OF SIN AND SCARLET

1. OF SIN AND SCARLET The Scarlet Letter Project Christopher Ball Period C-D

2. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. He was a descendant of Puritan settlers; his father was famous in witch-executing trials, and one of his ancestors was one of the first New England Puritan settlers. He didn’t want to be remembered for his father’s actions, so he added the “w” to his last name. His father died at sea due to illness, and this made his mother overly protective. Hawthorne turned out to be very shy and bookish because of his mother, traits that made him into the writer that he was. Hawthorne started writing after graduating from Bowdoin College and published his first book. It did not achieve much success, however he kept writing. Some of these works were considered his best, but for some reason, he denied the publication of his stories twice. His poor income forced him to work as a Boston Custom House measurer. By 1824, he earned enough to marry Sophia Peabody. Hawthorne continued to write, but it still failed to support him. He returned to Salem and was appointed surveyor of the Boston Custom House, however he was dismissed when Zachary Taylor became president. Being free from work, he published many works, one of which was The Scarlet Letter. He devoted himself to writing and resided in Europe for a few years. He befriended many writers such as Holmes, Emerson, Melville, and Longfellow. Hawthorne wrote one last novel, The Marble Faun, before falling ill and dying on May 19th, 1864, in Plymouth, New Hampshire. He was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. Although he is gone, he is still referred to as one of the greatest American writers. As Longfellow said in a review of Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales, “Another characteristic of this writer is the exceeding beauty of his style. Indeed he uses words as mere stepping-stones, upon which, with a free and youthful bound, his spirit crosses and recrosses the bright and rushing stream of thought.”

3. CONFLICT ANALYSIS-HESTER PRYNNE Hester Prynne had to overcome a lot of things during the story The Scarlet Letter. The most major of all of her conflicts was one between her and the Puritan community of Boston, Massachusetts, when the community expected perfection. All of this starts on page 48, where the women of the town start to gossip about Hester and the punishment she received, saying that she was not punished enough. “The magistrates are God-fearing gentlemen, but merciful overmuch,-that is a truth,” said one of them. From then on after she was convicted, she tried to make the most of her life despite her previous actions. She tried to become a better person and learn from her mistakes. This doesn’t seem to be enough for the community, as all they can remember her for is her sin. As it says on page 73, “Thus, the young and pure would be taught to look at her… as the figure, the body, the reality of sin.

4. CONFLICT ANALYSIS-HESTER PRYNNE As a result of the way she is treated, Hester goes to live in a small cottage on the outskirts of town. She tries her hardest to raise Pearl to be a mature and God-fearing individual. However, the community wasafraid of Pearl’s attentive and wild personality. The people called her a demon, stating that she wasthe product of sin and at some point saying that Pearl should be taken away from Hester. However, for the community expecting perfection out of Hester, they do not seem to have much of an idea about perfection either. The community treats Hester like she is the only person who has done wrong, while in reality they are also blind to the fact that they are also imperfect. For example, the Puritan children are taught to hate Hester and to treat her badly. As the children said on page 93, “Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter; and of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!”

5. CONFLICT ANALYSIS-HESTER PRYNNE This conflict caused Hester to become more depressed inside. She wasn’t happy and the scarlet letter seemed to become a part of her life. She dwelled on this obsessively, as the community did also. The conflict ends when Hester and Pearl travel back to Europe. Pearl gets married, and Hester returns to her cottage on the outskirts of Boston. However, at this point in the story, the meaning of the scarlet letter had changed in the community. This made Hester a well known, almost celebrity figure among the community. Women would come to her for advice, and she was heralded as a hero.

6. THEME Sometimes in life, people make mistakes. There can be a variety of mistakes; some are larger than others. People can focus on mistakes. Sometimes they can make right of the situation and learn from their mistakes. Other people don’t take mistakes too well. Because of some mistakes, people look at others differently. They judge others. They may see themselves as better than others due to the mistakes that others have made. They are not capable of forgiving or understanding mistakes. This is what The Scarlet Letter highlights. Hester Prynne, the main character, makes one of the biggest mistakes in the Puritan community of Boston; she commits adultery. Not only is this illegal, it also results in all of the community members looking down on her for what she did. As punishment for her actions, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her clothes, which serves as a constant reminder for what she did. Everything from then on is a constant struggle of good and evil and the lessons that mistakes can teach, along with the sadness that it can bring. As it says on page 175, “All the world had frowned on her,-for seven long years had it frowned upon this lonely woman,-and still she bore it all, nor ever once turned away her firm, sad eyes.” Even though scarlet letters and convictions like this no longer happen today, the events that occur within the community are a reality. The story tries to convey that everyone makes mistakes and sins, however some people don’t take it well. Every day, people are put down for mistakes that they have previously made. People dwell on mistakes more than they should; both the person who made the mistake and the people who witnessed it. It is a good thing to learn from your mistakes, however to dwell on them and make them the center of your life is not something that you should do. It changes you into thinking that you are a horrible person when in reality everyone has made mistakes, even if they aren’t willing to admit it.

7. PERSONAL REFLECTION In my personal opinion, I did not like the Scarlet letter. There were many things about it that I didn’t enjoy. For example, the story itself most of the time was not very interesting and did not make me want to keep reading. The story would go into detail on very specific things, but would breeze past other parts, which drew me away. The story itself has a depressing undertone as the main theme of the story is about sin, mistakes, and the things that sin and mistakes can do to people, which was very upsetting and a good mood killer. The story also focuses on the fact that the citizens of the then-Puritan Boston expect perfection out of everyone, most notably Hester, however are devoid of perfection themselves. For instance, all of the citizens are upset with Hester and want her to be punished harshly for committing adultery. However, there are many points in the story where the Puritan citizens make mistakes. For instance, the adults teach the kids to hate Hester and Pearl. The kids throw mud at them and try to instigate fights every time the twosome come into town. Also, the Puritan citizens are not observant and often make up their own stories to things that don’t go their way. For instance, the citizens are unable to make the connection between Hester’s scarlet letter on her chest and the fact that the minister always clutches his chest when bewildered. Pearl, however, makes this observation fairly quickly. Also, when Dimmesdale’sglove is found on the scaffold, the person who found it made an excuse that the devil was playing tricks instead of making the inference that the minister was indeed on the scaffold that previous night. They do this in order to provide an acceptable explanation for something that happened that they don’t want to accept. All of these things in the story made me very frustrated as I wondered how some people got away with what they did. In this novel, there was one thing that I could relate to. Throughout the story, Hester dwells on her sin, and while she did learn from it, it deeply depresses her and changes her outlook on life. I have also had situations where I have dwelt on previous mistakes, and it too has made me depressed. However, I learned to accept that I made a mistake, as everyone does, learned from it, and moved on. Hester does not do this, and it seems to permanently haunt her. What the story taught me is how dwelling on mistakes affects people. For some, like Hester, it changes her outlook on life. For others, like Dimmesdale, it can even lead to death. This taught me that holding everything in and dwelling on it has disastrous effects.

8. PERSONAL REFLECTION If I were to recommend this story to anyone, it would most likely be to someone who does not forgive easily. This would show them what happens when people do not forgive, and the results that happen because of it. Hester was not forgiven by the community, and this changed her outlook on life. This is my personal reflection on The Scarlet Letter.

9. RESOURCES • GradeSaver. *Biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne | List of Works, Study Guides & Essays*. GradeSaver, 22 August 2012 Web. 22 August 2012. • Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York, NY: Bantam Dell, 2003. Print. • http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/nhlong2.ht ml(Criticism under public domain)