Name: Reena Khasatiya
Sem -3
Mail Id – khasatiyamili21@gmail.com
Paper no. 10 American Literature
Total words- 1726
Plagiarism - 59%
Index: Introduction, storyline of Novel, Hester’s portrait, Real sinner, connection with Eve, connection with Sita, Society as sinner, Conclusion.
• Introduction
Scarlet Letter is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece. It is iconic fable of guilt and redemption set in Puritan Massachusetts. It has long been considered one of the greatest American novels. The story of Hester Prynne—found out in adultery, pilloried by her Puritan community, and abandoned, in different ways, by both her partner in sin and her vengeance-seeking husband—possesses a reality heightened by Hawthorne’s sympathy and his unmixed devotion to his supposedly fallen but fundamentally innocent heroine. The Scarlet Letter rightly deserves its stature as the first great novel written by an American, a work of moral force and narrative power that announced a literature equal to any in the world.
In this assignment I’m going to see ‘Scarlet letter’ as story of Sin. Sin done by Hester Prynne. How she is victim of sin and how her love converted into misery of her life. Her love is seen as adultery by society. Many critic says or we can interpret too that, Fundamentally she is fallen but innocent heroin of Novel. But, cruelty of her destiny never gave sweet fruit of life. Indian myth about Sita’s chastity and Ramayana’s … Kand’s connection can be seen.
• Storyline of the Novel
Act took place at Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, in 1638 people of town gathers to witness the punishment of Hester Prynne. She gave the birth to a baby girl, in absent of her husband. It is her crime or sin. Who is the father of this child? This is the central question in gathered crowd. Story begins with the aspect of reveal of truth, A young Hester Prynne is led from prison town with her daughter Pearl in her Arms and the scarlet letter ‘A’ n her breast. Hester’s much old husband went to the America on sea voyage and in absence of him, she have affair with Dimmesdale and Pearl is their child but Hester have concern about Dimmesdale’s dignity and his respectable position in Church. And that is may be the reason of her silence.
In the other side, Roger Chillingworth he settles in Boston with hiding his real personality of Hester’s husband. He reveals true identity to only Hester, whom he has sworn to secrecy. Hester living apart from Boston with her daughter and support herself by needlework. When community officials attempt to take Pearl away from her, She take help from Dimmesdale she manage to stay with her daughter. And years after make plan to run away from Boston with Dimmesdale and Pearl; start a new life.
• Overview of Hester’s character
Rise of Hester’s character, She is sent ahead to the "New World" by her husband, who later assumes the name of Roger Chillingworth, as he has some business to finish before he can join her. After he is shipwrecked and captured by Native Americans and presumed dead, Hester continues to live her life as a seamstress in the town. She looks to the local pastor Arthur Dimmesdale for comfort; somewhere along the way passion emerges, culminating in the conception and subsequent birth of their child, Pearl. Because Hester has no husband with her, she is imprisoned, convicted of the crime of adultery, and sentenced to be forced to wear a prominent scarlet letter 'A' for the rest of her life.
Though scorned by her fellow citizens, Hester continues to lead a relatively uneventful life. Shortly after the birth of the child and her punishment, Hester's husband reappears and demands that she tell him the name of the child's father. Hester refuses but swears not to reveal the fact that Chillingworth is her husband to the town folk. Hester continues living her life as a seamstress, providing for herself and her child. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hester_Prynne)
As critics said that…” All the contradictions of Hester Prynne – guilt and honesty, sin and holiness, sex and chastity – make her an enduring heroine of American literature. She is flawed, complex, and above all fertile. The idea of Hester Prynne, the good woman gone bad, is a cultural meme that recurs again and again – perhaps because we as a culture are still trying to figure out who Hester really is and how we feel about her.”
• Who is real ‘Sinner’?
After, knowing the storyline and Hester’s character we come to know that She is not a real sinner. But, society punished her till last. And if we see from other perspective Dimmesdale is also not sinner because to love somebody is not sin. Than question about sinner remain as it is.
• Connection with Eve as In biblical myth
“A tendency to speculation, though it may keep a woman quiet, as it does a man, yet makes her sad. She discerns, it may be, such a hopeless task before her.”
This quote is presents Hester’s specific experiences to give more generalized ideas about the injustices women face. And time when women don’t know about inequality she realized and when society didn’t change she met to sad end.
Secondly, If we Connect Hester with Eve of Bible with tis reading. we can say that Hester is sinner. She loves not Dimmesdale but in fact she loves her freedom and lead to join relation with Dimmesdale in absence of his husband same as Eve went on work alone and trapped in Saturn’s snare and eat forbidden fruit; punished by god and suffer till the end.
As Novelist John Updike said of Prynne:
“ She's such an arresting and slightly ambiguous figure. She's a funny mix of a truly liberated, defiantly sexual woman, but in the end a woman who accepts the penance that society imposed on her. And I don't know, I suppose she's an epitome of female predicaments. ... She is a mythic version of every woman's attempt to integrate her sexuality with societal demands. “
Moreover, in the original text there is discrimination of Hester’s pain and she herself believer of that,
“Hester walked across the room. She stepped upon her left foot, her right foot, and then her left foot again. One wonders, why doth she, in this instance of walking across the room, begin her journey upon the left foot and not the right? Could it be her terrible sin, that the devil informeth the left foot just as he informeth the left hand and those bewitched, left-handed persons amongst us? Why, forsooth, doth the left foot of sin draggeth the innocent right foot along its wretched journey from one side of the room to the other? She walked across the room, I tell you! Guilty feet hath got no rhythm...”
So, from this perspective Hester herself is real sinner, who till last do not speak name of Pearl’s father and punished herself in blind love of Dimmesdale and her fearless nature lead her to Dimmesdale. Their out marriage relationship and her pregnancy is obviously not take it easy in puritan society.
• Connection with Sita as In Hindu myth
“The tendency of her fate and fortunes had been to set her free. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread”
It is powerfully shown in the novel that how the experience of being exiled and shunned has changed Her and given a new perspective of living life. When she was living as part of society, she had less reason to question the rules and expectations that came with it. With this reading we can connect Hester Prynne with Sita in Uttarkand.
In the Uttarkand of Ramayana similar story of Sita is presented. After the Vanvas and Yudhdha with Ravan, Ram and Sita got a peaceful life in Ayodhya. But society raised a question on Sita’s chastity and as result of that Sita leave Ayodhya and live in forest with her twine Lav Kush. Here, we can see strong connection of Dimmesdale and Ram, they both have love for their wife/ beloved but torcher of society forced to live apart.
Puritan society is reflected in RamRajya, People’s meaningless talk about Sita’s chastity and Sita’s pride on herself lead to take decision of ‘Agni Pariksha’ and than even she has to live in forest with Lav Kush same as Hester, after a punishment of jail she has forced to live out of town Boston and protect herself with her daughter on her own. If we see from this perspective Society is real Sinner. Crowd have no sense about truth though it can change heaven into hell.
• Society as ‘Sinner
As per my thinking society is real sinner. Without knowing the truth we keep on blaming people who are out of the tradition. It is true that to civilized people we require certain rule in society but when chains became trap, obviously people will feel the tie and try to fly from it. Same in Hester’s case, when she found free herself from marital relation with his husband’s death. She need a new one for live a life and found that Dimmesdale is good one for her. But, fear of society create this tragedy in their life.
• Conclusion
To conclude my point I want to put quote from original text which symbolize hope. With the mistake we learn, and with this story of Hester we can see result of her freedom in choosing lover and being a mother of daughter without marriage is not seen as Virgin Marry in puritan period.
“ At some brighter period … a new truth would be revealed in order to establish the whole relation between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness.”
It shows Hester’s hope that eventually a day will come when there will be greater equality between men and women, and where women will not be so easily subject to shame and scandal. The quote is optimistic in that she believes such a day will come, but also sad in that it shows she has accepted she will not live to see it. The passage also helps to explain part of why Hawthorne thinks this greater equality is important, since it would allow both men and women to be happier and enjoy better relationships with another.
Reference
(https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/77121/the-scarlet-letter-by-nathaniel-hawthorne/9780804171571/)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter)
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/quotes/theme/female-independence/
Sem -3
Mail Id – khasatiyamili21@gmail.com
Paper no. 10 American Literature
Total words- 1726
Plagiarism - 59%
To evulate my assignment Click Here
Topic - Scarlet Letter as Story of ‘Sin’Index: Introduction, storyline of Novel, Hester’s portrait, Real sinner, connection with Eve, connection with Sita, Society as sinner, Conclusion.
• Introduction
Scarlet Letter is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece. It is iconic fable of guilt and redemption set in Puritan Massachusetts. It has long been considered one of the greatest American novels. The story of Hester Prynne—found out in adultery, pilloried by her Puritan community, and abandoned, in different ways, by both her partner in sin and her vengeance-seeking husband—possesses a reality heightened by Hawthorne’s sympathy and his unmixed devotion to his supposedly fallen but fundamentally innocent heroine. The Scarlet Letter rightly deserves its stature as the first great novel written by an American, a work of moral force and narrative power that announced a literature equal to any in the world.
In this assignment I’m going to see ‘Scarlet letter’ as story of Sin. Sin done by Hester Prynne. How she is victim of sin and how her love converted into misery of her life. Her love is seen as adultery by society. Many critic says or we can interpret too that, Fundamentally she is fallen but innocent heroin of Novel. But, cruelty of her destiny never gave sweet fruit of life. Indian myth about Sita’s chastity and Ramayana’s … Kand’s connection can be seen.
• Storyline of the Novel
Act took place at Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, in 1638 people of town gathers to witness the punishment of Hester Prynne. She gave the birth to a baby girl, in absent of her husband. It is her crime or sin. Who is the father of this child? This is the central question in gathered crowd. Story begins with the aspect of reveal of truth, A young Hester Prynne is led from prison town with her daughter Pearl in her Arms and the scarlet letter ‘A’ n her breast. Hester’s much old husband went to the America on sea voyage and in absence of him, she have affair with Dimmesdale and Pearl is their child but Hester have concern about Dimmesdale’s dignity and his respectable position in Church. And that is may be the reason of her silence.
In the other side, Roger Chillingworth he settles in Boston with hiding his real personality of Hester’s husband. He reveals true identity to only Hester, whom he has sworn to secrecy. Hester living apart from Boston with her daughter and support herself by needlework. When community officials attempt to take Pearl away from her, She take help from Dimmesdale she manage to stay with her daughter. And years after make plan to run away from Boston with Dimmesdale and Pearl; start a new life.
• Overview of Hester’s character
Rise of Hester’s character, She is sent ahead to the "New World" by her husband, who later assumes the name of Roger Chillingworth, as he has some business to finish before he can join her. After he is shipwrecked and captured by Native Americans and presumed dead, Hester continues to live her life as a seamstress in the town. She looks to the local pastor Arthur Dimmesdale for comfort; somewhere along the way passion emerges, culminating in the conception and subsequent birth of their child, Pearl. Because Hester has no husband with her, she is imprisoned, convicted of the crime of adultery, and sentenced to be forced to wear a prominent scarlet letter 'A' for the rest of her life.
Though scorned by her fellow citizens, Hester continues to lead a relatively uneventful life. Shortly after the birth of the child and her punishment, Hester's husband reappears and demands that she tell him the name of the child's father. Hester refuses but swears not to reveal the fact that Chillingworth is her husband to the town folk. Hester continues living her life as a seamstress, providing for herself and her child. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hester_Prynne)
As critics said that…” All the contradictions of Hester Prynne – guilt and honesty, sin and holiness, sex and chastity – make her an enduring heroine of American literature. She is flawed, complex, and above all fertile. The idea of Hester Prynne, the good woman gone bad, is a cultural meme that recurs again and again – perhaps because we as a culture are still trying to figure out who Hester really is and how we feel about her.”
• Who is real ‘Sinner’?
After, knowing the storyline and Hester’s character we come to know that She is not a real sinner. But, society punished her till last. And if we see from other perspective Dimmesdale is also not sinner because to love somebody is not sin. Than question about sinner remain as it is.
• Connection with Eve as In biblical myth
“A tendency to speculation, though it may keep a woman quiet, as it does a man, yet makes her sad. She discerns, it may be, such a hopeless task before her.”
This quote is presents Hester’s specific experiences to give more generalized ideas about the injustices women face. And time when women don’t know about inequality she realized and when society didn’t change she met to sad end.
Secondly, If we Connect Hester with Eve of Bible with tis reading. we can say that Hester is sinner. She loves not Dimmesdale but in fact she loves her freedom and lead to join relation with Dimmesdale in absence of his husband same as Eve went on work alone and trapped in Saturn’s snare and eat forbidden fruit; punished by god and suffer till the end.
As Novelist John Updike said of Prynne:
“ She's such an arresting and slightly ambiguous figure. She's a funny mix of a truly liberated, defiantly sexual woman, but in the end a woman who accepts the penance that society imposed on her. And I don't know, I suppose she's an epitome of female predicaments. ... She is a mythic version of every woman's attempt to integrate her sexuality with societal demands. “
Moreover, in the original text there is discrimination of Hester’s pain and she herself believer of that,
“Hester walked across the room. She stepped upon her left foot, her right foot, and then her left foot again. One wonders, why doth she, in this instance of walking across the room, begin her journey upon the left foot and not the right? Could it be her terrible sin, that the devil informeth the left foot just as he informeth the left hand and those bewitched, left-handed persons amongst us? Why, forsooth, doth the left foot of sin draggeth the innocent right foot along its wretched journey from one side of the room to the other? She walked across the room, I tell you! Guilty feet hath got no rhythm...”
So, from this perspective Hester herself is real sinner, who till last do not speak name of Pearl’s father and punished herself in blind love of Dimmesdale and her fearless nature lead her to Dimmesdale. Their out marriage relationship and her pregnancy is obviously not take it easy in puritan society.
• Connection with Sita as In Hindu myth
“The tendency of her fate and fortunes had been to set her free. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread”
It is powerfully shown in the novel that how the experience of being exiled and shunned has changed Her and given a new perspective of living life. When she was living as part of society, she had less reason to question the rules and expectations that came with it. With this reading we can connect Hester Prynne with Sita in Uttarkand.
In the Uttarkand of Ramayana similar story of Sita is presented. After the Vanvas and Yudhdha with Ravan, Ram and Sita got a peaceful life in Ayodhya. But society raised a question on Sita’s chastity and as result of that Sita leave Ayodhya and live in forest with her twine Lav Kush. Here, we can see strong connection of Dimmesdale and Ram, they both have love for their wife/ beloved but torcher of society forced to live apart.
Puritan society is reflected in RamRajya, People’s meaningless talk about Sita’s chastity and Sita’s pride on herself lead to take decision of ‘Agni Pariksha’ and than even she has to live in forest with Lav Kush same as Hester, after a punishment of jail she has forced to live out of town Boston and protect herself with her daughter on her own. If we see from this perspective Society is real Sinner. Crowd have no sense about truth though it can change heaven into hell.
• Society as ‘Sinner
As per my thinking society is real sinner. Without knowing the truth we keep on blaming people who are out of the tradition. It is true that to civilized people we require certain rule in society but when chains became trap, obviously people will feel the tie and try to fly from it. Same in Hester’s case, when she found free herself from marital relation with his husband’s death. She need a new one for live a life and found that Dimmesdale is good one for her. But, fear of society create this tragedy in their life.
• Conclusion
To conclude my point I want to put quote from original text which symbolize hope. With the mistake we learn, and with this story of Hester we can see result of her freedom in choosing lover and being a mother of daughter without marriage is not seen as Virgin Marry in puritan period.
“ At some brighter period … a new truth would be revealed in order to establish the whole relation between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness.”
It shows Hester’s hope that eventually a day will come when there will be greater equality between men and women, and where women will not be so easily subject to shame and scandal. The quote is optimistic in that she believes such a day will come, but also sad in that it shows she has accepted she will not live to see it. The passage also helps to explain part of why Hawthorne thinks this greater equality is important, since it would allow both men and women to be happier and enjoy better relationships with another.
Reference
(https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/77121/the-scarlet-letter-by-nathaniel-hawthorne/9780804171571/)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter)
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/quotes/theme/female-independence/
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