The Scarlet Letter, Ethan Frome and The Crucible
In the literary works The Crucible by Arthur Miller, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton there are many parallel characters. In all of these works the main characters are driven by love, hate and vengeance. Although initially victims themselves Abigail Williams, Zeena Pierce, and Robert Chillingworth become victimizers due to their manipulative and vengeful natures, which ultimately leads to their downfalls. Zeena, Chillingworth and Abigail are originally victims after being deceived by their spouses and lovers. In The Crucible Abigail engages in an affair with John Proctor while his sick wife recovers from childbirth. Although John did not intentionally mislead Abigail, she assumes that "a promise was made" to her during their affair (Miller 59). Because John is merely frustrated with his wife's coldness, his affair with Abigail meant little more to him than sexual satisfaction and attention. However, Abigail forms an emotional attachment to John and thinks more of their relationship than he does. Because Abigail misinterprets John's intentions, she is left feeling as though John had not fulfilled his promises to her. Unlike Abigail, Zeena and Chillingworth are betrayed by their adulterou
s spouses. When Chillingworth arrives at his home in Boston he finds his wife with an illegitimate child. Although he knew that Hester had never loved him he still felt as though his wife had betrayed him. Zeena, like Chillingworth was not in a marriage that was a result of true love. Ethan and Zeena married out of convenience rather than love, but her health soon deteriorated because she had spent her time nursing Ethan's mother. Because Zeena had lost her health tending to Ethan's mother, she expected her husband to be more attentive and understanding, instead of being unfaithful. Although Zeena, Chillingworth and Abigail were victims themselves, their actions were driven by hate unlike the love driven actions of their victims. Rather than punishing their spouses and lovers in order to obtain justice, they used their evil and manipulative natures to ruin them. Because of their selfish intentions to hurt others in order to achieve their goals Zeena, Chillingworth and Abigail, not only displayed how truly evil they were, but their actions resulted in their own downfalls as well. Despite Zeena, Chillingworth, and Abigail's attempts to punish those who had wronged them, their quest for revenge eventually leads to their demise. Abigail becomes so blinded by love and
Some common words found in the essay are:
Chillingworth Abigail, Chillingworth Abigail's, John Proctor, Ethan Chillingworth, Dimmesdale Chillingworth, Zeena Chillingworth, Ethan Zeena, Dimmesdale Instead, Edith Wharton, Ethan Mattie's, zeena chillingworth, chillingworth abigail, zeena chillingworth abigail, future john, lengths punish, ethan's mother, victims themselves, spouses lovers, manipulative natures, evil actions,
Approximate Word count = 861
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
