Can society exist in
harmony without a
common enemy?
Symbolism: The
Scarlet Letter
Quote 1:
"So forcibly did he dwell upon this
symbol, for the hour or more
during which his periods were
rolling over the people's heads,
that is assumed new terrors in
their imagination, and seemed to
derive its scarlet hue from the
flames of the infernal pit." (pg. 64)
Quote 2:
"It was whispered, by those
who peered after her that the
scarlet letter threw a lurid
gleam along the dark passageway of the interior." (pg. 65)
Quote 3:
"Is Hester Prynne the less
miserable, think you, for that
scarlet letter on her
breast...There was a look of pain
on her face, which I would gladly
have been spared the sight of."
(pg. 123)
Summary:
The quotes taken from the
passage reveal that the
Puritan community utilized
the Scarlet Letter to label
Hester and as another way
of punishment. The letter
would eventually become
apart of who she is and
embedded in her
personality
Conflict: Good vs.
Evil
Quote 1:
"I say, to persuade this
godly youth, that he should
deal with you, here in the
face of Heaven, and before
these wise and upright
rulers, and in hear of all the
people, as touching the
vileness and blackness of
your sin." (pg. 61)
Quote 2:
"A zeal for God's glory and man's
welfare, they shrink from displaying
themselves black and filth in the view of
men; because, thenceforward, no good
can be achieved by them; no evil of the
past be redeemed by better service. So,
to their own unutterable torment, they go
about among their fellow-creatures
looking pure as new-fallen snow while
their hearts are all speckled and spotted
with iniquity of which they cannot rid
themselves." (pg. 120)
Quote 3:
"All the World had frowned
on her, for seven long
years had it frowned upon
this lonely woman, and
still she bore it all"(pg.
183)
Summary:
These quotes reveal that the
townspeople came together as one in
order to punish and condemn Hester
for the sins she committed. These
actions brought them together as a
community as they all worked together
to punish her and follow the will of
God.
Setting: The
Puritan Colony
Quote 1:
"There was very much the same
solemnity of demeanor on the
part of the spectators; as befitted
a people amongst whom religion
and law were almost identical,
and in whose character both were
so thoroughly interfused, that the
mildest and severest acts of
public discipline were alike made
venerable and awful." (pg. 47)
Quote 2:
"Amongst any other population, or at a
later period in the history of New
England, the grim rigidity that petrified
the bearded physiognomies of these
good people would have augured some
awful business in hand. It could have
betokened nothing short of the
anticipated execution of some noted
culprit, on whom the sentence of a
legal tribunal had but confirmed the
verdict of public sentiment. But, in that
early severity of the Puritan character
and inference of this kind could not so
indubitably be drawn." (pg. 47)
Quote 3:
"It was, in short, the platform of the
pillory; and above it rose the framework
of that instrument of discipline, so
fashioned as to confine the human head
in its tight grasp, and thus holding it up to
the public gaze. The very ideal of
ignominy was embodied and made
manifest in this contrivance of wood and
iron. There can be no outrage, methinks,
against our common nature, whatever be
the delinquencies of the individual, no
outrage more flagrant than to forbid the
culprit to hide his face for shame; as it
was the essence of this punishment to
do." (pg. 53)
Summary:
These quotes taken from the
book show the type of treatment
the Puritans in the community
treated Hester. They show how
much they condemned her for
the sins she committed.
Character:
Hester Prynne
Quote 1:
"The scene was not without a
mixture of awe, such as must
always invest the spectacle of guilt
and shame in a fellow-creature,
before society shall have grown
corrupt enough to smile, instead of
shuddering, at it." (pg. 53)
Quote 2:
"Those with whom she came in
contact, implied, and often
expressed, that she was banished,
and as much alone as if she
inhabited another sphere, or
communicated with the common
nature by other organs and senses
than the rest of human kind." (pg.
78)
Quote 3:
"She has wandered, without rule or
guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast,
as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed
forest, amid the gloom of which they were
now holding a colloquy that was to decide
their fate." (pg. 183)
Summary:
The quotes taken from
the passage show that
the community united
as one were effectively
able to force Hester in
to a lower state. Doing
this they felt as if they
were united as one
group to do the wills of
God.
Throughout the novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows many instances of the townspeople looking down on
Hester and punishing her in almost every way possible for the terrible sin she had committed. With the
combination of Hester's feelings, events of the towns people punishing, and the actual scarlet letter she
bore, Hawthorne is clear on the reasons why the townspeople attack the defenseless Hester, and many
examples in the text suggest that Hester was used as a scapegoat for the entire community; but as the
story goes on, the question once again arises at the very end of the novel. Hester and Pearl leave the
community in order to start a new life, but Hester is said to have returned to her cottage and once again
wore the notorious scarlet letter on her bosom. The original question was "Does society hold a prejudice
against a common enemy in order to connect?" We did see that the community did treat her with such
harshness in order to follow the will of God, which would there for bring them together as a united family to
serve under him So did society continue to treat her as they did before she had moved away, or was she
treated differently as she returned to continue her charity work? It has brought me to believe that Hester's
better treatment helped to ease her in to accepting the scarlet letter once again and embracing it as who
she is.
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