Running from the truth makes him feel even more guilty. Finally, he can bear the shame and guilt no longer. On Election Day, he climbs the scaffold with Hester and Pearl and publicly confesses his sin. Since he has admitted his guilt and won his personal victory, he is free to die in peace. .
Unfortunately, the consequence of the sin for Hester and Dimmesdale is eternal shame and guilt. Their lives are ruined as .
a result of their sinfulness. Since their sin is committed in the strict, moralistic Puritan society, their suffering is made even .
greater. Dimmesdale, however, suffers the most, for he is tortured by his hypocrisy and hidden guilt. .
PURITANISM IN THE NOVEL .
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is set in the seventeenth century New England town of Boston, a staunch Puritanical town. It is a moralistic and gloomy place where the citizens dress in drab colors and lack any liveliness. Even on the Election Day holiday, they cannot relax and enjoy themselves. The Puritans easily find fault in the weaknesses of others, as evidenced by the fact that they gather at the scaffold to witness Hester's public humiliation. They also feel that her sentence is much too lenient. They punish her further by making both Hester and Pearl social outcasts. They avoid interaction with either of them and often cast suspicious looks and insulting comments in their direction. .
Hester's sin, shame, and guilt are clearly heightened by the fact that she lives in a strict Puritanical society, which is unable and unwilling to forgive her sin. The irony of the novel lies in the fact that the most respected member of this Puritanical society, the Reverend Dimmesdale, is Hester's partner in sin. .
THE TITLE OF THE BOOK .
The title is significant to every chapter of the book, as the scarlet letter is displayed in many forms. First, Hester is made to .
wear the scarlet letter on the bodice of her dress as a public .
acknowledgment of her adultery.
When Hester first fashions the scarlet letter has a meaning of adulterer. ... Hawthorne finds that the scarlet letter was wrapped up around a letter, after he drops it, written by a Surveyor detailing the whole affair of the scarlet letter. ... A letter "the letter A "but freshly green instead of scarlet.""... The Scarlet Letter. ... "The Scarlet Letter, Nathanial Hawthorne 1850."" ...
When Hester first fashions the scarlet letter has a meaning of adulterer. ... Hawthorne finds that the scarlet letter was wrapped up around a letter, after he drops it, written by a Surveyor detailing the whole affair of the scarlet letter. ... A letter "the letter A "but freshly green instead of scarlet.""... Then Hester notices the scarlet letter lying on the bank of the stream. ... The themes in The Scarlet Letter still have relevance to today's life....
In the book, "The Scarlet Letter," Nathaniel Hawthorne creates a character who is so loving, passionate, and mistreated that the reader cannot help but feel badly for her. ... She is reminded of her sin every day with her child, Pearl, and the scarlet letter. ... Throughout the story of "The Scarlet Letter," Hawthorne tips off the reader that Hester Prynne is destined for a downfall because her character is written a classic tragic heroine. ... It is evident that "Hester's story will not and cannot end happily" (Guy-A Critical Review of The Scarlet Letter-Website), because her tragedy is ...
Scarlet Letter's Use Of Symbolism To Show Psychological Effects Of Sin "The act gross and brief, and brings loathing after it." ... She wears her scarlet letter among the solemnly dressed Puritans as this rosebush wears its scarlet blossoms amidst a small plot of grass and weeds. ... Hester has already been discovered and is receiving her punishment by wearing the scarlet letter branding her as an adulteress and keeping her socially isolated. ... In a moment of joy, Hester removes the scarlet letter and tosses it away from herself. ... We later see this is true as she lives...
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne embeds a variety of signs and symbols in the letter "A." The letter "A" has many positive and negative effects on Hester Prynne, the wearer of the scarlet letter. ... Pearl is the "the animate letter, the child dressed in gold-embroidered scarlet" and "the scarlet letter in another form, the scarlet letter endowed with life.... Pearl's attire of the same deep, scarlet color and its same stitching, very much alike Hester Prynne's own scarlet letter on her chest was another representation of the scarlet le...
Hawthorne also uses many literary elements in The Scarlet Letter, such as symbolism and irony. The Scarlet Letter, pearl, and sunshine are examples of symbolism. ... A final example of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter is the behavior of the sunshine. ... In addition, Hawthorne uses irony a great deal in The Scarlet Letter. ... The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story about sin and punishment. ...
The Scarlet Letter In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, he uses many symbols that tie into the character's lives. Hester has the scarlet letter as punishment of her sin. ... The scarlet letter becomes something known to Pearl. ... She becomes the living version of the scarlet letter. ... The scarlet letter has its two meanings for Hester. ...
A Dissection of the Various Insignias Present within Masterpieces of the Written Word and Film The Scarlet Letter, The Scarlet Letter (movie version), and Chocolat all contain a conspicuous amount of symbolism that is peppered throughout these works. ... The Scarlet Letter, being the inspiration for many of these later cinematic works, offers the most amount of symbolism. The Scarlet Letter offers four distinct symbols: the scarlet letter, the meteor, Pearl, and the rosebush next to the prison door. The scarlet letter is definitely the most pronounced symbol within this novel. ... The cin...
The Scarlet Letter Part two: Formal Literary Response 1.a. Identify and describe both the time and place of The Scarlet Letter. ... In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Hester, the main character has to live with a scarlet letter on her bosom, which lets others know about her sin. ... Identify a major theme of The Scarlet Letter. ... Discuss how you feel about the novel, The Scarlet Letter. ...