Themes in the Scarlet Letter
In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne incorporates Puritanism into several themes of his work: Individual vs. Society, The Nature of Evil, and The Heart vs. the Head. The novel is set in the Puritan town of Boston in the 1700s. Hester Prynne, the protagonist, is being persecuted for her crime of adultery and is forced to wear a scarlet "A" on her chest. Hawthorne shows the reactions of the Puritans to Hester's sin and the strength of Hester as she overcomes the isolation and criticisms of others, while still refusing to tell the identity of her lover. The Puritan society revolved around the church and anyone who objected to the church was considered a sinner. Hawthorne uses the morals expressed in Puritanism, the deep development of his meaningful characters, and a lot of symbolism to develop his themes of Identity vs. Society, The Nature of Evil, and the Heart vs. the Head in his work. In The Scarlet Letter, the theme of the Individual vs. Society is displayed in the interactions of Hester Prynne and Governor Bellingham with the Puritan society. The greatest example of the individual struggling against a powerful society is with Hester Prynne and her persecution. Hester was a young woman who was married in
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 894
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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