Literary Analysis #4 The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlett Letter

GENERAL
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).

 The novel begins in 17th-century Boston, Massachusetts. A young woman, Hester Prynne, is led from prison with her baby daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter “A” on her bosom. The scarlet letter "A" represents that she has committed adultery and the letter is on her chest for all to see. One woman who is in the crowd tells an elderly stranger that Hester is being punished for adultery. It turns out that Hester’s husband was sent to America and was lost at sea because he never showed up. She now has a new baby with a different man and Hester will not tell who the father is. The reason she is getting hung is because she is keeping the mysterious lover a secret.

The elderly onlooker is Hester’s missing husband, who is now practicing medicine and calling himself Roger Chillingworth. He lives in Boston, and wants revenge. He reveals his true identity to no one but Hester, whom he has sworn to secrecy. Several years pass. Hester supports herself by working as a seamstress, and Pearl (her daughter) grows into a determined, naughty child, who is more of a symbol than an actual character, said to be the scarlet letter come to life as both Hester's love and her punishment. They are shunned by the community and they live in a small cottage on the outskirts of Boston. The police try to take Pearl away from Hester but with Arthur Dimmesdale’s help they can stay together. Dimmesdale is suffering from heart problems and now lives with Chillingworth so that he can take care of him. Chillingworth begins to suspect something from Dimmesdale and one day looks at his chest and there he discovers an “A” for adultery.

Hester arranges to meet DImmesdale in the forest and they make a plan to move back to Europe and take Pearl. They will sail out of Boston and Chillingworth gets notice of this plan and also will be on the same ship out of Boston. Dimmesdale is making him last sermon when he sees Hester and Pearl standing afar. He then immediately mounts the scaffold with Hester and their daughter and shows everyone the A on his chest. He falls dead just after Pearl kisses him.

Frustrated, Chillingworth dies a year later. Hester and Pearl leave Boston, and no one knows what has happened to them. Many years later, Hester returns alone, still wearing the scarlet letter, to live in her old cottage and resume her charitable work. She receives letters from Pearl, who now has a family of her own. Pearl also inherits all of Chillingworth's money even though he knows she is not his daughter. When Hester dies, she is buried in "a new grave near an old and sunken one, in that burial ground beside which King's Chapel has since been built. It was near that old and sunken grave, yet with[in] a space between, as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle. Yet one tombstone served for both." The tombstone was decorated with a letter "A", and Hester and Dimmesdale share the grave.

                                                                                                                                         
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.

The theme of the novel is Sin and a great matter in the Puritan community. Religious sin is associated with breaking the law. In this novel, we see a lot of sins and Roger Chillingworth’s need of revenge is a "worse sin" than the passion that led Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale to commit adultery. Every character in the book believes that idea sin should be punished, if not here on earth by man, than by God after death. Committing sin is regarded as willfully allowing the Black Man (Satan) to place his mark upon your soul.

3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).

The authors tone in the novel is detached and impassionate. The author always is talking about how many problems there are within puritan society and it is obvious he does not support it. Any time he is showing any opinion it is detached and cold.

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?

The author uses both types of characterization to put variety in the novel.

An example of direct characterization is when Hawthorne says, “She was beautiful, tall, thin, and dignified.” All of these adjectives literally describe Hester.

This quote from Chapter 7 is also an example of direct characterization. “The mother herself- as if the red ignominy were so deeply scorched into her brain that all her conceptions assumed its form-had carefully wrought out the similitude; lavishing many hours of morbid ingenuity to create an analogy the object of her affection and the emblem of her guilt and torture.”

An example of indirect characterization is when Hester Prynne, In the beginning (which later diminishes) she is thought of as a shameless tramp through the eyes of the women in the town, but really she is dignified in that while walking down the prison steps, she doesn't rush herself, she holds her shoulders back, and head up. Hawthorne writes this to show that she is not ashamed of what she has done and she needs to accept her sin.

Another example is later in the novel, she is considered to be loyal, seeing as though she will not give up the name of her child's father. She is also thought of as very charitable with all the work she does for the poor.

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?

Nathaniel Hawthorns diction did not change when he solely focused on a character. The choice of words and placement of them stayed generally the same.

3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.

Hester is the protagonist and I consider her a dynamic character because throughout the story she changes the way people think of her by doing good for others in the face of abuse. As a result, she grows more patient and kind until she is considered a saint by those who remember her. If she was simply the sinner who never changed, she wouldn't have spent her time doing good to the point of - later in life - being considered a saint by the people of the community. She has a "moment" of rebellion when she takes off the letter and wants to run away with Arthur, but that's temporary. However, she still grows as a character and changes inwardly. Hester also demonstrates the actions that of a round character.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.

After reading this book I felt like I had come away reading a character. I think the rules in ths novel were a bit too strict although it was a Puritan society. Even Hester’s baby, Pearl, was written to be more of a symbol for the letter A than to represent an actual child.