The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne used his writing skills to appropriately show the strict intolerant ways of the disciplined Puritan America of 1850, with his novel The Scarlet Letter. This novel has become a classic, because of the accurate portrayal of the conservative Puritan ways. His novel is one of few to tell of the true Puritan lifestyle. Hawthorne explains the ways in which society cast out any individual for standing apart from the common crowd. The ways in which a person was punished by an entire community, only because their own ideas deviated from the common morals or values. And best of all, Hawthorne shows the way a "good Christian society" would lash out at anything they were afraid of. The first chapter of the novel introduces the main character Hester Prynne. She is being publicly humiliated as a punishment for breaking a puritan belief and one of the ten commandments, adultery. She stands in front of the town for hours as the crowd tries to break her down with criticism and shaming words. After this she is given her punishment of being forever branded with her sin by wearing the letter "A" on her chest, as a constant reminder to herself and
The Puritans' fear is what drives them to outcast Hester. While he can not help but hide his feelings, he envies the way Hester is set free by her confession. " So until his very end, he keeps all of these feelings inside like all of the others. Hester becomes a better person with the lessons she learns from her punishment. He wishes he too could break away from the conformed ways that have swallowed his life. Her lesson is: while she may not have conformed to the mold of society, she knows she is a better person because of that. She could clearly see the sin each man or woman had of their own, and their fear and desperation to hide it. He sees and understands the courage Hester possesses and shows by proudly exhibiting her letter, and by taking the punishment. So the towns people continue their lives conforming to whatever society excpects from them. These perfect puritans threw her out of their lives because she was not mainstream, and she dared to do something they were forced to deny themselves. She sees their lives objectively and gains a new insight into their pain and grievances. Since she committed a defiant act, she will wear an obvious bright sign, to visualy show the difference between herself and the mainstream. Even when the battle is you versus everyone, even when a large conformed society is very hard to fight.
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