Scarlet Letter Chapter Summari

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

a cemetery as stern reminders of life and death. The gloomy building looks out on a grass plot covered with "unsightly vegetation" except for one, wild rose-bush which blossoms near the threshold of the prison. The "fragrance and fragile beauty" of this one simple flower is a "token" (a symbol) that Nature may pity man, even though men may be inhuman to other men. The author wonders about the origin of the rose-bush - as to whether it has perhaps survived the wilderness in which it originally grew, or whether it had "sprung up" in the footsteps of another rebellious woman, who, a few years before, had entered the same prison-door. At the "Threshold" of the story the author picks one of the roses and presents it to the reader "to symbolize" the "moral blossom" (in other words - the happy ending) of this tale of human weakness and sorrow.
Comment
The first sentence of the romance introduces a major character, that is, the community. The predominant mood of the tale is established ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

penance for committing adultery.) Near the end of the chapter, the mention of the name Anne Hutchinson is very interesting, for she was an early feminist (a fighter for women's rights). Hester Prynne, later on in the story, is in her own way a sort of feminist. There is, in the same sentence mentioning Anne Hutchinson, a fine example of Hawthorne's use of the indirect method. Using the word "whether" several times in a row, he presents a number of possibilities as to what the answer to a question might be. He allows the thinking reader to make up his own mind about the suitable answer to the question. The theatrical technique of indicating that the reader is at the "threshold" of the ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: