Threads
Threads are rather insignificant by themselves. It is when a weaver connects them together that they form a beautiful tapestry. Each thread now contributes to the quality of the tapestry and are bound together by the common picture that form. In a work of literature, each thread is an idea and the common picture is a theme. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, each thread is an ironic element of setting, and together, they demonstrate people's tendency to seek shelter from, instead of in, society. Vivid yet ironic descriptions are used by Hawthorne as a weaver uses bright threads to draw more attention to the finer points of the work. Firstly, a melancholy feeling is associated with the cottage in which Hester Prynne chooses to make her home. The cottage is "on the outskirts of town" (p.84), and was abandoned by the early settlers of the New World "because the soil about it was too sterile for cultivation" (p.84). Also, the cottage is similar to a witch's cottage in that "a mystic shadow of suspicion immediately [attaches] itself to the spot" (p.84), and young children lurk about it trying to find out more about the mysterious woman who lives there. The cottage is "shut out from the sphere of human charities" and was
The "darksome cottage" offers protection from society's criticism (p. Because those places are expected or described as dreary and confining, they stand out more to the reader. The forest shields people from the eyes of the judgmental society. Similarly, the image of "a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes" gives an impression of firmness and reveals the strict enforcement of those laws (p. Additionally, little light is able to penetrate the thick branches of the trees, and people and their actions are kept "from the observation of any casual passenger along the forest track" (p. Additionally, little light is able to penetrate the thick branches of the trees, and people and their actions are kept "from the observation of any casual passenger along the forest track" (p. In the forest Pearl laughs and catches the sunshine. Within the prison's strong wooden walls, Hester and Chillingworth can freely discuss their past without exposing themselves to society. The cottage allows Hester to become a law to herself and not be bound by man. so depressing that it "would fain have been, or at least ought to be, concealed" from society (p. Bibliography Threads are rather insignificant by themselves. As a result, the lawless forest comes to represent evil and temptation. The "darksome cottage" offers protection from society's criticism (p. In a work of literature, each thread is an idea and the common picture is a theme.
Common topics in this essay:
Hester Prynne,
Anne Hutchinson,
Letter Likewise,
Goodman Brown,
Scarlet Letter,
Arthur Dimmesdale,
Hester Chillingworth,
Red Death,
Bibliography Threads,
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cottage hester,
allows hester,
hester prynne,
goodman brown,
common picture,
judgmental society,
red death,
laws society traditional,
society traditional,
society traditional similarly,
traditional similarly image,
50 indicates laws,
indicates laws society,
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