Hester's child, the product of her sinful act, symbolizes the extent to which the cruelty and narrow-mindedness of the town affects an innocent creature. Though innocent, Hester's child (Pearl) experiences the critical tones and gestures of the town since the day of her birth. ... Being the highly regarded and admired man of the town, people begin to accept his words and Prynne's act. ... In the novel, Hawthorne points out the rigidity of the Puritan society, and the enormous influence which the ministers and the church played on the thoughts, beliefs, and standards of the town...

• Word Count: 748
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The difference in opinion of puritan life being harsh on its followers or not has been debated countless times throughout our history and two books seem to depict this standard of living in two different ways. ... In The Crucible, the people of the town and court feel that in their quest for social perfection there is no room for one individual who may question the methods that are used to acquire social perfection. ... Reverend Parris, one of characters who seek power within all the hysteria that has swept the town, is a prime example of a Puritan. ... Dimmesdale is another character who play...

• Word Count: 710
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

After Hester is publicly shamed and forced by the people of Boston to wear a badge of humiliation, her unwillingness to leave the town may seem puzzling. ... - Most of us today, let society determine our identity. ... Our actions are no longer natural or of our choice, we behave in a way which coincide with the rules of society and therefore abandoning our true identity and adopting that of society. This can be compared to a kind a "cave,"" we are puppets in a cave, or actors in a play, all playing our roles, the role assigned to us by society. ... Surprisingly, Hester reacts with disma...

• Word Count: 1049
• Approx Pages: 4

What commonality are these writers describing about our western civilization that is so typically unbalanced. ... Johnson became the dark truth and the well kept secret of his town because of his ugliness. ... The town felt a deep sense of sorrow for not appreciating Johnson more while he was alive. ... Trescott who quickly loses business in town because of Henry's exploits. ... He asks them to find his mystery "benefactor" that resided in the town. ...

• Word Count: 2988
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

The townsman explains that the woman arrived two years ago in the town and was to wait for her husband, a learned Englishman, to join her. Her husband, however, never reached the town in time, and the town's consensus is that he has been lost at sea. ... After this conversation, the magistrates, along with the reverends of the town, call Hester to look at them. ... Unable to get a hint out of her, the magistrates call on the Reverend Dimmesdale, the most popular minister of the town, to decide Hester's fate. ... The new stranger in town, the deformed man, enters the cell and opts to ...

• Word Count: 3653
• Approx Pages: 15
• Grade Level: High School

He transfers this joy into the torture he plays against Dimmesdale, "Never did mortal suffer what this man has sufferd" (191). ... The townspeople, who represent the Puritan society, play a decisive role as the second antagonist in the story. ... They were degraded by everybody, starting at a young age children were taught to prevent contact with those sinners, "As the two wayfares came within the precincts of the town, the children of the puritans looked up from their play, - or what passed for play with those sombre little urchins, - and spake gravely one to another: ...

• Word Count: 1627
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

This is because her partner in crime is the town's beloved minister. ... Hester, who is the town's criminal and enemy, is, in reality, perhaps the most innocent and righteous person in the town. ... A deserted wife, with no one to love, who probably thought she was in good hands when she became involved with a preacher, is the victim of society's harsh feelings and treatments and is perhaps the only decent Puritan in the town because she gives everyone a chance and looks down on no one. ... So, by portraying Hester Prynne as the victim in the novel, and not a town enemy, Haw...

• Word Count: 3188
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The women of the town are furious with the way Hester behaves with her scarlet letter. "Why, gossips, what is it but to laugh in the faces of our godly magistrates, and make pride out of what they, worthy gentlemen, meant for punishment?" ... "Her mother, in contriving the child's garb had allowed the gorgeous tendencies of her imagination their full play; arraying her in crimson velvet tunic of a peculiar cut, abundantly embroidered with fantasies and flourishes of gold thread" (p.90). ...

• Word Count: 694
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Hawthorne shows us the great importance of our faith in God, our family and friends, and at length, ourselves. The plight of Goodman Brown indicates that without our "faith- we are unable to live life to the fullest possible extent. Faith is our key to happiness. ... Around the same time, it is clear that Goodman Brown goes mad from his realizations about everything that is happening in the town and in his later life. ... Another key element that Hawthorne uses to play a major role in the story is setting. ...

• Word Count: 1069
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Pearl is compared to a witch in both the way she interacts with other children and in the way she plays. ... With toys, Pearl always plays games in which she destroys everything. ... Pearl later played a game where she threw flowers at her mother and jumped around in glee every time she hit the scarlet letter. ... When the children in the town try to throw mud at her, Pearl chases them away and appears to resemble "the scarlet fever" in her wrath. ... Pearl plays games by looking into the armor and then goes to look at the garden, fr...

• Word Count: 5572
• Approx Pages: 22
• Grade Level: High School

Ishmael is a thoughtful and gloomy young man who lived in New Bedford, a whaling town where he sees memorial plaques to lost sailors and the terrors of the whale. ... Furthermore, it is Christ who admonished us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) and not to kill others (Mark 10:19). ... The pioneering spirit of Americans played a role in promoting the individualism that influenced the Romantic Movement. ...

• Word Count: 1160
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

It is our Hester- the town's Hester ." (111). ... For instance, we see Hawthorne's compassion toward Hester at a point in the play when Reverend Wilson said, " A great red letter in the sky,-a letter A,- which we interpret to stand for Angel." ...

• Word Count: 1352
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School