What meaning or purpose does a single letter have on a life? For instance the letter "A- could mean many things such as adulterous, able and angel as in Nathanial Hawthorne's romantic novel The Scarlet Letter. The letter so beautifully embroidered by a woman to remind her and the town's people of her sin. If you were an outsider to this city you would wonder what rank or status does this letter signify. Who is this person that should be adorned with such a beautiful decoration? For the individual that wears it though it is a constant reminder. The scarlet letter is a symbol of an immoral sin that manifests many forms and has literal, natural, supernatural and physical manifestations, to different characters, that change over the course of time.
The literal meaning of the scarlet letter changes from adultery to able from the time that Hester Prynne fashioned it up until when Nathanial Hawthorne found it in the customhouse. When Hester first fashions the scarlet letter has a meaning of adulterer. As stated by Becovitch, a critic, .
" The Scarlet Letter is a story of socialization in which the point of socialization is not to conform, but to consent. Anyone can submit; the socialized believe. It is not enough to have the letter imposed; you have to do it yourself. The scarlet letter is at first imposed on Hester by the Puritan Magistrates, but this does not represent the best form of socialization because Hester does not wear it willingly but bears it as a punishment.""(Telgen 318).
Hester wears the scarlet letter proudly for all to see that she is repenting her sin and that her fellow adulterer is not. If a punishment is forced onto you it is more severe but if you have to instigate your own punishment then it is less severe in a physical sense. Over time though as people start to forget the actual meaning of the scarlet letter, its meaning begins to change. "The letter was the symbol of her calling.
A Letter What meaning or purpose does a single letter have on a life? ... "The letter was the symbol of her calling. ... 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. ...
In Benjamin Banneker's letter to Thomas Jefferson, Banneker argues for slavery, referencing biblical and constitutional allusions to unite his audience under a set of shared values, syntactical permutation to emphasize how long slavery has transcended America, and a rapid tone shift to invoke emotion and willpower unto his audience. Throughout his entire letter, Banneker alludes a multitude of times to the Bible. ... Banneker juxtaposed these ideas of equality using a wondrous tone and the idea of slavery and injustice with the pleading tone to incite, in both Jefferson and his audience,...
The poem "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" is a dramatic monologue written in the form of a letter from the wife's point of view. ... In these closing lines of the poem and the "letter" the wife reaches out from her lonely world of sorrow to her husband in a direct request: "Please let me know when and by what route you are returning, so that I may come to meet you." ...
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." ... It was doubtless caused by one of those meteors the minister, looking upward to the zenith, beheld there the appearance of an immense letter-the letter 'A'-marked out in lines of dull red light" (Hawthorn). ... In a moment of joy, Hester removes the scarlet letter and tosses it away from herself. ... She thinks she can just cast off her ignominy, removing guilt as easily as the letter itself is removed. ... When the letter does not reac...
Salutations Peter, It is I, Katherine. After yesterday night's events, I think it is best for me to communicate on behalf of Thomas for the elapsed development of the Baths issue. As you and the whole town know after all that had happened, my husband believes deeply in his findings and that the tow...
Tchaikovsky was at work on his Fourth Symphony when he received a letter from Antonina Milyukova claiming to be a former student of his and declaring that she was madly in love with him. ... He saw parallels between Antonina and Pushkin's heroine, Tatiana and it is difficult to say which letter provoked the stronger response from the composer: The despairing letter Tatiana writes to the cold-hearted Onegin, or the one he himself received from Antonina, threatening suicide. ... It is interesting to note that Tchaikovsky himself was a profuse letter-writer which may be one of the reasons w...
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's, "The Scarlet Letter," the major characters revolve around the letter mentioned in the title. ... She is obsessed with the letter, and loves it like she loves her own mother, Hester, whom the letter probably affected the most. The letter affects Hester in both a good and a bad way. ... As both her and the letter are products of the sin, she feels that by taking off the letter, Hester is also removing her from her life. ... Finally, Hester is the one most impacted by the letter. ...
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 is so accustomed to seeing her mother wear the scarlet letter that at one point when Hester Prynne took off her scarlet letter, Pearl completely refused to acknowledge or talk to her ...
