In this novel, an anguished Arthur Dimmesdale struggles to quiet his conscience and withhold the secret of his sin from being known. ... Feeling full well the distress of his own secret, Arthur proclaims that those who hold such "miserable secrets will yield them up that last day with a joy unutterable." (Hawthorne118) By this expression, Arthur offers a glimpse into his tortured heart and shows how heavy a burden his secret is. ... A light is later shed upon this question as Chillingworth uncovers the secret Arthur had tried to keep intact. ... Pearl also serves to connect Hester and Dimmesd...

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

The true identities of Hester and Dimmesdale are brought to the surface throughout the novel because of the sin they share. ... Dimmesdale wants the burden of this sin to be lifted from his shoulders, simply by sharing it with at least one person. Dimmesdale is even willing to share this detrimental secret with an enemy just so he can release the burden from his mind. ...

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

Hawthorne describes the forest as secret and somber, a temptation to the subconscious mind of Hester Prynne. ... Since the Puritan woman share the same desires as Hester does subconsciously, they too would probably give in to their id if they were under the same circumstances as Hester. ... Mine burns in secret!...

• Word Count: 1599
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The reader awaits the inevitable downfall of Hester, secretly wishing that it will never come. ... The callous sense about her develops as her isolation intensifies and a part of her wishes that she would be accepted by the Puritans and share the life she desperately desires with Dimmesdale. ... Although Hester suffers from her passion for love through her entire life, she will not get the happy ending that the reader secretly hoped she would. ...

• Word Count: 1733
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Hawthorne describes the forest as secret and somber, a temptation to the subconscious mind of Hester Prynne. ... Since the Puritan woman share the same desires as Hester does subconsciously, they too would probably give in to their id if they were under the same circumstances as Hester. ... Mine burns in secret!...

• Word Count: 1596
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

"The subject had reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them."" ... Then the physician attacks the minister's intellect and then basically criticizes him from "head to foot-, while asking others if they share his opinion. ... The Puritan parishioners decide that the black veil is the symbol of secret sin, without once even asking Mr. ...

• Word Count: 1634
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

While in the darkness of the forest, all things said or done are kept secret from the eyes of the outside world. ... They both share the same crime, and like Hester, he was once light but darkness slowly took over him. ...

• Word Count: 1649
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Hester is strong to love Pearl for who she is, and keep her dearest secret to herself. ... His beliefs are strictly transcendalist ideas, which contemporaries including Emerson and Melville both share with Hawthorne (Bradley 47-49)....

• Word Count: 1429
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School