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The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter is a historical novel, but it is also a transformation and reimagining of the past through the author's Romantic imagination. As such, it is not meant to be a literal depiction...
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The Scarlet Letter
Physically, the titular scarlet letter “A” is a badge that signifies to the Puritan community that its wearer, Hester Prynne, has committed the sin of adultery. Its scarlet red color emphasizes her...
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The Scarlet Letter
Well, first, isn't the phrase "He now dug…"? That aside, it is deeply symbolic, but it may also have some minor literal meanings. By that I mean, in Chapter 10 Chillingworth is mainly examining...
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The Scarlet Letter
Yes, there were. Romanticism pushed back against the rationality of the emerging scientific age, and emphasized emotion and nation (among other things). The novel is rich with emotional...
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The Scarlet Letter
Towards the end of chapter 10, Chillingsworth says the source of Dimmesdale's illness is his soul, not his body. Although Chillingsworth himself admits that he is a doctor who deals with the...
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The Scarlet Letter
See http://www.enotes.com/scarlet-letter/q-and-a/what-sins-arthur-dimmesdale-scarlet-letter-330306
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The Scarlet Letter
Dimmesdale sees the meteor form an "A." He takes this to mean that he should wear an "A" too. The sexton thinks it stands for "Angel," since Governor Winthrop died that night. The light of the...
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The Scarlet Letter
This question has been previously answered before. Please see the link below, and thank you for using eNotes.
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The Scarlet Letter
At the end of The Scarlet Letter, Hester takes Pearl with her to Europe, where they spend Pearl's adolescence together. Eventually, however, Hester returns, without Pearl, back to Boston from...
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The Scarlet Letter
Hester's naming her child Pearl is significant for a variety of reasons. They mainly deal with the themes of The Scarlet Letter as a whole. The name Pearl also reflects the complicated way Hester...
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The Scarlet Letter
Chillingworth seems not to really feel any guilt for pursuing the soul of his wife's one-time lover and the father of her child, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale. He feels that he is perfectly justified...
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The Scarlet Letter
The imagery and diction of the first three paragraphs of chapter 3 reveal a sinister quality in the stranger who appears at the start of the chapter. Imagery is description using the five senses of...
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The Scarlet Letter
Let's look at the context here. Chillingworth has come to visit Hester in prison. He takes her some medicine, which he tells the jailer will make her easier to control. The jailer doesn't know that...
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The Scarlet Letter
Though modern-day America has evolved from the Puritanistic New England colonies of our forefathers, many themes that are present in The Scarlet Letter are still relevant to today's society:...
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The Scarlet Letter
Roger Chillingworth has to change his name because he does not want the town of Boston to know that he is Hester Prynne's husband. Hester has not been sentenced to death for her crime of adultery...
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The Scarlet Letter
Roger Chillingworth, Hester's husband, is the chief villain who orchestrates the largest amount of trouble for the main characters: Hester and Dimmesdale. Chillingworth arrives in Boston after a...
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The Scarlet Letter
Hester finds freedom in her ability to think critically and question authority, at least internally. It is ultimately her choice to remain in Boston and then, later, to return, wearing the scarlet...
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The Scarlet Letter
A metaphor is a comparison of two unalike things where one thing is said to be the other. In chapter 13, the narrator describes the spiritual connection created by Hester Prynne and Reverend...
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The Scarlet Letter
There is an antagonist in The Scarlet Letter. His name is Roger Chillingworth, Hester's husband. Once he resurfaces after a long period of absence, Chillingworth finds out about his wife's adultery...
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The Scarlet Letter
Sadly, I don't believe this novel illustrates the idea that love, compassion, and forgiveness have the power to overcome evil and sinful deeds. Despite Hester's love for Arthur Dimmesdale, the...
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The Scarlet Letter
One could argue that the crowd are silent because, as Puritans, law and God's word are synonymous. Their silence, therefore, can be interpreted as awestruck reverence for what they regard as the...
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The Scarlet Letter
Dimmesdale, a clergyman and the father of Pearl with Hester, is a victim of a society that he knows will react harshly and punitively to his sin of adultery. Because he knows how judgmental Puritan...
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The Scarlet Letter
Dimmesdale finds it difficult to discharge his duties as a minister because he is almost constantly wracked by guilt. He is supposed to be a man of God yet he engaged in an adulterous liaison with...
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The Scarlet Letter
This quote pertains most completely to Chillingworth. Chillingworth is a secretive individual who has evil intentions. Chillingworth gets Hester to agree not to let anyone know he is her husband...
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The Scarlet Letter
It is consistent with Hester's strong sense of honor that having promised Chillingworth she would not reveal his identity as her husband, she sticks to her word. However, I would say she is not...
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The Scarlet Letter
In chapter XIII, entitled "Another View of Hester," we learn that many people in Boston have begun to think of Hester's scarlet "A" as a symbol for the world "Able" instead of "Adultery," its...
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The Scarlet Letter
A hook, or an opening sentence at the start of an essay, has a specific purpose, which is to draw the reader in and to give the reader reason to be interested in reading the essay. Some teachers...
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The Scarlet Letter
As Hester stands on the scaffold with all the puritans looking up at her, she thinks back to a simpler life in what she calls "Old England." Before she arrived in America she used to live in a...
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The Scarlet Letter
As a Romantic author, Hawthorne ascribed to the idea that nature is a positive entity that stands in contrast with the corruption of society. Hawthorne introduces nature to the plot of his famous...
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The Scarlet Letter
Dimmesdale certainly cannot treat Hester as the rest of Boston treats her, simply because he knows that he is as guilty as she—perhaps even guiltier because he keeps his guilt a secret. He...
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The Scarlet Letter
The Puritans were a rather idiosyncratic bunch, and one would be hard-pressed to find another group that is more strident in their moral beliefs and, perhaps ironically (or perhaps not), more...
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The Scarlet Letter
Hawthorne uses a metaphor in which he compares Hester's scarlet letter "A" to a spell that takes "her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclos[es] her in a sphere by herself."...
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The Scarlet Letter
Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter contains a tense episode in chapter 17, when Hester decides to meet Dimmesdale in the forest and reveals her relationship to Chillingworth. While the question does...
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The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 17 of The Scarlet Letter can be regarded as a feminist text because of its portrayal of Hester Prynne in three ways: as an equal to Arthur Dimmesdale, as his strong savior, and as the...
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The Scarlet Letter
In the dramatic second scaffold scene, the dying Dimmesdale cries out: I withheld myself from doing seven years ago, come hither now, and twine thy strength about me! Thy strength, Hester; but let...
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The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne offers insight into the characteristics of both men and their influence in Chapter VII, "The Governor's Hall" and Chapter VIII, "The Elf-Child and the Minister." As the head of...
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The Scarlet Letter
The second scaffold scene in the narrative of The Scarlet Letter begins with Reverend Dimmesdale on the scaffold on "The Minister's Vigil." It is clear that he longs to share in the punishment of...
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The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne creates a dichotomy in The Scarlet Letter by aligning characters with either darkness or light. Those who are part of the dark are part of the world of sin and repression, while...
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The Scarlet Letter
THEMES Free Will Though the concept of transgression is seemingly the basis of The Scarlet Letter, the underlying theme is the human capacity to shape one's own destiny freely. This is what Hester...
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The Scarlet Letter
Roger Chillingworth's self-doubt and hatred—combined with his love of meticulous study and research—guide his actions as he attempts to get revenge on Hester and Dimmsdale. Chillingworth is a man...
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The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne had not only a philosophical interest but also a personal interest in critiquing Puritan ideology, even though The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, long after the demise of...
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The Scarlet Letter
Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is regarded as a historical romance because the text depicts an historical time period (the mid-1600s) and presents the wild daughter of Hester Prynne and Reverend...
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The Scarlet Letter
The significance of the title of The Scarlet Letter is that it is the symbol that Hester Prynne is ordered to wear on her chest prominently to show the world that she is a sinner. The letter itself...
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The Scarlet Letter
A primary symbol in The Scarlet Letter is the contrast between civilization, embodied by the religious community overseen by harsh theocratic society in Salem, and the wilderness, a place that...
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The Scarlet Letter
Yes, The Scarlet Letter does seem to contain a critique of Puritan ideology. The narrator is extremely critical of the Puritans in general, describing them as severe and harsh, despite their claims...
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The Scarlet Letter
For the purposes of introducing the novel, "The Custom-House" offers a conceit for telling the story of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale's doomed romance. The narrator finds the embroidered...
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The Scarlet Letter
The narrator seems to consider the fact that Dimmesdale is a minister and that his transgression has gone unrecognized and unpunished to be part of the sin itself. Hester has been punished with...
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The Scarlet Letter
There's little doubt that Hawthorne intends our sympathies to be with Hester Prynne at the start of the novel. Later on, we will have sympathy for other characters in the story, most notably Arthur...
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The Scarlet Letter
When Hester and Pearl go to Governor Bellingham's house, the little girl is deeply enamored of the way that the sunshine plays upon the front of the mansion. She starts skipping and dancing with...
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The Scarlet Letter
Hester is, arguably, the protagonist, or the main character, of the novel, though some might argue that Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister who fathers her child, is actually the protagonist. I would...
