Scarlet Letter Response Essay
The Scarlet Letter While the book, The Scarlet Letter, was set in the 15th century, it still contained many lessons that can be put to use in today’s society. In the Puritan community, individualism is discouraged and even punished. If one doesn’t live to the high moral standards, they will become outcasts of the community. Hester Prynne committed the sin of adultery and her life suffered greatly because of it. Sadly, in the modern world, adultery is considered the norm and isn’t scrutinized like it used to be. While Hester lived in a completely different world than I did, we still share basic similarities and both believe that we shouldn’t be treated differently because of our flaws and imperfections.
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hester
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I don’t know why I was anxious because in reality, my letter was self-explanatory and decorated to match with the adjective. Also, the letter C couldn’t stand for anything else except for creative because most people knew I wasn’t “cool” or any other adjective like that. I wasn’t treated differently because everyone guessed the meaning of my letter correctly. I felt different throughout the day because I didn’t like when the younger kids would look at me weirdly and wonder why I had a letter hanging from my neck. Wearing the letter was significant because it made me think how Hester would’ve felt wearing her letter all day. However, instead of wearing it for one day, Hester had to wear hers for the rest of her life and bore a negative trait instead of a positive one. From this assignment, I gained a new perspective on how others thought of me compared to how I thought of myself. For example, others assume that I’m quiet because I don’t talk that much in school. Outside of school, I love to talk to my friends and family members. This assignment also reminded me of the theme of The Scarlet Letter, “Be true!” Like Hester was true to herself by wearing her sin on her chest, I should be true to myself and wear my true personality with pride. I shouldn’t hide the real me from others just because I’m afraid of how others would judge
The Scarlet Letter: Dialectical Journal
328 Words | 2 PagesIf someone were to know why I was wearing the letter, they may have reacted differently. If it were my full word, would they have reacted differently? Wearing the letter “P” was not difficult at all for me. This did not stoop up to what Hester had to deal with. Peers only commented on my letter because they knew what it was for.
How Does Hester Prynne Change In The Scarlet Letter
530 Words | 3 PagesThe Scarlet Letter opens with Hester Prynne, a young woman who has committed adultery and is being punished. She is shown to be a proud, confident woman but is quickly forced to mature under the burden of public humiliation. Hester becomes an unhappy and bitter woman, her mind and body hardened by the stress of her punishment and her inability to forgive herself and move on. Throughout the story, she struggles to come to terms with what she has done and only when she finally does, can she return to her former happy, unburdened self and regain her former beauty. At the start of the novel, Hester has just received her sentencing for her crime of adultery.
Scarlet Letter Fate Quotes
1153 Words | 5 PagesThis shows how ungrateful and judgemental her society is. All things considered, through these many skills Hester accomplishes, the meaning of the scarlet letter, embroidered on her chest, changes in meaning from ‘adulterer’ to ‘able.’ This eventually leads to women looking up to her and going to her for advice. As a result, “the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too” (Hawthorne 257). Hester’s experiences living with society, as they looked down upon her, eventually changes the way society looks at people and the choices they make.
Examples Of Adultery In The Great Gatsby
1557 Words | 7 PagesAdultery- In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne Commits adultery. Once she has committed she gets shamed for life. Adultery is also a very important point throughout the story. It shows how it can wreak havoc on anyone’s life.
The Guilt Of Reverend Dimmesdale In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
984 Words | 4 PagesIn The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of Hester Prynne, a puritan woman living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the year 1642. She lived in a community where religion and law were almost inseparable. She is known for committing an adulterous crime that is punishable by both religion and law. After moving to Boston from England without her husband, Hester engaged in an affair and had a child named Pearl. After refusing to reveal the father of her child, Reverend Dimmesdale, she is sentenced to wear a mark of her crime on her clothing for the rest of her life.
What Is The Secrecy In The Scarlet Letter
725 Words | 3 PagesThe Scarlet Letter begins in 1642 Boston, Massachusetts with the Puritan society punishing Hester Prynne for her sins against God. The puritans believe that any crime is a crime or a sin against God and the Puritan leaders take this very seriously. Hester committed adultery with an unknown man. She was living out her punishment peacefully with her child Pearl until Roger Chillingworth appears back in town. No one knows that Chillingworth is Hester 's husband except for Hester.
Mistakes And Guilty In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
480 Words | 2 PagesWe have all experienced people’s unforgiving ways, and we all know that there are those that will judge based on your mistakes. This is very prominent in The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne, the main character, was judged profoundly by her community. The townspeople of Salem, Massachusetts shunned her for one mistake: Adultery.
Essay On Hester Prynne Flaws
494 Words | 2 PagesThe townspeople made Hester Prynne wear the Scarlet Letter as a symbol of her sin for her to remember everyday. I was asked to wear a letter of my own choice that represented a flaw or characteristic. My experience was somewhat similar to Hester because we both recognized our flaws. We didn’t try to hide the truth. I didn’t try to hide my flaw that I expressed through my letter, but rather embrace it.
The Scarlet Letter Rhetorical Analysis
1014 Words | 5 PagesHester has to wear a letter A on her chest for her punishment of adultery. In The Scarlet Letter, the meaning and significance of the letter A is altered as the novel goes on. Hester, the townspeople, and Pearl all have views of the letter that change. Through their views of the letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, reveals what his view on the letter is. Hester’s view of
Yamin Wang In Scarlet Letter
1142 Words | 5 PagesWhen 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
How Hester Prynne Changes In Scarlet Letter
941 Words | 4 PagesWhile her punishment changes her physical appearance, it has a far more profound effect on her character. Hester seems much older and worn down with the scarlet letter on her bosom. To Hester, the scarlet letter is a
Dimmesdale As A Symbol In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
920 Words | 4 PagesThe scarlet letter begins its role as a symbol in the novel by bearing a penal meaning, as a punishment for an adulterer. The scarlet letter initially manifested itself as the embodiment of sin. If the sacred command, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” did not exist the rest of Hester’s existence would completely change and the sin would disappear. But alas, for Hester the strict puritan community forces her to wear the scarlet letter. Consequently, she must bear with her the association between the ornate fabric has: “The magistrates are God-fearing gentlemen, but merciful overmuch,—that is a truth," added a third autumnal matron.
Essay On Evil In The Scarlet Letter
719 Words | 3 PagesEven though the Puritans may have designated the letter as a representation of sin, Hester’s renewed sense of pride does not want society to define the A for her. Rather Hester wants to define it herself and by doing so she develops responsibility and power over her own actions. Because Hester has the power to change who she is, she also has the power to change what the Scarlet Letter represents. By letting the letter be “embroidered with gold thread” readers are able to see how for Hester sin is not something to be fearful of; furthermore, it allows one to see how Hester has developed into an independent individual who accepts who she is and the situation she is presented with. Hester’s lover unfortunately
Hypocrisy Of The Puritan Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
936 Words | 4 PagesIn 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)
Puritan Culture In The Scarlet Letter
920 Words | 4 Pages(Hall, 127). This idea of a fair and just society was the centerpiece of Puritan society, and it subsequently led to the virtue of community over the individual which was previously discussed. When it comes to The Scarlet Letter, the ideology that Puritan morality is fundamental to everything is truly front and center. Hester’s struggle due to her past sin is a perfect example of this; The ministry attempted to purify and protect the community by excluding Hester from societal affairs, even going as far as attempting to strip Hester of her custody of Pearl. Overall, Hester’s forced
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