Dual nature in Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter
In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne sustains a vision of the ambivalent nature of reality. Three of the most influential characters: Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl are all portrayed in more than one way. They are all portrayed as both “good” and “bad” throughout the novel. Hester Prynne, the young adulteress who wears the scarlet letter “A,” is portrayed as evil in the novel because of her great sin. This viewpoint is shown most by the attitudes of the stern and grim Puritans, who think of her as the worst sinner in the community and an “unhappy culprit.”(p. 53) To them, she is “the common infamy, at which all mankind [is] summoned to point its finger.” (p. 71) They also used her action to describe the faults of women, as she “[became] the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which they might vivify and embody their images of women’s sinful passion.” (p. 71) The scarlet letter and Pearl, as symbols of her ignominy and evil nature, were further used as visual examples of this point. Throughout the book they make her seem like a reckless and rebellious woman by mocking and mistreating her. Many of these insults are in the first scaffold scene, where Hester’s “iniquity is dragged out into the sunshine
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1414
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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