ipl-logo

Sin And Punishment In Scarlet Letter

605 Words3 Pages

In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne comes to explore an adulterous affair, and the resulting punishments inflicted by the Puritan society and the consequences for the central characters. The sin and punishment surrounding this forbidden love emphasized the great law of morality characterizing a Puritan society. The punishment of being isolated, resulting in the shifting of the lives of four member of the community, illustrates the spiritual and psychological cost of pursuing love, and illuminates the truth of the harsh ethic of the Puritan society. As characters develop, they find different ways of dealing with their sin, which will ultimately affect how they will progress throughout the story. Hawthorne’s criticism of Puritan …show more content…

The sin and punishment, in the novel, demonstrates Hawthorne’s thoughts on Puritan beliefs. Hawthorne’s story presented an accurate representation of society at that time and provides the perfect foundation to express his criticism of Puritan ideals and beliefs. The symbol of the scarlet letter, worn by women that commit adultery, was manipulated by Hawthorne to question the Puritan world, and whether their faith and punishments are just and fair. The scarlet letter was supposed to shame the women that wore them, but with Hester Prynne the letter became a symbol of her courage and resilience. By giving his heroine the courage to stand and to face her punishment, Hawthorne pointed out that some of the Puritan punishments were harsh and unnecessary. Hawthorne implies that the punishment given to Hester were not suited for the sin she committed (Richardson 1). He also ridicules the fact that a Puritan leader can also become a sinner. Hester’s lover, Dimmesdale, is a brilliant minister and is respected by his congregation but commits the sin of adultery. When Hester was asked to expose the name of her lover, she refused and planned on shouldering all of the punishment. Dimmesdale, who was present during this time, did not admit to his sins and allowed Hester to suffer alone. Hawthorne does this to demonstrate that even the most holy one can fall like the others. Throughout the story, Hawthorne is able to illustrate the close mindedness and hypocrisy of the Puritans (Hawthorne

Show More
Related

  • Grigori Rasputin In The Scarlet Letter

    861 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Scarlet Letter, shows how badly people were treated for committed a sin in that time period. The main character, Hester Prynne committed lechery and in puritan society, which was very closely related to religion breaking the commandment that forbid adultery earned a very big punishment. It was even worse for Hester because she ended up conceiving a child. One way Hester was shunned by people was by having to wear the scarlet letter that would bring her public shame. Hester knew that because of the letter “young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast,—at her, the child of honorable parents,—at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman, —at her, who had once been innocent, —as the figure, the body, the reality of sin”

    Read More

  • How Does Hawthorne Present Dimmesdale's Struggles In The Scarlet Letter

    739 Words  | 3 Pages

    Life for the Puritans was, to say the least, not very exciting or enjoyable. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates how Puritan society affects its citizen’s daily lives. In the overtly religious, strict town of Boston, morals and laws are greatly enforced. When the beautiful, young woman, Hester Prynn, commits adultery, the people of Boston respond angrily. The town minister, Dimmesdale, also feels the shame and burden of the sin committed.

    Read More

  • How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Create Guilt In The Scarlet Letter

    704 Words  | 3 Pages

    Punishment should not always be associated with creating guilt within oneself. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, set in Puritan New England during the 1600s, is a love story filled with guilt and punishment, while simultaneously exposing the hypocrisy of Puritan beliefs. The Puritan’s rigidity and intolerance, as well as their tendency toward gossip and hypocrisy are made clear through their treatment of protagonist Hester Prynne. As punishment for committing adultery, Prynne is ordered to embroider and wear a scarlet A while on display for all the puritans to see as an example of a dissident.

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter Penance Vs. Penitence

    604 Words  | 3 Pages

    Penance vs. Penitence In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes of the hypocrisy of the Puritans in the 1600’s. He expresses the hardships of Hester Prynne and her adulterous lover, Authur Dimmesdale, who is also the town’s preacher. Because Reverend Dimmesdale is a very noble preacher, he has to persist with the guilt of his sin and continue to preach how one should live a holy and pure lifestyle.

    Read More

  • Scarlet Letter Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    838 Words  | 4 Pages

    By negatively depicting the Puritans with his depressing diction, Hawthorne establishes a scornful tone that highlights the Puritan’s

    Read More

  • Dimmesdale's Responsibility For Sin In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

    878 Words  | 4 Pages

    The book “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a complex novel that has underlying themes of sin and the responsibility for sin. The novel takes place in a Puritanical society, but two people, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, fornicate with each other, even though Hester is married to someone else. Only Hester is punished, so Dimmesdale keeps his guilt inside, not revealing it to anyone. Hester’s husband, Chillingworth, then proceeds to ruin Hester’s partner in crime, corrupting his soul and being the ultimate cause for his death. Hester, on the other hand, leads a relatively happy life after she had repented for her sin.

    Read More

  • Hester Prynne Punishment In Scarlet Letter

    791 Words  | 4 Pages

    Punishment 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

    Read More

  • Redemption In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    1035 Words  | 5 Pages

    Puritans felt redemption could not be achieved because the sins were so wrong and so evil. Hawthorne used redemption to help develop the characters and the ideas the reader had on them. The whole book happened because of a sin that occurred, and that sin was the cause of many actions of the characters. Throughout “The Scarlet Letter,” Hawthorne

    Read More

  • Essay On Evil In The Scarlet Letter

    719 Words  | 3 Pages

    We are all sinners. Although one may try hard not to sin, all humans eventually succumb at some time or another to sin. While people may not able to avoid the fate which awaits them, the power of free will allows people to decide how they will respond to sin. While some may respond with guilt and regret, others may react with a sense of redemption and a renewed sense of responsibility. 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.

    Read More

  • Hypocrisy Of The Puritan Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

    936 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Justice In The Scarlet Letter

    1646 Words  | 7 Pages

    Imagine living in a place where one small sin could define who you are for the rest of your life. That is what happened in The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850. The novel is set in a seventeenth-century Puritan community in Boston, Massachusetts. A young woman by the name of Hester Prynne commits a small act of adultery and is shamed for the rest of her life, by wearing a scarlet letter “A” on her breast. The book is centered around the theme of justice and judgement.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Treatment Of Men And Women In The Scarlet Letter

    999 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Suffering In The Scarlet Letter

    1662 Words  | 7 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Sin, Guilt And Redemption In The Scarlet Letter

    433 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The door of the jail being flung open from within there appeared, in the first place, like a black shadow emerging into sunshine.” (Pg.33) Hawthorne allows the reader to picture examples of modern day sins using biblical passages for resulting consequences. In the end Hester’s lover died from beating himself up and never confessing for his

    Read More

  • Gothic Elements In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'

    1284 Words  | 6 Pages

    In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne effectively conforms to the conventions of the gothic genre for the purpose of characterizing the Puritan society as oppressive, portraying the hypocrisy found within the society and highlighting the consequences for not confessing

    Read More

More about Sin And Punishment In Scarlet Letter

Open Document