The Scarlet Letter

A detailed Summary of The Scarlet Letter


The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a book packed with descriptions and metaphors. Hawthorne uses many ways to convey his thoughts and feelings of the many characters in the book. He utilizes many diverse techniques to send these messages, one of which is contrasting two distinctive opposites, and relating them to the books characters. This paper focuses on two of these contrasts, and goes into an assortment of connections with these and the books characters.

The book begins by describing, in great detail, a scene in front of a jail house. It then focuses on the plant life lying before the jail house entryway. There, among the "burdock, pigweed, apple-peru, and such unsightly vegetation" (The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, page 45) lies a rose. Hawthorne goes into a m


When looked at all put together, the two contrasts are very similar in their content. Both deal with the subject of light and dark or good and evil depending on how you look at them. They are both contrasting Hester to the townspeople in many ways, and they both give the idea that Hester is not what the townspeople make of her, she is not an adulteress who is lower than low, she was the most pure person the in the town of you looked into her soul. That is not true of most people.

Hester is characterized in the rose at the foot of the jail door, surrounded by weeds, as being able to continue to be beautiful at the steps of despair, surrounded by evil. Evil is a strong point that Hawthorne communicates in The Scarlet Letter. He illustrates the village people, who put Hester on trial, as the weeds that grow up, can't be kill

Some common words found in the essay are:
Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne, scarlet letter, light dark, Letter Nathaniel, letter nathaniel hawthorne, letter nathaniel, scarlet letter nathaniel, nathaniel hawthorne, hester townspeople, plant life, characters book, jail house, books characters, directly related,

Approximate Word count = 564
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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