Scarlett Letter - Repentance
Laws and regulations in the mid 1600?s were greatly influenced by beliefs and philosophies of the Puritan religion. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne attempts to convince the reader of the superiority of repentance in dealing with sin. The humiliations and punishment endured by Hester, the protagonist, is often cited as a classic victim of overzealous, Puritanical punishment. Rather, the underlying theme actually expresses the notion that public repentance and acknowledgment of sin acts as a catalyst in helping the sinner cope with and eventually overcome the emotional and mental stress that results from sin. In The Scarlet Letter three separate but related scaffold scenes are used to illustrate this point. The scenes are tied together by a common sin, an adulterous affair between a young woman, Hester Prynne, and her minister, Reverend Dimmesdale. Each scaffold scene is different in terms of two key aspects of true repentance; is
Upon first reflection one might consider Hawthorne?s novel The Scarlet Letter as an account of a Puritanical society imposing its intolerance and enforcing its judgment in the public humiliation of a young sinner. A more in-depth analysis reveals, however, that this process of public repentance, seemingly devoid of mercy, actually allows the sinner the opportunity to deal with the situation head on, suffer the consequences, and get on with rebuilding his or her life. Through his illustrations Hawthorne reinforces the idea that confession is good for the soul. Repentance must be done willingly and a confession cannot be made to one?s self. the sinner confessing freely of his own volition and is the confession made publicly. In each case of public confession on the three scaffolds the sin is the same, the adulterous affair between Hester and Dimmesdale. In the first scaffold scene, Hester stands ?with natural dignity and force of character? (49
Some common words found in the essay are:
Reverend Dimmesdale, Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Dimmesdale, Unlike Hester, Ironically Dimmesdale, , Hester Returning, scarlet letter, adulterous affair, sin adulterous affair, public repentance, scaffold scene, hester prynne, dimmesdale scaffold, novel scarlet, novel scarlet letter, reverend dimmesdale, sin adulterous, dimmesdale scaffold scene, dimmesdale suffers,
Approximate Word count = 643
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
