Corrective Affliction

English > Comparison
Literature > American
Literature > Poetry

Discussing how the concept of corrective affliction affects the protagonist in the novel "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Anne Bradstreet's poem, "The Author to My Book" .

2,020 words () | 2 sources | MLA | 2002 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how the works "The Scarlet Letter" and "The Author to Her Book" provide a good definition of corrective afflictions. When thinking in terms of how the theme of corrective afflictions is present in the novel and the poem, one could define it as placing someone into a position of pain to correct some sort of sin that one has committed. This paper looks at how this concept influences the main characters of these writings.

From the Paper:

"There are many corrective afflictions given to both Anne and Hester. Hester and "the ill formed offspring,"(140) are the children who display these corrective afflictions to their mothers. God placed all of Hester and Anne's corrective afflictions upon them, in order to fix pieces of their lives that seemed to be broken. Both Anne Bradstreet and Hester Prynne walk through life with challenges that appear dismal, having thoughts of there being no chance for happiness. Through the afflictions given to the mothers from the children, and the abnormalities that the mother's must respond to, there are lessons for Anne and Hester to learn from Pearl and the "ill formed offspring." Yet, the afflictions are adherent to the fact that it will make their lives seemingly complete. The corrective afflictions change Hester and Anne's perception from their lives being utterly worthless, to wanting to make their lives one with the righteous of heart and soul."