The Realtionship of Love adn accepting ons own identity
If we cannot accept our own identity, how are we supposed to accept and eventually love others just like us? In the novel The Scarlet letter, Nathaniel Hawthorn addresses the issue of accepting ourselves before we can accept and love others. Hawthorn expresses this issue through the relationships between his characters of Hester Prynne, Reverend Dimmesdale and Pearl. All three characters are bound to a single situation in which Hester accepts her punishment for committing adultery, and therefore has the ability to love others, in contrast Dimmesdale does not accept his part in Prynne and his actions and denies his love for Prynne and his daughter Pearl. Lastly Pearl, the consequence of Dimmesdale and Prynne's actions of adultery, is caught between the two worlds of Prynne's and Dimmesdale. It results Pearl's confusion in character, which in turns results in her inconstant acts of affection and introvert behavior. From the very beginning of the story Prynne is continuously criticized and attacked by the Puritan townsmen of Salem, who strictly believe in the words God, including the issue of adultery. Here Prynne is identified by the towns' people as a woman who has committed adultery with a mysterious man later revealed as
In contrast to this, Dimmesdale is strongly influenced by society's views, especially that concerning adultery. So strongly influence he is, that Dimmesdale totally denies his feelings towards Prynne and his daughter Pearl. In doing this Dimmesdales also denies his own true identity and causes his own mental and physical torment of self-actualization, displayed through out the majority of the story. Most significantly, Prynne is also able to accept her love for her forbidden lover, Reverend Dimmesdale, whom she believes to appear "worthy of any exertion and sacrifice for its attainment" (pg. 163). This is proclaimed after Dimmesdale and Prynne meet at the scaffold. Prynne portrays this when she refuses to reveal Dimmesdale connection to their crime, during her public shaming. In the end, all three characters accept themselves. Both Dimmesdale and Pearl come to terms with there place in the world, for Dimmesdale confesses his crime and Pearl discovers the identity of her father and all are now able to express their love for one another. Even though society may believe your actions are wrong, it is better to accept and express them, then to live a lie. For in the end, it is up to you to decide to live a fulfilling life filled with relationships with others or a regretful lifetime of loneliness and regret. It is all dependent on you! In all Prynne is able to love Dimmesdale and Pearl because even though society says her actions are wrong, she is able to accept her involvement with Dimmesdale and her conception f her daughter Pearl, as part of her identity. In the story, during one of Dimmesdale's self-actualizing moments, he comes to opinionate his own view on the issue of acceptance and love to Prynne, who accompanies him in the forest. He says, "What can a ruined soul like mine effect toward the redemption of other souls? - or polluted soul, towards their purification?" (Pg. 187). In other wo
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Approximate Word count = 1299
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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