Pride and prejudice, weathering Heights and the scarlet letter each show in different ways the evolving democratic values of the 19th century. Each novel highlights a different subject one just as important as the last. All representing in their own unique way what it is to be an American. Pride and prejudice reflects the equality of women and the rising of the women 's movement, weathering Heights symbolizes social class distinction and the scarlet letter was used to express the core beliefs of liberty.
In pride and prejudice women were reduced to only being useful for marriage and had a few opportunities to support themselves in society. They had scarce opportunities for employment and even those that were able to be governesses we 're
…show more content…
The Scarlet letter was used to show what it means to be free as well as what it takes to be free. "on the breast of her gown in find red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the A. it was so artistically done and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy that it... Was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony". Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one 's way of life. Hester is held to judgment for her sins and she takes her punishment with pride but she refused to be oppressed by the restrictions of her punishment in regards to her personal liberty. Hester was ostracized by her community yet she was able to find the strength to continue to be a part of the community and raise her daughter. The colony believed that by doing these things to Hester she would break under pressure but she persevered and found online freedom through the embroidery of the scarlet letter. In conclusion all three novels provide valuable lessons. Each and every one representing a different aspect of our developing society. Not only did these novels teach very important lessons when they were written but those lessons still
During the course of this past week and a half, I have been wearing the letter I chose to represent me. My results I received were very weak and almost unresponsive. But didn’t I wear it all day for a week? Yes, people tend to mind their own business while walking in-between classes.
Imagine being judged for the choices you make. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and The Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry the characters in these three novels search for independence under unfortunate circumstances. This results in difficult decision making situations that they are later judged for. However, Hester confronts her sin, the Younger family moves into a white neighborhood house and the Wall’s kids move away from their abusive parents.
Pride and Prejudice deviates from the social norms it is being accused of by showing and portraying female characters going against what was expected of them. An example being the refusal of marriage that would be financially securing for the family. Pride and Prejudice also deviates from social conventions at that time because Austen writes Pride and Prejudice as a social satire and makes humor of the traditional roles of women. Compared to other novels with female characters at the time, such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Jane Austen’s female characters in Pride and Prejudice break the social norm for women and do not portray them as passive. Pride and Prejudice, published in 1813, is about five sisters whose mother is desperate to see them married off.
Throughout the passage from The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Hester’s baby, Pearl, to illuminate the theme of beauty in a dark place. Once released from prison, Hester, an adulterer, becomes a public spectacle. Through this hard time, Hester has her daughter Pearl to soothe her and to bring her strength and hope for a better future. By using vivid imagery and juxtaposition, Hawthorne depicts Pearl as Hester’s happiness, light, and beauty during a sad and lonely time. While in Prison, Hester is all alone and depressed.
When Hester finally takes off the scarlet letter “A” and her cape in the wilderness, it not only represents the beauty she held despite the emotional punishment she underwent, but it also represents her removing the Puritan and patriarch society holding her back. Hester’s feminist conscious is intricately portrayed throughout the
The Scarlet Letter was Hester’s forced punishment and is a reminder to the whole community of Hester’s sin of adultery. As Hester’s character grows in strength she realizes that “if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom” (59). Hester expresses how everyone sins and if everyone was punished the way she was, many people would have to wear a letter of their own. The punishment of wearing the “A” gave Hester the freedom of not having to hide her sins from others. However, the people with hidden sins have to protect their reputation which causes a lack of freedom.
Amanda Vicente The Scarlet Letter Reading Response AP English Language Period J 16 August 2016 Journal Entry 1: Chapters 1-2 In The Scarlet Letter, the author sets a mood from the beginning of the book. The setting is old and beat up in front of an aged wooden prison with judgmental Puritans ready to tear a women apart. The Puritans are hypocrites and the author portrays that in the story.
The 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.”
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)
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, the protagonist, Hester Prynne is a Romantic Hero. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, we see Hester Prynne’s struggle in Colonial America after she is condemned by the Puritan society. She is sent to America by her husband, but he never returns, and Hester later conceives a child with the local minister. She is convicted with the crime of adultery, but refuses to identify the father, she is then forced to wear the Scarlet Letter. The novel captures her experience as she struggles to survive the guilt, sin, and revenge.
Pride and Prejudice: Then versus Now Pride and Prejudice written by Jane Austen in the early nineteenth century portrays the life of women and their attitudes toward marriage. Marriage, the major theme in the novel, is depicted as a way of social verification. The only way women could have a standing in their class was through their husband’s finances. Men were the owners of any type of property, which means that women could only obtain anything through their husbands. Thus, women tended to marry based on the ideas of wealth and social gratification.
The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, functions as an evaluation of Puritan ideas, customs, and culture during the 17th century. Through this evaluation, we can get a good idea of what core values and beliefs the Puritans possessed, as well as the actions they take in cases of adversity brought about by “sinners”. Some Puritan virtues created stark divisions between groups of people, some of which led to discrimination under certain circumstances. One of the most prominent of these is the treatment and standards of men and women, a concept that surfaced during some of the major points in The Scarlet Letter. The divisions that were created by Puritan standards of men and women played a great role in shaping the plot of The Scarlet Letter, determining the fate of many of the characters.
It is evident from reading Austen’s novel; Pride and Prejudice, that she possess a certain sense of empathy towards the female population and the roles they played in society. From the way in which the narrator speaks of the different female characters and how the female characters interact and develop throughout the plot, the women in this novel convey Austen’s distaste for the position women had in society during that period of time. In this essay I will discuss how the female characters view women and their roles in society and how they discuss topics such as; marriage, the ways in which a “proper” lady should behave, the roles of women in the family and finally how Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine in this story, portrays Austen’s subtle notion of rebellion towards these social constructs to which these women are tied to.
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. Hester, throughout the beginning and middle of the book, is forced to face alienation and humiliation from her town, though by the end of the book, she is able to use her punishment to set her free from her society. First, Hester reflects on the effect of her sin, and realizes, “ . . . the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul . . .” (72).
The novel Pride and Prejudice can easily be picked apart through a feminist lens. The farther into the book one goes, the more there is to critique and analyze through a feminist lens. The book is about Elizabeth Bennet and her relationship with her eventual fiance Mr. Darcy, the ups and the downs of their relationship. Elizabeth was never a woman who only craved the attention and approval of men, she was her own person with her own complex emotions.