The Red Mark Who can honestly say that they do not bear a red mark of their own? Some of ours have a deeper tint of crimson than others. However, many of us love to hide our scarlet letter under our clothing just like Dimmesdale. Instead, we take pleasure in finding and criticizing other people...

The scaffold scenes are by far the most popular means of pointing out the perfect balance and structure of Hawthorne's masterpiece. The first time we meet all the principal characters of the novel is in the first scaffold scene. The second of three crucial scaffold scenes appear...

Symbolism, frequently used in literature, can appear in many forms. The use of colors is one such example, in which the color worn or depicted by a character can determine the character's attributes. Black, for example, may represent satanic evil whereas white may symbolize purity. H...

Human Nature's Imperfection Throughout history, many great philosophers of the past, such as Plato or Aristotle, have commented on their views of our inscrutable human nature, searching for reason or justification to explain human behavior. Many different theories have hypothesized it as eith...

In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester Prynne wore a red letter "A" on her breast. The symbol stood for adultery, a sin which she had been convicted of. This public humiliation of having to wear the bright crimson "A" was her punishment for becoming pregnant without being ma...

Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is considered the first symbolic novel in American Literature. His use of symbolism in the novel presents a complex view of sin and its effects. Utilizing characters, colors, settings, and objects Hawthorne's extended metaphors shape and develop throu...

Through reading Nathaniel Hawthorne\'s \"The Scarlet Letter,\" \"The Minister\'s Black Veil,\" \"The May-Pole of Merry Mount,\" and \"Young Goodman Brown,\" we see that Hawthorne discloses any thoughts he may have concerning his views on community versus the individual. In all five works, we see tha...

Plot Summary The story springs from the actions of Colonel Pyncheon, whose mysterious death seems to have been a direct result of his prior evil conduct. He built The House of the Seven Gables on a plot of land that he had wrongly taken from Matthew Maule in Salem, Massachusetts. Maule, who, w...

The Effects of Sin Upon Arthur DimmesdaleHawthorn shows sins of several different kinds in numerous people, as well as the consequences and remedies of their sins. Three main characters; Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth bare the most of these sins. Arthur Dimmesdale...