Overview of The Scarlet Letter.

Name:- Rayjada Mitalba Jaydipsinh.            Paper no:- 10(M.A.:-Sem-3).           

Roll No:- 20

Topic:- Overview of The Scarlet Letter.      Pg. Reg No:- 206910842019008. 

Submitted to Smt. S.B.Gradi Department of English, Maharaja Krushnkumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.

Nathaniel:-

Nathaniel Hawthorne born in July 4,1804 and died May 19,1864 was an American novelist, dark romantic, and short story writer. Hawthorne was predominantly a short story writer in his early career. Upon publishing Twice-Told Tales, however, he goed,"I do not think muck of them," and he expected little response from the public. His four major romances were written between 1850 and 1860. The Scarlet Letter, The House of the seven Gables, The Blithedale Romnce and The Marble Faun. Another novel length romance, Fanshawe was published anonymously in 1828.

The Scarlet Letter:- 



The Scarlet Letter a romance is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne published in 1850. The Scarlet Letter was one of the first mass-produced books in America. In the punishment of Hester Prynne, a young woman who has given birth to a baby of unknown parentage. She is required to wear a scarlet "A" on her dress when she is in front of the townspeople to shame her.The story begins in seventeenth century Boston. Heater husband a scholar much older than she is, sent her ahead to America, but he never arrived in Boston. Hester has apparently had an affair as she given birth to a child. She will not reveal her lover's identity , however and the scarlet letter, along with her public shaming, is her punishment for her sin and her secrecy

Character of Scarlet Letter:-

Hester Prynne:- Heater is the book's protagonist . As a young woman she is married an elderly scholar Chillingworth who sent her ahead to America to live but never followed her. While waiting for him. She has an affair with a puritan minister named Dimmesdale after which she gave birth to Pearl. 

Pearl:- Hester illegitimate daughter Pearl is a young girl. She quickly discerns the truth about her mother and Dimmesdale. She is wise far beyond her years, frequently engaging in ironic play having to do with her mother's Scarlet Letter.

Roger Chillingworth:- Roger Chillingworth is actually Hester's husband in disguise. He is much older than she is and had sent her to America while he settled his affairs in Europe. He is a scholar and uses his knowledge to disguise himself as a doctor.Chillingworth is self absorbed and both physically and psychologically monstrous. His single minded pursuit of retribution reveals him to be the most malevolent character in the novel.

Dimmesdale:- Dimmesdale is a young man who achieved fame in England as a theologian ans then emigrated to America. In a moment of weakness he and Hester became lovers. Although he will not confess it public he is the father of her child. Gedeeld with his guilt by tormenting himself physically and psychologically developing a heart condition as a result. Dimmesdale is an intelligent and emotional man.

Themes of Scarlet Letter:-

Man and Nature:- In the Scarlet Letter all the good stuff goes down in the woods. Nature is almost like a character personified as listening commenting on, and interacting with the other characters. At the same time it can be menacing. The puritan community is like an island surrounding by nature. bordered on one side by a huge expanse of woods, home to Native Americans the Wampanoag tribes and on the other the big blue Atlantic Ocean.

Identity and Society:- After Hester is publicly shamed and forced by the people of Boston to Wear a badge of humiliation. Hester reacts with dismay when Chillingworth tells her that the town fathers are considering letting her remove the letter.H Hester's behavior is premised on her desire to determine her own identity rather than to allow others to determine it for her. To her running away or removing the letter would be an acknowledggment of society's power over her she would be admitting that the letter is a mark of shamans something from which she desires to escape.

Dimmesdale also struggles against a socially determined identity. As the community's minister, he is more symbol than human being. Except for Chillingworth those around those around the minister willfully ignore his obvious anguish misinterpreting it as holiness Dimmesdale never fully recognizes the truth of what Hester has learned that Individuality and strength are gained by quiet self-assertion and by a reconfiguration.

Sin:- Sin is the central theme of the Scarlet Letter. Given that Hester's sin was committed at a time when her husband was presumed dead, her punishment seems disproportional to the crime She wears the Scarlet Letter literally and figuratively for the rest of her life. Her sin is visible and shameful but, ultimately, forgivable.

Love:- Although it does not seem that love is a dominant theme Dimmesdale and Hester love each other during the absence of her husband. The result is the birth of Pearl. It is because of love towards Dimmesdale Hester doesn't disclose his identity. She is shown as an epitome of love that she never ever tries to expose her lover. Her silent sacrifice wins Dimmesdale by the end, and he agrees to take her to England.

Damnation:- The theme of Damnation is one of the dominant themed in The Scarlet Letter. The description of the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale in it is quite in keeping with the oldest and most full authorized principles in Christian thought. His 'Fall is, to be sure, a descent from a state of apparent grace to damnation he seems to begin in purity he ends in corruption he may have been a whole man at his death, he is in a state of spiritual disintegration. The subtlety of Hawthorne's view seems to be that the minister is his own deceiver he is that truly damned man who convinces himself at every stage of his spiritual pilgrimage that his is really "saved". More terrifyimg still he is that rare man who is gifted with unusual powers of penetration own mind 

Symbols of The Scarlet Letter:-

The Scarlet Letter:- The Scarlet Letter is meant to be a symbol of shame, but instead it becomes a powerful symbol of identity to Hester. The letter 's meaning shifts as time passes. Originally intended to mark Hester as an adulterer the 'A' eventually comes to stand for 'Able' .Election Day pageant think it marks her as a person of importance and status. Like Pearl, the letter functions as a physical reminder of Hester's affair with Dimmesdale. Additionally the instability of the letter 's apparent meaning calls into question society ability to use symbols for ideological reinforcement.

Red Color:- Although red color is mostly associated with sex, infatuation, passion, violence, and life of sin, it is also associated with true love and purity of heart. In the novel this color is associated with read roses which means energy, while at one place, it also shows lost passion and sincere love, as the scarlet letter and crimson color of cheeks show love and passion.

Pearl:- Pearl is a living symbol, the physical embodiment of Hester and Dimmesdale sin. In Chapter 19 the narrTor even calls Pearl a 'living hieroglyphic'. Yet Pearl, from her name to her comfort with nature, is also the most pure character in the novel. While the Puritans see her as a demon, the reader comes to see her as a kind of nature sprite cast out by a society that cannot accept her 'sinful' origins.

Forest and The Wilderness:- To the townspeople the forest is the unknown. It's outside of the town it's full of American Indians and scary creatures, and worst of all it's utterly lawless. The town is ruled by law and religion the forest a place of passion and emotion. Hester is cast out of the rules and order of the town forced to live in a metaphorical forest a wilderness of shadowy right and wrong. She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness as vast as intricate and shadowy as the untamed forest.

The meteor:- As Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl in chapter 12 a mentor traces out an 'A'in the night sky. To Dimmesdale the meteor implies that he should wear a mark of shame just as Hester does. The meteor is interpreted differently by the rest of the community, which thinks that it stands for 'Ange' and marks Governor Winthrop's entry into heaven.

The prison Door:- The novel begins this way 'A throng of beardedmen, is sad colored garments and gray steeple crowned hats, intermixed with women some wearing hoods and others bareheaded was assembled in front of a wooden edifice the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes 'As this description shows, the prison Door like the jail itself symbolizes punishment.