The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne :: essays research papers

The Scarlet Letter, written in the 1800s by Anti-Transcendentalist Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells the story of Hester Prynne. Young Hester lived in New England, some the same time witch trials were still conducted, and she is found guilty of carrying a baby whose father she refuses to confess. The punishment for this crime is from then until the rest of her life, Hester had to underpin a stitched A on her breast. This A carries the namesake of the book, The Scarlet Letter. Although thought to be an astonishment and form of torture for Hester, this scarlet letter revealms to become a feel of pride for Prynne. This scarlet letter grows to become a part of Hester an realisation to her child Pearl. The scarlet letter is a constant recurring symbolisation in Hawthornes novel, exclusively it doesnt satisfy only one purpose. As to a greater extent symbols tend to do, the scarlet letter serves numerous functions, which enhance the story. The first and closely obvious symbol would be the actual A that was stitched on Hesters chest. In this example, the scarlet letter was a symbol for the entire world to see and ridicule Prynne for her falsely-doing This use of public humiliation for Hester was thought to be necessity to punish and teach Prynne a lesson. This puts much focus on the focussing mass harass and torture others simply because they feel other people affirm done things morally wrong and deserve punishment. While the wrong-doers argon being punished, the punishers in turn commit wrongs. Here many questions arise. Was it wrong for Hester to keep her childs father a secret from the public? Was is wrong for her to have to live her life as a walking, breathing example of what that capital of Massachusetts community thought was bad? Another usage of symbol in this book was what the scarlet letter becomes for Hester. This punishment which was branded into her soul for timeless existence starts to shift gears as the novel progresses. The sentence for her c rime starts to become more a part of her than she would ever have imagined. Although the origin of the A to the public was, is, and perpetually will be for her crime of adultery, which was at that time considered illegal and immoral, however it also gives her public recognition. The recognition was of course bad at first, but it was still a way that turned all heads, and eyes were on Hester.