Themes of the Scarlet Letter

A detailed Summary of Themes of the Scarlet Letter

Themes Pertaining to The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrates upon many ideas referring to life and ways of living. He touches on values viewed by people of all types of social status. Morals, which should be engraved in one's mind, seemed to be forgotten. These actions that should have never been performed are topics revealed in The Scarlet Letter. The actions being accomplished include ideas such as sin, revenge, and betrayal. Hawthorne uses many techniques in developing the themes that shape this novel.

The act of sin occurs many times throughout the novel. Hawthorne gradually develops the sin committed by Reverend Dimmesdale. In the beginning of the book the reader has no idea who the real father of Pearl is. Not until the end of the book did the surrounding townspeople know that Mr. Dimmesdale, a reverend, was the person held responsible. Hawthorne did a good job in prolonging the secret, which in essence he

lped form a great theme. Although Reverend Dimmesdale's disobedience wasn't clarified until the end of the story, another action going against the church started off the novel. The sin of adultery was what Hester Prynne was guilty of committing. Hawthorne decided to ripen this concept in just the opposite way of Reverend Dimmesdale's sin. Her sin ended up making her the main attraction of the marketplace. As the story progressed, everyone became more mild about her sin. So as one sin was declining, another one was progressing. Since sin was constantly being seen throughout the entirety of the novel, its now easy to see why sin was a main theme.

The final theme that Hawthorne presents is betrayal. This conception is developed real well in more than one incident. Hawthorne shows betrayal by having Hester deceive her marriage vows to Roger Chillingworth. Again, this broken promise shows one way how the laws of the church were violated. Not only was

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Approximate Word count = 649
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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Themes of the Scarlet Letter

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