Buildings in Scarlet Letter
Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" describes a stone barrier that two neighbors visit each year for repair. The wall is used as a metaphor for how we place barriers between each other, which is far easier to deal with, but is a loss in the long run. Buildings and structures have long been used to symbolize abstract ideas in literature. Hawthorn uses the prison, cottage, and scaffold as concrete representations for the rigid society, the psychological effects of the characters, and the morals of a society in The Scarlet Letter. Boston's prison ironically stood not only as a symbol of the severity of Puritan law, but also as a beacon of tolerance and a portraiture of Hester's resiliency and strength in The Scarlet Letter. The novel opens with the scene at the jail, and sets Hawthorne's tone with its description. Particularly the prison's door "a wooden edifice...heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes" gives an impression of firmness and reveals the strict enforcement of the even stricter Puritan law (45). Conversely, it can also be viewed as a symbol of Hester's strength throughout the novel. Inside the prison walls Hester and Chillingsworth can freely discuss their past without exposing themselves to the socie
Most likely the most important structure in the entire novel is the scaffold. Although usually used as a device for death and redemption, it is used here as a metaphor for rebirth and truth. The scaffold is visited thrice throughout Hawthorn's piece: once for a public shaming of Hester, again where Dimmesdale joins her, and finally at the novel's finale. In chapter twelve, Pearl assumes her true role in the story by being the person who will eventually make Dimmesdale admit his crime. She asks him to stand on the scaffold with her mother at noontide of the next day. This is her way of saying to him that although he thinks he is absolved, he really has not yet been punished fully. At the novel's end, Dimmesdale exposes his chest where is branded a scarlet "A." The "A" here stands for atonement, for he is makes amends for her previous sins, and can die with a pure conscience and true love in his heart. ty. Seen by Boston's citizens as to seclude the society from its criminals, its wooden walls actually shelter Hester from the society. The jail also "looked more antique than anything else in the New World" (46). This indicates that the laws of the society remain very traditional in the beginnings of a modern country. However, Hawthorn directly challenges t
Some common words found in the essay are:
Boston Hester, Hester Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, Seen Boston's, Scarlet Letter, Mending Wall, Twin Towers, Letter Boston's, World Trade, Hester Chillingsworth, scarlet letter, puritan law,
Approximate Word count = 859
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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