence of feminist lens in the form of Gertrude holding the perfect image of a proper women. The reader can see the feminist lens in Gertrude through her love for her son and when she is always being overlooked by the men in her life. An excellent example of one such instance is when Hamlet confronts Gertrude in her closet.

The “A’” significance and manifestation all pertain to sin. The Scarlet Letter is a Book written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that shows the true meaning of sin and guilt through another person's life in puritan society. Hester Prynne a lonely women departed from her ugly husband in england,commits infidelity or adultery with local preacher Dimmsdale and has a daughter out of the sin that was committed. To punish Hester she was forced to where a Large “A’” on her breast,to let everyone know what she has done. The Letter “A’” has different meaning to different people throughout the book.

The Gruesome Specter of Chillingworth The scandalous tale of man and woman encounters a mysterious character who seems to resemble a previous relationship and connection with the woman herself, Hester Prynne, the infamous adulterer in her Puritanical village. This remarkable sinful tale in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, readers encounter endless journeys with individual characters, trying either to redeem themselves in society, keeping their secret from unraveling, or trying to reveal the secret and simply bring vengeance to those who deserve it. The choices one makes on this journey will end in either a “sweet moral blossom” or “human frailty and sorrow” (42).

The Scarlet Letter Symbolism Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the book The Scarlet Letter that took place in the puritan age in the 1800´s, he´s a anti-transcentist who believes deep down humans are messed up and mostly dark and sin, sickness, and evil beings. Hester Prynne, the mother of Pearl and the protagonists of this story, and is forced to wear the scarlet letter ¨A¨ on the dresses for the rest of her life because she committed adultery with Minister Dimmesdale. Hester went through pain, and humility feeling guilty for committing such a sin. Minister Dimmesdale the other sinner who had sex with Hester and kept it to himself keeping the secret from the town, led him to a deadly guilt residing in him and father of Pearl called the ¨Demon child and the…... ¨, In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale, and Hester to contribute to the overall theme of guilt.

In Macbeth, Shakespeare displays how women manipulate men. Lady Macbeth’s ‘evil’ is an ideologically inscribed notion that is often linked to our literary tradition to strong female characters who seek power, who reject filial loyalty as prior to self-loyalty and who pursue desire in all its forms. (Thomas 82). In the story, after Duncan’s killing, Macbeth ended up feeling kind of bad.

The Impact Of the Scarlet Letter Throughout the 18th century, Transcendentalist novelists used many symbols in their works. Nathaniel Hawthorne is a prime example, using symbols like he does in The Scarlet Letter. He introduces a character named Hester Prynne, who wears a letter "A" on her chest which is called the "Scarlet Letter." She wears this letter symbolizing the sin she made by committing adultery. This scarlet letter alienates her from society because people see her as a sinner, but the interpretation that the reader has of the symbols is what Nathaniel Hawthorne was trying to convey.

Similarly Pearl and Chillingworth both indirectly impact the amount of guilt Hester feels. For example Pearl makes life harder for Hester by giving attitude to the rest of the puritan children in the society. Also by constantly making Hester question whether or not Pearl was consumed by the devil because of the way she dismisses the beliefs of her community. Showing that even though Pearl wasn’t attacking Hester directly or questioning

He fears that he has lost God’s grace, or fears that others may tempt him into sin. Uncertain of his place and of the intentions of others, he attempts to find the sin before it may taint him further. However, sin’s taint had already reached him. Weighted down by his constant search for certainty, Goodman Brown became “a sad” and “desperate man” (395). His sin haunted him until his final breath, “for his dying hour was gloom” (395).

The process of growing in a character can be treacherous process. This process was demonstrated well by Reverend Dimmesdale in the novel, The Scarlett Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s style sets up Dimmesdale demise impeccably, giving the reader a deep and insightful look at Dimmesdale. Hawthorne explains the destruction of Dimmesdale, which is due to committing adultery with Hester, with his continued exacerbating health and the letter A throughout the novel. Hawthorne continuously comments about Reverend Dimmesdale’s ailing health, leading the reader to assume that the sin is eating him up from inside.

His mind is in constant turmoil from his immorality, transforming him into a guilt-ridden tortured soul, because of his secret. Hawthorne expresses Dimmesdale 's morbidness when he says, “Yet Mr. Dimmesdale would perhaps have seen this individual’s character more perfectly, if a certain morbidness, to which sick hearts are liable, had not rendered him suspicious of all mankind. Trusting no man as his friend, he could not recognize his enemy when the latter actually appeared” (135). Dimmesdale is living with Chillingworth, his physician, who is described as evil and tormenting towards Dimmesdale, yet, the minister does not know that his enemy is the one he is trusting. Furthermore, Dimmesdale attributes, “all his presentments to no other cause but his own morbid heart” (146).

It is estimated that an average of 130,000,000 babies are born each year around the world. (Ross 2). These infants possess given names that have significances behind it such as a saint name, after another family member, or a trait that the word possesses. Correspondingly, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter characters develop entitlements to names that have specific meanings. Pearl Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale reinforce character names that possess deeper definitions.

Pearl does not fit in with the other child in the community. She is described to be devilish. Similar to her mother, Pearl is isolated as an individual in the community. She is aware of her isolation, and senses that the isolation of both her and her mother have a relation to the scarlet letter. As Pearl asks Hester to explain the scarlet letter, Hester thinks that Pearl is completely controlled by an evil spirit.