Essay The Scarlet Letter

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Words: 1194
Pages: 5
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Brittany Butler
Mr. Randall Arthur
English 207 Comp
28 February 2013
Scarlett Letter
After writing the novel, The Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne was noticed to be one of the most exhilarant authors for expressing his insights on historical moments. Hawthorne was born July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. As a young boy, he was home-schooled by tutors until he enrolled at Bowdoin College. Uninterested into law, medicine, or ministry, Hawthorne chose to rely “for support upon my pen”. He soon began to write short stories and his writing style attracted many transcendentalist thinkers, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Nathaniel also struggled financially and suffered isolation from his very own society. Every author has a dark background root of where they came from. Hawthorne grew up into an English Puritan family. He disliked his ancestors, because they believe in punishment, sin, and witchcraft. So from this cruel situation, Hawthorne seemed to channel the affliction into his writing. Readers thought Hawthorne’s work was peculiar or gloomy, and very inspirational. The Scarlett Letter was not only influenced by the affliction of the puritans, but it also delivers a powerful message about human relationships, punishment, and the status quo. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlett Letter, is a dark tale about love, crime, and revenge in the seventeenth century. It involves about a passion that lies forever of the lives of the most memorable characters in the Puritan Community. Hester Prynne, a beautiful, fierce, and humbled woman who bears the symbol “A” of her sin. The letter A stands for adultery, which she committed in Boston, Massachusetts. She was sent to Boston to live a better lifestyle, while her husband studied in Amsterdam as a doctor. Hester was a biblical woman and was easily entertained by a young reverend who spoke gracefully at his sermons. Though the reader wasn’t informing on how Hester committed the sin, the story reveals on the chemistry she shared with her significant other. After she bore with child in prison, the town’s people were disgusted of such a sin and wanted truth about her crime. The matrons in the town wanted Hester to be put to death for such a horrible sin, but the clergymen thought of a better idea. Instead of putting her through a gruesome torture and taking away her child, Hester was forced to stand on the pillory in front of people with the Letter A onto her chest for the rest of her life. Throughout her life, Hester wore her punishment with pride and integrity. She did deal with lonesome and isolation from her peers, including her lover. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale was Hester Prynne’s lover. He too suffered humiliation but only in silence. He was a young and attractive scholar, who loves the knowledge of God. He found Hester quite interesting about her love for God and life itself. Surprisingly, no one knew that Reverend Dimondale was the father of Hester’s child. He was left guilty and condemned for several years until he confessed his sin before his sudden death. No one knew of this strange man who disguised himself as Roger Chillingworth. He settled into Boston, there he saw young Hester onto the pillory being brought to shame. Roger Chillingworth was an elderly man, a scholar that concentrated on medicine, and an oddly looking man due to his deform shaped body. After discovering who Hester was, he soon later begins to seek for the cause and effect of her punishment. He was ordered to work for the reverend as his physician. The two became friends and shared a beautiful bond, but one night Roger discovered a hidden secret. Suffering from heart pains and psychological distress, the reverend was easily persuaded and driven into the ways of his physician. The reverend casted out his guilt in a way that only Roger could understand. He grew angry and wanted revenged, a man so kind and pleasant turned into a satanic fiend who wanted vengeance. The last
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