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  • Essay / The Scarlet Letter: Literature Review

    The author of my book is Nathaniel Hawthorne. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by his other famous book, "The House of the Seven Gables", published in 1851. What is common between the two books is that they both contain elements of Gothic and fiction . Although Gothic is not Scarlet Letter's primary genre, it is a Gothic novel because of the forbidden love the main character has outside of her marriage. An affair was considered a crime in the era in which the book takes place. The main genre of this book is historical fiction. The action takes place in 17th century Boston, where people believed in the devil, witches, and a vengeful God. Although the book is historically accurate, other elements of the writing make it fiction. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The book tells the story of Hester Prynne, who committed the crime of adultery. She gives birth to a baby girl and refuses to reveal the baby's father. As punishment, she is forced to wear the scarlet letter "A" which makes her an adulterer. Her cowardly lover, who is a clergyman, does not confess to his crime for 7 years. Given his position as a priest, he feels guilty because he has committed a sin in the eyes of God. Her husband, thought dead, begins living under a new name in order to find Hester's lover. “The man had marked this woman's sin with a scarlet letter, which had such a powerful and disastrous effect that no human sympathy could reach it, except it was a sin like her. God, as a direct consequence of the sin that man thus punished, had given him an adorable child, whose place was on this same dishonored breast, to bind his parent forever to the race and descendants of mortals, and to be finally a blessed soul in Heaven! (Hawthorne 84) Reading this passage for the first time, as a reader, I was able to empathize with Hester. The passage symbolizes two ironies. Firstly, the scarlet letter that was meant to be a punishment is actually beautiful because it is the place where Pearl now rests. The other irony is that of Pearl herself: “God, as a direct result of the sin which man thus punished, had given him a lovely child” (Hawthorne 84) in exchange for his actions. This book has a number of themes, but I focus on the emotions presented in the book, which are also some of the themes. The emotions I will analyze are alienation, confession, persecution, sin, redemption and guilt. Analysis of Media Creation The form I focus on is the symbolism in the book. The symbol I am going to refer to is a scaffold. A scaffold is a raised wooden platform once used for the public execution of criminals. There are three scaffolding scenes in the book. The four main characters were present together in these scenes. In order to explain my images, I will tell you what happened in each scene. In the first scaffolding scene, Hester leaves the prison with her 3-month-old daughter. she crosses the audience and climbs the scaffold. As she walks through the audience, they talk about the symbol on her chest. Hester and Pearl are publicly persecuted, while the man with whom she committed adultery stands quietly in public. She is questioned by city officials. Hester's husband is also present at the scene and learns of her crime. He develops an evil impulse to take revenge on her. Throughout her humiliation, she faces all the emotions alone in front of the scaffold. In the.