THEME The Scarlet Letter centers round the consequences of sin, especially shame and guilt. ... In complete contrast to Hester, Dimmesdale does not publicly confess his sin, and it eats away at him bit by bit. ... To Pearl, the scarlet letter is simply part of her mother. ... The significance of the scarlet letter in the life of Dimmesdale, whose guilt remains hidden, is suggested by a hidden scarlet letter on his heart. ... She still wears the scarlet letter, even though it is not expected. ...

• Word Count: 1285
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

The settings in both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible are similar in many ways. The Scarlet Letter takes place around the 1640s, as the The Crucible occurs in 1692. ... Hesterlife is spent in complete loneliness because of the way the town treats her. ... In The Scarlet Letter, there is a minister, Dimmesdale, a political! ... However, more parishoners like Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter than Parris in The Crucible. ...

• Word Count: 1327
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

She continues to wear the scarlet letter there. ... With his last steps, he ascends the scaffold and completes something he feels he should have completed seven years earlier. ... The Scarlet Letter is overflowing with symbolism. ... The Scarlet Letter "A" is the central symbol of the novel. ... The scarlet letter also forges a link between the characters. ...

• Word Count: 2338
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

The following pages will examine the way sin affected the Puritan Community in the Scarlet Letter. ... Hawthorne's sensitivity to guilt is clearly present in the Scarlet Letter, as well as some of his other works. ... It wasn't until the publication of his novel The Scarlet Letter in 1850 that Hawthorne became a well-known writer. ... In Hawthorne's remembered novel, The Scarlet Letter, The community along with Hester Pryne, Author Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingsworth all commit a crime; only the people commit sin. ... The town first requires Hester to wear the scarlet lette...

• Word Count: 1751
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

There are many images of truth shown in Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter." ... She shows the scarlet A on her chest for all to see, and braves their criticism. ... This scene is also important to the chraracterization of Hester because it is the first time that she is not in complete control of her emotions. ... She shows this through her scarlet letter, and she insists on it being exposed. To conclude, there are many situations in the Scarlet Letter where truth is shown, exposed and hidden. ...

• Word Count: 623
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Some sins are committed out of love, like that of Hester and Dimmesdale in "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. ... On the other hand, I must bear "H" (hate) in order to transform myself into a better person and to gain more knowledge of things that I wouldn't be able to see for myself without my Scarlet Letter. ... However, society's vision of salvation is based on the bad things and good deeds you have completed throughout your lifetime. ... Dimmesdale was a very cowardly person when it came to the sin and his very soul burned for he had no scarlet letter. ... In short, "...

• Word Count: 675
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale has a difficult time finding a way to relieve his sin. The Scarlet Letter's scaffold holds more importance than just somewhere to condemn prisoners, and, for Dimmesdale, it is a place to find peace. ... In The Scarlet Letter, the scaffold was viewed more as a place of judgment, "Meagre, indeed, and cold was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for from such by-standers, at the scaffold- (Hawthorne 63). ... It was the one place where Dimmesdale could find complete reconciliation. ... At one point, Dimmesdale la...

• Word Count: 723
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Dimmesdale just completed his conversation with Hester in the forest. ... Whatever he does, whether he goes on the scaffold and professes his sin, or moves to England with Hester and Pearl, this relationship can not work because in so many ways, Dimmesdale rejects the Scarlet Letter, in both human and supernatural forms, it now rejects him, evidenced by the reactions of Pearl in the last chapter, when she runs to the brook to was her head after she Dimmesdale kisses her. ... Laced between the lines of Hawthorne, among the paths and the scarlet letter, the town and the brook, lay many of the ...

• Word Count: 1256
• Approx Pages: 5

The Scarlet Letter One belief that people live by is that evil is the nature of mankind, yet there are others that feel man has good intentions but those intentions can be overrun by the devil. Nathaniel Hawthorne points out that the former is true of all people in the novel The Scarlet Letter. ... In the novel, Hester received a scarlet letter, "A," for her sins, which she had to wear upon her chest for the rest of her life in Boston. ... By chapter 14, Chillingworth's transformation seems to be complete, and Chillingworth becomes aware of what has happened. ...

• Word Count: 1211
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

In the gothic novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorn carefully interlaces the theme of good and evil throughout the complex characters of Chillingworth, Hester, and Pearl. ... Pearl, from birth has a keen sense of the pain that the scarlet letter brings Hester. After Hester asks Pearl who her heavenly father is, Pearl, "whether moved by her normal freakishness, or because an evil spirit prompted her, she put up her small forefinger and touched the scarlet letter," and said, "I have no heavenly father!" ... Pearl shows no signs of emotional attachment to Hester, for this connection is ...

• Word Count: 1073
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Throughout the course of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne several occurrences of sin are recognized within each of the characters. ... Hester even continues to wear the scarlet letter, no longer because of its negative connotation, but because it played such a prominent part in her life that she does not wish to eliminate. ... Hester choosing to wear the letter was her showcasing her own sin. ... Hester has complete ownership over this symbol emblazoned on her and forces society to recognize her as an independent woman. ... She was originally seen as reprehensible by the town and its ...

• Word Count: 1347
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Hester is plagued with more than just a letter "A"; she is given a child from her affair who is just as much a reminder of her sin as the scarlet letter. Ultimately Hester overcomes the shame associated the scarlet letter and creates a sense of family for herself and Pearl. ... Pearl is "the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a millionfold the power of retribution- (p64) As a symbol of her sin, Hester dresses up Pearl to look nice just like she does to the scarlet letter itself. ... The scarlet letter matures into a symbol of Hester's perseverance, while Pear...

• Word Count: 765
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Hester Prynne, the leading character of The Scarlet Letter, and Edna Pontellier of The Awakening, are both women with striking similarities and distinctions. ... Hester first lost her independence to the letter "A" stitched on her chest by the puritans and this left her unable love, but gradually as she became more independent of the culture and her emotions overran her she realized that she must be with Arthur. ... Edna needs her independence to become and individual because without complete freedom or independence one can not completely know themselves fully and become a true individual and ...

• Word Count: 998
• Approx Pages: 4

According to Anne Marie MacNamara, Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter goes through several stages of spiritual growth; preparation, communication, transformation and finally revelation. ... So finally Dimmesdale decided to reveal himself, there for completing the stage of transformation. ...

• Word Count: 1813
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

"He is the complete type of man of the world, the social ideal,--courteous, quiet, well informed, imperturbably. ... I--a man of thought, the bookworm of great libraries...men call me wise...I might have foreseen all this...I might have beheld the bale-fire of that scarlet letter blazing at the end of our path!" ...

• Word Count: 1089
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

"He is the complete type of man of the world, the social ideal,--courteous, quiet, well informed, imperturbably. ... I--a man of thought, the bookworm of great libraries...men call me wise...I might have foreseen all this...I might have beheld the bale-fire of that scarlet letter blazing at the end of our path!" ...

• Word Count: 1075
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School