Scarlet Letter Essay Research Paper From Stavroseaolcom

Scarlet Letter Essay, Research Paper

From: Stavrose@aol.com To: QUICKPAPERS@TOTALLY.NET Subject: Submit a paperDate: Tuesday, November 04, 1997 6:43 AMTitle: The Scarlet LetterCategory: CategoryDescription:Body of paper: The morning was long and chill, Hester Pryne had become a new resident to this smallseven-teenth century Boston town . She patiently waited alone for her husband’s latearrival from New England. In waiting Hester Pryne grew impatient and lonely. It mayhave been sexual deprivation or just a longing for lust, but it was not long after her arrivalthat she would commit her well recognized, vile, sinful act. What is it that turns the loyal lover into the lustful beast? After sometime hadpassed Hester was graced by the pleasure of meeting “the good Reverend Dimsdale.” Mr. Dimsdale was a highly respected member of the Puritan clergy and never would thepeople doubt in a man of God. Hester on first contact with him concluded a rather oddlonging for fulfillment in her forbidden pleasure. Time comes and goes like the wind not relenting to anything or anyone. Aftermany long months of waiting for her dear husband Hester receives notice of a puritanship being the one that her husband was to be aboard, he was presumed dead. Hestermourned her beloved husband for sometime. Yet then there was that night … Hester and Mr. Dimsdale were by chance speaking on various matters whenHester gave in to her sexual desires. A rather odd situation in deed. Then again whenyou compare it to modern times it truly is no more than a common occurrence. Yetliving in the seventeenth century was more than a tad bit different than living in ourtimes. The incident lay unspoken on the tongues of the party’s concerned. It fell to thatof their hearts where it should have found eternal test. Both guilty of this sinful act; yetwho would ever know? Morning sickness, slight bloating, and a guilty conscious do notmake many friends in these early years. At least not for Hester Pryne. Have you ever noticed the vacant stares of the suspicious mind? For Hester thiswas reality. Fact being she was a stranger to this settlement, married without husband,untrustworthy in the eyes of others. If female is constantly afflicted with nausea and seenby all who watched, then rumors shall spread. “She is pregnant,” one would say. Yethow could it be for she with no husband , wed to a ghost. Bound to society by the chains of her past, the truth must be known. Whenbrought forth to question her crime on display. Thrown to a jail cell was she on this day.Left to be tortured by the chances she took. There sat Hester pregnant in a cage where onone could look. Her soul felt impure to her confused simple mind, the truth longed to betold, the truth no one could find. Her child was born in the cell where she stayed sentenced to trial for her crime.Shoulder death be bestowed for a crime against god? May the council be troubled bydecision of this. What should be done by these who fear the truth?On the day of her trial, Hester and her child now named Pearl. They took up the

stand for all the townsfolk to see. Questions were asked, statements were made.Agreement to guilt by one party concerned, while the Reverend in silence stood fearfulthat truth would be learned. Coward was he so lost in the crowd, his eyes gazed intentlyto his secret child. A man in the crowd, a husband thought lost, stood disguised by his new identitythe man once known was not here but lost. He looked at his wife where she stood on thestand ashamed in his heart of what she had done. This man could do nothing but plan hisrevenge and sit there in silence till the trial came to end. ” Turn in your partner in the crime you commit. Go down together and thesentence will be much less strict.” Hester Pryne would not give his name but instead shethought it was better to take all the blame. That she did, branded by all, made to wear ascarlet “A” from this day forth. After her sentencing she was taken back to the prison house where she was to bekept with her child until release. Shortly after her return Roger Chillingworth now amedicine man came to Hester and her child Pearl. He told Hester who he once was asshe sat astonished by disgrace. He then proceeded to give little Pearl some medicine. Time passed by as it always does. Hester and Pearl were released on there ownaccord. People even then gossiped about anything and everything. By now the tale ofshe who was branded by sin was widely known. As she walked down the roads Hesterwas stared upon by the lingering eyes of all. What was hidden beneath the brand that marked the sins of the past? Was thesentence passed upon Hester right for the committed crime or was this just another sick,cruel game of life? Perhaps there lies a meaning, an unlearned lesson between the linesof this classic masterpiece. Overall this book shows the gradual changes placed on the past not quiteforgotten. It showed the courage of Hester Pryne, one woman who took claim for all heractions right and wrong. If this is the past then what will beheld by the approachingfuture not yet known. Out of all the works Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote, the Scarlet Letter was the novelhe is best remembered for. In this book, Hawthorne tries to show that crime andpunishment were going to bring about the death of civilized life by using symbolism andambiguity. Hawthorne uses symbolism the most in his novel even though he didn’t intend itto be that way. The first of his symbols was when he describes the prison as “the blackflower of civilized society”. By using the building of the prison to represent the crime andpunishment which were aspects of early Boston’s civilized life, and by contrasting thissymbol with the tombstone at the end of the novel, he is suggesting that crime andpunishment were going to bring about the death of civilized life, which is exactly what hewanted to do. Another symbol is when he uses the grass plot “much overgrown withburdock, pigweed, apple-peru, and such unsightly vegetation”. This suggests yet anothersymbol of civilization corrupted by the elements which make prisons necessaryThis paper was written by Lee and they can be reached at Stavrose@aol.com.