Essays on The Scarlet Letter

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 Continue reading...

Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the idea of gender comprehensively in his work, The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne tells the sad story of love and betrayal in families. His story is based on the 17th century Puritan New England. The cultural values and morals observed by Hawthorne’s community influences the social and gender expectations of the narrative. Hawthorne develops an interesting tale by basing his perspective on the 17th century world, which significantly affects the development of characters. The Scarlet Letter highlights that community and individual characters observe strict codes that provide guidelines on how individuals are supposed to live. Furthermore, Continue reading...

The Long Black veil, is a song composed by Johnny Cash and expresses numerous elements similar to the ones discussed by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter. These two pieces of literature expounds on the theme regarding the sin of adultery that ultimately hurts the characters in the stories. In the song Long Black Veil, a man is falsely charged with murder. However, he fails to give an alibi since, on the night when another man was killed, the man was having an affair with the wife of his best friend, and he claims that he would rather die Continue reading...

The aim of this essay is to present you with a review of chapters 22-24 of the book ‘The Scarlet Letter’. 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 which was published in 1850 and holds a little bit of all these elements which can attribute to it the characterization of being a romantic novel.
The historical context of the novel’s plot is the social environment of the society living and developing in the area of Puritan Continue reading...

“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 Continue reading...

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 Continue reading...

An Explanation of How Hester Prynne Portrays the Author’s View

of America’s Transition from Puritanism to Romanticism
3 pages, double-spaced

Times New Roman, 12 pt

869 words
Page set up: U.S. Letter
5 citations

MLA format

The novel, The Scarlet Letter, was written by the author Nathaniel Hawthorne and was published in 1850 (1). It is a story about the Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, set around 1650 (2). The story is written in the third person with the narrator being the author.
The common thread that runs through this novel is Hawthorne’s apparent understanding of the beliefs and culture of the Puritans in America at that time. But Hawthorne is writing Continue reading...

Nathaniel Hawthorne, Toni Cade and Alice Walker are the perfect descriptions of talented literary commentators and writers of the ancient or classical times. However, there is a cutting edge and the common denominator in all the three stories. They resonate well with the strength of the human spirit and how they strive to overcome injustices and unfair treatment. For instance, Alice Walker did an interesting and eye-opening short story which highlighted the struggles of the black community in the United States of America. The story was titled The Colour Purple. This is an interesting piece which highlights the plight Continue reading...

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 Continue reading...

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 novel depicting the treatment of adulterous Hester Prynne in Puritan-era Boston, after her sin is discovered. This depiction of Puritan America is close to the author's heart; having been born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804, Hawthorne was likely fascinated by his region's Puritan past (particularly his ancestor John Hathorne, who was one of the judges during the Salem witch trials of 1692 (Miller 20-21). In investigating the attitudes and anxieties of the people living in colonial New England, Hawthorne explores the xenophobia, religious intolerance, and daily struggles of the people who Continue reading...

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the claim made on the greatly renowned classic novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter. I would claim that the novel portrays various characters where it would be acceptable to mention and link them to the very controversial topic Women and Honor Killings. This paper clarifies how the story of the Scarlet Letter is a fine example of how women and honor killings occur in different societies and cultures and also with proper evidences it will be made further clear how this claim can be interrelated with the Hawthrone’s story and characters Continue reading...

Classic English literature: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Introduction
There has been a lot of growth and development in the American literature docket over centuries, and it is necessary to note the fact that each phase has had various impacts, not only on the scholars in the American literary field and abroad, but also on the American people, themselves. Literature is one of the tools that have been used over the years to intrigue people’s way of thinking, and most essentially, their approach and opinion towards various aspects that affect their day to day activities and surroundings. This is one of the reasons why literature, as Continue reading...

This paper will discuss the relevance of studying the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne in the twenty first century. The paper commences by providing a brief history on Nathaniel Hawthorne. Thereafter, it will provide a chronology of some of his primary works. It will also provide reasons as to why Nathaniel Hawthorne is still popular very many years after his death . In addition, the paper will discuss some of the major themes contained in his literary works. Also, the paper will look into the symbols and settings that Hawthorne used; taking note of the significance of the aspects in his Continue reading...

Revenge is part of human nature. It’s almost like a reflex – an automatic response to hurt and betrayal. Yet is revenge necessarily bad? What does it say about humanity?

In the novel The Scarlet Letter, revenge is seen as a selfish impulse that the characters used to obtain justice and redeem their self-worth. Unlike the stereotypical depiction of revenge that uses violence, silence is the motif that was prevalent in the novel. This, too, was used as the medium by which revenge was taken.

In the prison cell where Hester was held, Chillingworth and Hester were juxtaposed, and Continue reading...

Cheever, Susan. American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau; Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work. Detroit: Thorndike Press, 2006. Large print edition. ISBN 0-7862-9521-X.

This book is exciting and interesting as it focuses on the period where Hawthorne lived and when he made his contributions to literature in general. The comparisons with Alcott, Emerson, Fuller and Thoreau are also instructive containing several elements which are perhaps slightly different at first glance but which are the same essentially at the end of the day. Continue reading...

“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 Continue reading...

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is the narrative of a fallen woman whose story is not the result of her own innate character, but of social forces which execute their power upon her and the subsequent transformations that these forces evoke. Thus, the personal opinion of this reader is that Hester Prynne truly is a courageous heroine who, prone to flaws like all human beings, makes a choice, which changes her life forever. Whether it was a wrong choice or a feat any of us would endeavor upon is questionable, because as it was said, it is not Continue reading...

Because of the society she lives in, Hester’s enforced wearing of the scarlet letter is intended to be a punishment, an admonition by the puritan New England society she lives in, but as the novel proceeds the effect on Hester is not what her society expected and the letter itself comes to stand for things other than ‘Adulteress’. This paper will argue that the effect of the letter on Hester is, by the end of the novel, to make her as accepted member of society again and that the scarlet letter is Continue reading...

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s renowned novel The Scarlet Letter exemplifies America’s Puritan past and exposes this community as marred by religious intolerance, highly vindictive spirit and the suppression of all things connected to Nature, as opposed to eternal salvation that is the result of a chaste life. Hawthorne opens up about his ancestral guilt with a darkness no optimism can illuminate, retaining the realism of his work and baring the true face of Puritanism, rendering it repressive and authoritarian, but simultaneously utilizing this community as an analogue for the general human condition. His personal religious beliefs were shaken on Continue reading...

“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 Continue reading...

[Institution Title]

Background of the Study

A useful lesson to illustrate a major pedagogical theory in education involves a close reading lesson given in the ninth grade English class. Many high schools English teachers report that their students lack the skill of reading a passage, whether fiction or non-fiction, and successfully draw inferences and figurative meanings or even critically analyze the readings. These figurative meanings are crucial to understanding the rhetorical argument of the piece, making this a vital skill. Furthermore, writing is also as complex a learning activity as reading that fosters the act of critically arranging the words to make perfect Continue reading...

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 Continue reading...

Hawthorne’s presentation of the wilderness in The Scarlet Letter is both literal – the unexplored and untamed wildness of forest beyond the town – and also metaphorical – he describes Hester’s as being cast into a “moral wilderness” because of her punishment at the hands of the Puritan community of New England. At the same time, Hester’s life in the “moral wilderness” and the forest itself are always juxtaposed with civilization – or the Puritan civilization of 17th century New England. Hawthorne was descended from New England Puritans, but as a Transcendentalist he has a rather different attitude to the Continue reading...

Morality is a personal distinction of the right and wrong. What is moral to you might not be moral to a friend, neighbour or even to a family member. Morality is not however equated to ethics. In our readings, we have differentiated the two concepts. While morality is an individual distinction of just and unjust, ethics is a societal standard of right and wrong. For example, bowing to elderly is an ethical standard to most Asian communities but it isn’t in the western communities. An anti-feudal Korean may however find no moral ground for the idea of respect Continue reading...

One of the finest American writers during the 18th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne was a confident man and utterly skilled in his craft. Most of his stories contain allegorical devices that captivated readers of all generations. Likewise, he was odds with Edgar Allan Poe, who was more freeform with his words, indulging in prose that explored the recesses of his imagination without becoming moralistic or allegorical (Hawthorne, v-vii). Aside from The Scarlet Letter a novel recollecting a feverish nightmare, thus suffocating the reader with its dark prose and allegory. On the other hand, The Birthmark, Hawthorne tries to recreate the Continue reading...

Literature: Essay

Blithedale Romance written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1852 is called one of his un-humorous fictions. The Novel covers the age of mid 1800s in the community of Blithedale. There are few characters projecting a mix of feelings about their viewpoint of the world. The hero of the novel is Miles Coverdale, who is desirous of improving the life standards of the community through agrarian lifestyle. The fictional story is somewhat confusing as it projects the darker side of the individuals and the reader feels like going into a depression due to the strange twist of events and sudden appearances Continue reading...

Characters make up all stories; it is what makes them interesting. The character in the story is a figure around which action revolves. Be it humans, figures, animals, the author can make a character out of anything (Josephs, 1995). The aspects that make an individual identify a character as such, are the aspects to which the author reveals to them, either diegetically or mimetically (Josephs, 1995). In a diegetic characterization, the author reveals to the readers the character by explicitly telling them who he is. This achievement uses the third person where the author is in the observer’s Continue reading...

Federico’s Ghost by Martin Espada is an intriguing poem of advocacy which attempts to give a voice to those who do not have a chance to speak and who are alone in the world. This suggests an intertwining of aesthetics and politics especially in this poem which refers to the ghost of a child who appears to help those which are currently oppressed.
The poem deals with the story of a young boy who is called Federico and who works tilling the land in tomato fields, back breaking work for almost no pay in a desperately poor family Continue reading...

Introduction

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, like all good stories, has all the ingredients that keep the reader interested. The Story starts off when an innocent young man goes on a journey across the forest. He is a married man from the village of Salem who takes pride in the community and its leaders. His illusions regarding his society are refuted when he realizes that many of the people in his town, including his wife and the religious leaders are going to attend a Black Mass. Although one is not able to tell whether the story is a nightmare Continue reading...

Classic English Literature

Test of Faith in Young Goodman Brown
In the short story "Young Goodman Brown," the author Nathaniel Hawthorne makes use of mystery and suspense in order to grasp the readers’ attention. This story is apparently a parable, bursting as it is filled with symbolism of the obscurity within the hearts of common people. The predominant message that Hawthorne intends to deliver through the story is about the powerlessness of the human race, and in order to convey the same, the author has used numerous literary techniques in an entertaining manner to the readers. The story seem to be predominantly Continue reading...

Exploring he theme of Isolation in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories; “The Minister’s Black Veil”, “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Birthmark”
Nathaniel Hawthorne is the author of many short stories in which he portrays his characters with some dilemma where they must make up their minds about what is wrong from what is right. His stories end with morals that can be learned through his characters’ actions. Most of the stories he wrote are filled with themes of guilt and there are many themes of loneliness and sadness. His main characters are reclusive and lived sheltered lives. In Continue reading...

A well-known American writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on the 4th of July 1804. Salem in Massasuchetts, a city, was the place of birth of the novelist. Nathaniel’s forefathers, the Hathornes, are well known in New England history. Nathaniel changed his second name adding a ‘w' to make it Hawthorne with the intention of hiding his relations to his father and the forefathers. Why would he want to hide his relations to his forefathers? Nathaniel came from a rather long line of puritan ancestors. The ancestors, including his father, were involved in witch trials that frequently took place Continue reading...

“Instructor’s name’

‘Subject’
“The Birth-Mark” and “The Cask of Amontillado” – A comparative study
Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne are two important contributors of the nineteenth-century American literature. Edgar Allan Poe was one of the most celebrated authors, posthumously though, of the past century. Some of his stories are almost autobiographical, and though he lived in a previous era, his ideas were far ahead of his time. Nathaniel Hawthorne is an author, whose works are even today cited for seeking ethical guidance. His stories urge the reader to analyze his moral confusions. This essay is an attempt to compare and contrast Continue reading...

Introduction

Nathaniel Hawthorne ranks among the world’s major authors. His proficiency in the art of literature, particularly short fiction is unmatched. Two of his most famous works are Young Goodman Brown and The Minister’s Black Veil. In these two short fictional stories, Hawthorne portrays a romantic view of sin and people. Like many other romantic literature pieces, the setting of the stories is dark and gloomy. Religion plays a huge role in both stories. History reveals that the American nation was partly founded through the ideals of religion. From its inception, religion has helped to shape and define Continue reading...

The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” Life is full of unexpected events; some of them are especially difficult and can harm our loved ones as well as ourselves. How do we respond to these kinds of events? Unwind, Beloved and The Scarlet Letter are among the books that make readers think about ordinary people who go through extraordinary events and major obstacles to protect themselves and their loved ones.
Unwind is a science fiction novel by literary author Neal Shusterman. The novel takes Continue reading...

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 Continue reading...

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 Continue reading...

Conflict is a violent dispute or incompatibility of views positions between individuals or groups. Conflicts are normal and inevitable and inherent feature of human existence. For conflicts to be present, key issues must be taken into consideration since the analysis of issues gives or assist in the identification of parties to the conflict hence the meaning of the systems in the conflict.
As such conflict situations involve cases where individuals or parties have divergent views or incompatible aims which motivate and influence their behavior. As such, the behavior shown by the parties is what will determine the issues in Continue reading...

The Popol Vuh is the Mayan story of creation. The Mayans believe that Hero Twins Xbalanqué and Hunahpú created them. It provides a narrative that accounts for the creation of all living beings in the world. Like the biblical creation story, Animals were first related, and then human beings. While the Popol Vuh is interesting for it’s insight into the ancient Mayan people, it is also interesting in it’s context of other mythical stories which emerged from other cultures after they had grown to the size of a full-blown civilization. One of the most important stories of Continue reading...

Nowadays, people tend to care too much what other people may think about them, sometimes making sacrifices beyond their possibilities, for the sake of appearances. The story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant teaches us a very good life lesson regarding this issue and in another order of ideas, we can call it the deceptiveness of appearances. The main character of the story, Mathilde, never felt that the normal life she had fits her, and she always dreamed on being wealthy and making part of the social class. She had her change to bright for a couple of hours Continue reading...