Hypocrisy Of The Puritan Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
In the “Scarlet Letter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays hypocrisy of the Puritan society, where the protagonist Hester Prynne face many consequences of her actions and the how she tries to redeem herself to the society. During the seventeenth puritans believe that it is their mission to punish the ones who do not follow God’s word and it is their job to stop those from sinning. Therefore, the hypercritical puritan society punishes Hester harshly for committing adultery, but in Hester’s mind, she believes that what she did was not a sin but acts of love for her man. Eventually, she redeems herself by turning her crime into an advantage to help those in need, yet the Puritan society still view her as a “naughty bagger.” (Hawthorne 78)
The Puritan society thinks that it was their job to punish people who committed crime severely because they believe they were doing god’s work. They persecuted Hester for committing adultery while they are blinded by
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Throughout the novel, Hester is fraught by the Puritan society and her suffering is an effect of how evil society is. Hester continues to believe that the crime she committed was not wrong and she should not be punished for it. Her desire to protect and love Dimmesdale, turn her into a stronger person and become a heroine in the book. Although society still views her as a “naughty baggage” (Hawthorne 73) and is punished for her wrongdoing, Hester never thought to take revenge on them, yet she gives everything she has to the unfortunate and leaves herself with very little. She continues to stay positive no matter what society has for her. The hypocritical society is blinded by how they should punish Hester that they are not showing kindness to Hester. Hawthorne creates the book to show how an individual spirit must overcome the difficult obstacles in the society cultural
Hester Prynne Shame Quotes
1140 Words | 5 PagesHester's True Side In committing an act of adultery, Hester Prynne, the primary character in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, finds herself a victim of harsh judgement and ridicule by her Puritan community. She becomes isolated as a result of this scandalous behavior and becomes emotionally involved in a love triangle between her husband and her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, who is the town minister. As a result of her shameful history, the townspeople attempt to destroy and embarrass her by socially neglecting her and labeling her as an outcast and loner. Though the people of the community pursue several attempts to shame her, Hester Prynne's beauty, selflessness, and strength help her overcome this rejection from the townspeople and
On Hester Prynne Compare And Contrast Essay
682 Words | 3 PagesBecause 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. Hester Prynne’s iniquity is foremost illustrated by Lawrence’s use of several biblical allusions. Although Hester shows benevolence throughout the novel and came to be respected in society, Lawrence asserts that this whole persona is a lie.
True Womanhood In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
1819 Words | 8 PagesHester subverts the power structure which condemns her both by her decorative presentation of the scarlet letter and the conversion of the scornful badge into a badge of capability. Through her good works, Hester achieves the conversion of society’s scorn into something more acceptable: “They said that [the scarlet letter] meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (Hawthorne 106). As Hester proves herself as a capable and virtuous woman, the townspeople start to regard the A less as a badge of shame and more as a badge of capability, thereby reducing the Puritan intent of punishment. In the process of subversion, Hester also carves a role for herself in the community as a caretaker for the sick and the poor. She involves herself in the community without sacrificing the traits which society condemns; she still refuses to apologize for her sin.
Patriarchy In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
435 Words | 2 PagesHawthorne wants to portray just how much a women can change emotionally and outwardly based on other’s perceptions. When the reader is introduced to Hester, she is seen as a bold defiant women who was shaken by the mockery and stares of the townspeople, but as the story progresses she slowly begins to lose her identity as the community begins to accept her. She becomes submissive, “She never battled with the public, but submitted uncomplainingly,”(126) and “… many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Abel; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength. ”(127)
Omniscient Narration In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
257 Words | 2 PagesHawthorne’s third person omniscient narration also supports him in his task of analyzing the individual in society by enabling him to look at Hester after her sin became public, while also giving him a wide enough scope to criticize elements of the Puritan society. In Hawthorne’s view, evidenced in this novel, the most damaging and powerful tool of social order that the highly religious Puritan society can inflict on the individual is a constant sense of guilt. The guilt and punishment that Hester Prynne’s society imposes on her for her sin is considered to be too much by Hawthorne, and his most emotional criticism of Hester’s over-reaching punishment is presented when Hester’s donations of high-quality clothes to the poor are rebuffed with
Hester Prynne: Who Committed The Bigger Sin?
353 Words | 2 PagesHester is judged too harshly for her mistake in this novel. “[F]or the remainder of her natural life she is to wear a mark of shame of shame on her bosom” (Hawthorne 59). The townspeople punish her by humiliation. She received almost no sympathy from her fellow puritans.
Puritans In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
571 Words | 3 PagesPuritan intolerance toward sin was shown during Hester’s first appearance. A group of women were dissatisfied with Hester’s punishment. The punishment was to wear the letter “A”, standing for adulterer, on her chest for the rest of
Hester Prynne Punishment In Scarlet Letter
791 Words | 4 PagesPunishment of Puritans for their sins occurred harshly and frequently, and these punishments ranged from fines, branding, and severe whippings to hanging and death. Many of these penalties involved public humiliation of some kind, which made it extremely difficult for townspeople to accept by their peers after they had sinned. Because the Puritans believed religion was immensely important, the community was often reluctant to allow citizens that exhibited sinful behavior to achieve redemption (Cox). However, in the case of Hester Prynne, an adulterer in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter, the townspeople eagerly made amends with her. This novel narrates the life of Hester Prynne, who committed adultery and courageously accepted the repercussions
Hester Prynne Sacrifice In Scarlet Letter
1213 Words | 5 PagesHe shows how Hester highly values ideals such as independence, honor, love, and freedom. As a result of showing the morals of Hester, Hawthorne is able to show the true meanings of his work. He demonstrates how although Hester is known in the city as a sinner, the city is full of sinners and Hester, in reality, is representing an angel who stands up for what she believes in. Through the process of showing Hester’s Sacrifices affect what her true values are, Hawthorne is able to show the larger picture and the true meaning of the themes of the
Hester Prynne's Transformation In The Scarlet Letter
1599 Words | 7 PagesWhat the Puritans did not see coming was that, like Justine Sacco, Hester would not let this shame ruin her life. She would not let the judgement of others define who she is, and who she was going to be. She transforms her life, refusing to let her mistake define her. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne's uses the shame she receives as her motivation to transform herself from an adulterer, to an angel, to able. Hester has committed a sin that required two people, yet she bears the burden of shame alone.
Double Standards In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
1279 Words | 6 PagesHester was judged more harshly for sin because she was a woman. Women were not seen as equals in society during that time period, and committing adultery was one of the worst things a woman could do because it ruined a woman’s reputation forever. Hester was expelled from society and was forced to become an outcast because she had committed adultery. Women were judged for their sins more severely than men. This severity was shown when the townswomen talked about Hester negatively outside the prison.
Metaphors In The Scarlet Letter
826 Words | 4 PagesNathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter tells the story of the life of Hester Prynne an adulteress forced to wear a Scarlet “A” on her bosom by the sinister Puritan society to mark her shame. As her husband seeks revenge for the unidentified lover, Arthur Dimmesdale stays wracked with guilt. The Scarlet Letters symbolism and use of allusions, metaphors, setting, irony, diction, and varied tone helps to unwrap the characters throughout the novel. Hawthornes motives for writing the The Scarlet Letter was to show how women can be equally as strong and independent as men as men can also be morally weak. Hawthorne uses his abilities to weave tone, mood, and style all into one story questioning his purpose of this tragic tale of shame and redemption.
Essay On Evil In The Scarlet Letter
719 Words | 3 PagesThe townspeople “[began] to look upon the scarlet letter as a token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since.” This quote exemplifies how sin is not a death sentence for Hester. Through hard work and charity it allowed the rigid Puritan society to see her as something different, and as someone who would not let society define who she was. Hester, thus, was not only able to change herself, but also the image in which society viewed her by working hard to benefit the public. Likewise, the scarlet letter which was supposed to represent sin was instead “fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom.”
The Importance Of Puritans In The Scarlet Letter
1194 Words | 5 PagesThe opening scene, in which Hester stands on the scaffold and defiantly refuses to name her lover, signals a complex swerve of high or elite literature from the popular pressure toward legibility (5). The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne follows the lifestyle of Puritans in early America in many ways. One of the ways Hawthorne explores their lives is how they are punished for their sins over several contexts, such as family, the church, and state. There is the world of the Puritans, who recognize no distinction between the public and the private and who assume that all should be bared before the multitude; and there is the consciousness of the three central characters, who wrap themselves in secrecy (5). The punishments for sin of men and women, however, fluctuate over the course of the story.
Gender Discrimination In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
407 Words | 2 PagesIn The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne appoints the novel in Puritan, New England, a capricious, and strictly religious society. This story, is a perfect example of gender discrimination in which Hester Prynne is disgraced and judge for perpetrating adultery. The scarlet letter presents a gender discriminatory society in which women are portrayed as an creature guilty of every evil; where
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