The Letter A
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel that takes place in a Puritan community during the middle of the seventeenth century. The story is concerning a woman named Hester Prynne who had an affair with a man by the name of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. This occurred after her husband inexplicably failed to join her in Boston after their emigration to America from England. Hester soon gives birth to a child, and is from then on condemned by her fellow townspeople. This condemnation consists of the town forcing her to wear the letter A upon her bosom. Throughout the book the letter A takes various shapes and forms for different people. The first person for whom the letter "A" takes shape for is Hester Prynne. For Hester the "A" can represent adulteress, ashamed, artist, able, armor, alienation, apostle, and angel. Hester commits adultery with Reverend Dimmesdale, a man who is not her husband. Her sin comes to the publics attention when Hester becomes pregnant, a task not possible by her husband since he had been missing for two years. The term adulteress is placed down on her as a punishment for going against the puritan ways and having intercourse with a man other than
Hester is a strong woman; she proves this several times throughout the book. She would not dare give the townspeople who have punished her and seen her as such a disgrace, the satisfaction of knowing the father of her child. In most cases a person who had committed such a sin would be put to death. The scarlet letter placed on her bosom became Hester's armor from civilization. During the seventeenth century adultery was viewed as a high crime. She has to try to balance the lives of both her and her child, Pearl. Hester Prynne's biggest conflict within the story is that she gave birth to an illegitimate child. She knew she had done wrong and faced her punishment, but did not take someone else down with her. That act alone shows that she is a very tough person. They wanted her to be "ashamed" of what she had done. Even a female spectator commented on how "Hester had good skills at her needle. Through all of this Hester is able to maintain her cool and raise a child on the outskirts of town without the help of anybody. When she was told to make the "A" for herself to represent adulteress, she showed off her artistic ability. The town has thrown her into exile, with no chance of receiving any kind of help. Society seen Hester as an adulteress, a sinner, and as a huge disgrace to the puritans.
Common topics in this essay:
Reverend Dimmesdale,
Hester Prynne's,
England Hester,
Scarlet Letter,
Prynne Hester,
Pearl Pearl,
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Closure Hester,
Arthur Dimmesdale,
Hester Prynne,
father child,
letter takes,
throughout book,
scarlet letter,
various shapes forms,
hester prynne,
represent adulteress,
various shapes,
seventeenth century,
shapes forms,
armor alienation,
|
Acceptance Essays
