Abstract Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter," concerning Hester Prynne's rejection by a New England town due to adultery, is clearly a call to readers to alter their Puritan attitudes, and become freer with their thoughts and ideals. This paper discusses the themes of sin, criminal rebellion, evils of isolation and the symbolic meaning of the scarlet letter itself. It shows how Hawthorne's story clearly speaks out against the rigid mores of Puritan times, plainly illustrating why people felt they had to rebel in order to live their own lives. He also calls into question the values of a society that so rigidly adheres to its principles, at the expense of its humanity.
From the Paper "The saddest part of Hester and Pearl's lives is their isolation caused by their total rejection by the community. Pearl grows up alone, missing the warmth of childhood friends and acquaintances. In effect, Pearl is being punished for her mother's sin, which doubles the evil of the isolation she feels, for she did nothing wrong, but must pay for it according to Puritan principles. Hawthorne is showing how ridiculous this is, and how the punishment is as morally and ethically wrong as the sin."
Abstract This paper examines the biological reason for human infidelity in both men and women. It explores the sexual instincts of mating and the biological clock with makes humans prone to unfaithful sexual encounters. The paper describes Darwin's theory of the 'selfish gene', which describes the human biological force to compete for survival.
From the Paper "Why are men more prone to committing adultery and why do some seemingly happy and satisfied wives seek sexual alternatives? These questions that seek to explain infidelity have so far remained elusive. The concept of human emotions and the instinctual need to reproduce is something that remains undeniable. Sexual instincts or the 'mating' instinct is strong in most animals and humans are no exception. Evolutionalists are now claiming that the human's male and female's are prone to be unfaithful at a certain time during their biological body clock."
Abstract This paper discusses how, in the beginning of the story, Roger Chillingworth comes across as a cold-hearted character. Early in the novel, Chillingworth is depicted as a neglectful husband, whose unfulfilled promise to join his wife in the New World led Hester to commit adultery. However, it shows how, as "The Scarlet Letter" progresses, Roger Chillingworth becomes more of a pitiful character than an evil one.
From the Paper "Chillingworth is physically deformed; his shoulders are unnaturally stooped. Once he realizes Hester is pregnant with another man's child, he is bent on seeking revenge. Chillingworth devotes his power and attention to the degradation of his wife and her lover, using his status as a doctor to assume a mask of respectability. However, his efforts are in vain. The town sees Chillingworth for the leech that he is. Roger Chillingworth is the cold-hearted, nefarious man that Hawthorne paints him out to be, because he favors revenge over truth, justice, and forgiveness. However, Chillingworth thinks, acts, and feels out of pain and jealousy, for he feels his wife has betrayed him. Although Roger Chillingworth is the embodiment of evil in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, he also evokes pity, as he has no inner strength."
Abstract This paper briefly offers a line by line analysis of this sonnet. It shows that Shakespeare's "Sonnet 138" revolves around a narrator who takes a somewhat witty and sarcastic approach toward the necessary infidelities involved in his marriage.
From the Paper "The first line, ?When my love swears that she is made of truth,? opens with a clause, pushing the reader to find out what happens when she swears her honesty to him. The word "love" is not only in reference to his wife, but also to the fact that it is his love that is making him believe her, not her lies fooling him. The word "swears" also leads the reader to immediately question why the connotation seems so tense. The narrator then says, ?I do believe her, though I know she lies [emphasis added],? the word "do" connotes trying to convince himself of her faithfulness, fully knowing that it is not true. The word "lies" has two meanings here: the first that his wife is dishonest, and the second meaning that she lies with other men, adulterously."
Abstract This paper examines how the shattering of romantic illusions forms the central theme of the novel, "Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert. It looks at how Emma Bovary, the protagonist, is unable to reconcile her passionate romanticism with mundane reality and how she enters into adulterous relationships to fulfill her unrealistic desires. It discusses how her tragic end is an outcome of her withdrawal from reality, since she cannot see herself as a failure and refuses to admit that she has indulged in excessive romanticism. It shows how her suicide can be considered escapist, since it underlines the shattering of romantic illusions.
From the Paper "Emma's next relationship, with Leon, shows how her romanticism causes isolation?the construction of ?barriers between one human being and another.? The isolation occurs because Emma judges men against her predetermined criteria of romanticism. When Emma is evaluating Leon, she remembers the little things: "she remembered his other gestures from other days, phrases he had used, the sound of his voice, (and) everything about him" (Flaubert, 1982). She believes that gestures and phrases alone can tell "everything about him" (Flaubert, 1982). Emma summons a mental facsimile from these memories "with the acuity of a sensation almost immediate" (Flaubert, 1982)."
This paper discusses the story of Sir Tristram, King of Lyonesse, as depicted in Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte Darthur: The Book of King Arthur and of his Noble Knights of the Round Table".
Abstract This paper explains that Sir Thomas Malory's tale of Sir Tristram, King of Lyonesse, is memorable and unique in its depth of detail, which includes descriptions of his life from his noble origins to his truly tragic death. The author points out that the most unique aspect of this story is likely his passionate, consuming, ill-fated love affair with Isoud. The paper compares Tristram's tale with the tales of other "Knights of the Round Table", such as Lancelot and Galahad.
From the Paper "Ultimately, the romances of both Sir Tristram and Isoud, and Lancelot and Guinevere are destined for tragedy. Lancelot and Guinevere suffer terribly for their love, and Tristram and Isoud also suffer. Sir Tristram, caught in his adulterous affair with Isoud, must leave his uncle's court in dishonor. He travels to King Howell's court in Brittany, where he fights bravely, and is offered the hand of the King's daughter in marriage (also named Isoud). Tristram pines terribly for his lover Isoud for the rest of his life, and eventually dies painfully and tragically in a heated battle. His lover Isoud commits suicide, and the two ill-fated lovers die without being reunited, as the formerly mighty kingdom of Lyonesse sinks into the sea, as a symbol of their lost love."
Abstract This essay shows that Madame Bovary's entire experience is by way of approaching her own obscurity and, indeed, her own demise and her death as an individual. It discusses how the depiction of Madame Emma Bovary's adulterous behavior, beyond the racy fascination readers dipped into as Emma's desire for "self-obliteration" was carried out, was totally unacceptable for the 19th century, and along with her other foibles, indicates a serious dance with transgressions. It then looks at how Edna, the main character from "The Awakening", certainly transforms the image of the stereotypical female of the 19th century from a modest, obedient wife and mother into a woman having an affair and breaking all the rules.
From the Paper "Before examining further Edna's breaking away from Darwin's ideas, it is worthy to point out that Darwin saw civilization as evolving largely because ?a woman's modesty curbs the male's eagerness to couple,? Bender continues (488). But Bender also quotes Ruth Bernard Yeazell as saying, as a critique of Darwin, that ?"females are at once less lustful and more discriminating than males" [and] the satisfying conclusion to Darwin's story preserves the ideals of motherhood and the modest woman who knows nothing of appetite or sexual desire.?
Are we talking about women with no appetite for sexual desire? Not in Chopin's characters. She clearly follows a pattern of both accepting and rejecting Darwin, which Bender only scratches the surface with. Chopin is likely embracing Darwin through the many images of the sea that connect Edna with evolution, if you will. ?Edna is a post-Darwinian woman-animal who had evolved from the sea in a world without gods,? Bender explains."
Abstract This paper reviews the novel "The Scarlet Letter", written in the 19th century by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The paper looks at how the novel turns every notion the reader has of good and bad on its head. As the author states in his conclusion, those judged to be weak, like Hester, turn out strong; while those Men of G-d, representing morality, turn out to be weak.
From the Paper "Hawthorne is a master story teller. This story is so "real" that one senses it really did happen as the narrator describes it. At the same time, his style is so difficult to pin down as to the meaning of what is happening and what people are doing and saying and feeling. It is possible, for example, to see that red A as a symbol of Hester's hope, not just her shame. Perhaps one of the best ways to judge the effects of a writer's style is to see what critics through the years have said, and how they have disagreed about meaning and symbolism."
Tags:adultry, literature, social, norms, moral, branding, women
Abstract This paper reviews and critiques "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, focusing on the character of Pearl. The author of the paper focuses on Pearl because she is the character most affected by the sin of her mother, Hester Prynne. The paper demonstrates how Pearl is central to the novel's themes of good and evil, love and hate and puritanical suppression. The paper discusses Pearl's physical traits -- she is beautiful -- and how those traits enhance her symbolic significance to the novel. The paper also analyzes her personality traits, noting that at times she is a bit 'devilish'. The paper cites literary critics to supports its theses.
From the Paper "The child Pearl is the enduring reminder of her mother Hester's affair with the Reverend Dimmesdale, and so she is a consistent token of sin to Hester. She is a striking child and she is as unique as her mother. Hawthorne describes her as "the beauty that became every day more brilliant, and the intelligence that threw its quivering sunshine over the tiny features of this child!" (Hawthorne 109). Even her name is important, as continues. He says, "she named the infant 'Pearl,' as being of great price - purchased with all she had - her mother's only treasure!" (Hawthorne 109). In fact, she is just about the perfect infant, as Hawthorne notes, "By its perfect shape, its vigour, and its natural dexterity in the use of all its untried limbs, the infant was worthy to have been brought forth in Eden: worthy to have been left there to be the plaything of the angels after the world's first parents were driven out" (Hawthorne 110). It is easy to see that Pearl is the epitome of perfection and yet ultimate sin in the book, but she also symbolizes the great love between Hester and Dimmesdale that culminated in the birth of their love child, but ended their romance. It is true their love can never be acknowledged, but it is always there in the background, and so, it is quite difficult for Hester to look at her beautiful and willful daughter without remembering her love for the minister."
Tags: sin, adultry, A, puritanical, new, england, out-of-wedlock, pearl, hester, prynne
