The Scarlet Letter Research Papers Samples For Students

RESEARCH PAPER

- What is your thesis?
(This statement should be only one sentence long and must have three things in it: the name of the primary source author(s), the name of the primary source/story or stories, and the main idea that you are trying to prove. If possible, you may also provide a plan of development and list your 3-4 major points.)
The paper tries to analyze whether the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story, Young Goodman Brown, is a hero or a dupe. It will show how Brown’s weaknesses, including conceit, leads to his demise. The analysis will ...

“In giving her existence, a great law had been broken; and the result was a being whose elements were perhaps beautiful and brilliant, but all in disorder, or with an order peculiar to themselves, amidst which the point of variety and arrangement was difficult or impossible to be discovered” (Hawthorne, Chapter 6 p. 98).
The quote above generalizes Pearl’s character. She was the daughter of Hester Prynne, a woman living in the standards of the Puritan society condemned by the people as ‘brazen hussy’ who bears the scarlet letter ‘A’ fantastically embroidered upon her bosom (Hawthorne, Chapter 2 p. 57). ...

Thesis Statement 1: Society has a way of punishing people they envy by emphasizing the latter’s weakness and making a ridicule out of that individual only to boost their personal worth.
- Claim: When the beautiful and poised Hester Prynne arrived at Boston, she came alone awaiting for the arrival of her husband Roger Chillingworth, however, to everyone’s knowledge. This made the women of Boston threatened by her.

Interpretation: That left the young, beautiful and poised Hester Prynne the interest of men. This grew the displeasure of the women of Boston.
- Claim: Many believed that Hester ...

The aim of this essay is to present you with an analysis of the symbolism lying in the book ‘The Scarlet Letter’ which belongs to the genre of romantic novels and was published in 1850. Barlow (2000) refers to this book as ‘The magnum opus’ of Nathaneal.(Barlow, 2000). ‘The Scarlet Letter’ is a story of love, adultery, betrayal, faith, belief and social criticism. It is a story that has a little bit of all these elements which can attribute to a piece of writing the characterization being a romantic novel.
The historical context of the novel’s plot is the social environment ...

“Our parson has gone mad!” cried Goodman Gray (Hawthorne, 2001, 26). The young minister, Mr. Hooper, shocked his parishioners one Sunday morning by wearing a black veil while he gave the sermon. Then to make the shock even worse the minister did not remove the veil even for his daily activities. He wore it all the time even though his fiancé broke their engagement and others cringed to see him coming.

The minister’s new look made a visible impression on those around but he would not explain to anyone the reason he started wearing a black crape veil over his eyes. ...

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is one of the most famous novels by the American romantic writer. While the novel is well-known for its depiction of the relationships between the characters, and the romantic plots and subplots, the novel also has great value as a historical study of the Puritan period. Puritan society was a highly gendered society, with strict gender roles for men and women, and a well-established patriarchal society. Explorations of the novel, and of the depiction of Hester’s character, her punishment, and her actions in the novel can help reveal whether Hawthorne was realistically ...

“Young Goodman Brown,” “The Birthmark” and “Ethan Brand” are all notably published works from the dark romanticism sub-genre era published by Nathaniel Hawthorne that have lead characters embracing the concepts of morality and isolation. Hawthorne is an American author well-known mostly for his writings in this particular classification of stories from 1839 to 1860. Hawthorne typically incorporates such topic as isolation, sin, and the devil in his writings. These topics can generate and fester sinister feelings and ideas of alienation, guilt, and gloom. Hawthorn draws influence from multiple aspects of his life, for example, incorporating the use of his ...

In the early pages of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne observes that, when a town is founded, two institutions are needed first – a graveyard and a prison. According to Hawthorne’s Anti-Transcendentalist world view, human nature was anything but good, which meant that the first two certainties that would strike any new human settlement would be death and violation of the law. There are, of course, many kinds of prisons in the modern world. In addition to the traditional correctional facility, there are also forces at work in terms of cultural and social prejudice that keep members of different groups from reaching ...

In “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a variety of literary devices in creating a story with a strong theme and characters which are fully rounded and believable. Of these devices, his use of symbolism and imagery are rife. This is of the more well-known stories exploring 17th Century Puritanism and, even on a first read, it is clear why. Hawthorne depicts the chosen situation carefully and convincingly to the reader, not only entertaining them but also informing them as well. As with many of Hawthorne’s works, this story has been discussed by many academics in the field over the years since it ...

Central to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing of The Birthmark is the unexplained mark that was on “Georgiana’s left cheeka little [similar] to the human hand, though of the smallest pygmy size” (Hawthorne par.7). Initially, the mark had brought Georgiana much admiration with some lovers asserting that the impression on her face was subject to a “fairy” whose tiny hand had somehow landed on the woman’s cheek when she was young (par. 7). The problem is, Aylmer, who happens to the story’s protagonist and Georgiana’s husband, fails to see the appeal of such a mark on ...

Nathanial Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” was published in a collection of short stories in 1845. The writer has used three dimensional characters which allow him to explore his themes of human perfections and of how women can be shaped by men’s interpretations. Through the use of language, tone and character, Hawthorne has created a fascinating, and deeply gripping’ story.
“The Birthmark” covers a variety of different themes. The tone of this short story is dark and, at times, haunting. However, it the strong use of dialogue gives it a subtlety that other narratives with dark atmospheres do not have. Dialogue aside, the ...

It should be no surprise that the idea of utopia has often been explored by American writers, since one could argue that America itself exists as a sort of utopian ideal. The words of the Declaration of Independence posit a sort of utopia in their idealistic talk of ’life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ This is very bound up with the notion of America as a new world, a new place where fresh starts can be made and the mistakes of the past avoided:
The utopian passages in Euro-American writings tended to elevate American spaces and colonists by comparing them to ...