Scarlet Letter Essay, Research Paper

Frank Lee

8/17/00

Essay- Scarlet Letter

In modern times conflicts are fought mundane, but in the terminal, it is merely the result of the wars that count. Sometimes the good cats win and sometimes the bad cats win, but in literature, it is different. & # 8220 ; In literature, Evil wins the conflicts, but Good wins the wars. & # 8221 ; says Henry Gaedon. This is peculiarly apparent in Nathaniel Hawthorne & # 8217 ; s The Scarlet Letter where Good is portrayed by Hester Prynne and Evil by Roger Chillingworth. Hester & # 8217 ; s painful losingss in conflict were overshadowed merely by the alleviation and satisfaction of being winning in the long fought-out war.

The Characterization in the first few chapters easy depicts Hester as the persecuted heroine by the description in which she walks to confront the crowd of boisterous Puritans. She holds her caput up high, and Hawthorne besides emphasizes the manner in which such as scandalous symbol as a vermilion & # 8220 ; A & # 8221 ; was so attractively and articulately sewed upon her chest. Chillingworth on the other manus is rapidly picked out as the adversary by the malformations in his physical visual aspect and cold & # 8220 ; raspy & # 8221 ; voice. This contrasting word picture right off sets the tone for the resulting mental conflicts against each other, and against themselves.

The first conflict occurs in the gaol cell where Hester nurses Pearl, and Chillingworth comes as a physician to sooth the weeping babe. Although it might look undistinguished, Hester cursing to maintain the & # 8220 ; leech & # 8217 ; s & # 8221 ; secret really laid the foundation for this full narrative. It was besides so the beginning of an emotional ulcer which burns at the heroine for the undermentioned old ages. Evil besides triumphs when Dimmesdale and Chilling

deserving confront. The immature curate my non be the purest symbol of God, but is similarly far better than “Satan’s emissary” . The “leech” physician, as the town describes him, knows of Dimmesdale’s bosom status and takes advantage by utilizing his accomplishments as a lever to prise into the man’s private and personal life. He besides finds with hilarity that the immature curate was besides publically marked as a evildoer during his early life. In such events, he succeeds in torturing a nice individual simply seeking to do emotional damagess towards God and his community.

The war ends merely when Hester and Dimmesdale stop enduring from guilt and no longer hold to bear the weight of their & # 8220 ; Scarlet Letter & # 8221 ; as Dimmesdale bears his Scarlet Letter to his followings. Because the Puritans see that such a righteous and holy adult male such as their darling curate could be branded with an & # 8220 ; A & # 8221 ; , they start to see that Hester may non be such an evil individual. On top of that, her charity work made people think the & # 8220 ; A & # 8221 ; on her thorax meant & # 8220 ; Able & # 8221 ; , particularly those who were non present when she was publically shamed on the scaffold. Chillingworth loses in the terminal because he no longer holds in his manus the french friess in which to blackjack and torment two honest and good people. Chillingworth in the terminal besides realizes what he has become. From the one cognition loving bookman to the incarnation of immorality, he eventually realizes the guilt he must bear for his mistreatment of those who one time put religions in him.

It may non hold been a image perfect storybook stoping, but justness was served in the terminal. This justness is normally apparent in literature and as Henry Gaedon says, & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; Evil wins the conflict, but Good wins the war. & # 8221 ; If merely it was so in the here and now, we would be populating in a much better topographic point.