The Scarlet Letter(A)
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem,
Massachusetts, in 1804. The majority of Hawthorne
work takes America’s puritan past as its subject. But the scarlet letter uses the material to greatest effect. Nature
is narrator in the novel. There is not space of puritanity. Nature is the symbol of true patriarchal society gave
the patriarchal power. Power is a symbol of patriarchal. Here, Hawthorne Use
pearl as a mouthpiece of child also the
torment of society and tortured life of a women. The story begins in 17th
century Boston, then puritan settlement. A young woman , Hester Prynne is led
from the town prison with her infant daughter , pearl in her arms and the
scarlet letter ‘A’ on her breast.
Hester’s husband , a scholar much
older than she is, sent her ahead to America, but he never arrived in boston. The
consensus is that he has been lost at sea.
Hester:
“and my child must seek a heavenly father
; she shall never know on early one!”
While waiting for her husband Hester has
apparently had an affair, as she has
given birth to a child, she will not reveal her lover’s identity , however, and the scarlet letter , along with
her public shaming , is her punishment
for her sin and her secrecy . on this day Hester is led to the town scaffold
and harangued by the town fathers, but she again refuses to identity her child’s
father. Another side the Hester’s missing husband who is now practicing
medicine and calling himself Roger Chillingworth . here, also we can see
authority use the Hester to a truly.
“ come along madam Hester, and show your
scarlet letter in the market place!”
Madame Hester as a irony and the satire
. because she was a adult women and she was not good women . the novel is an
area of human experience.
“ I pray you
good sir, “ said he, “ who is this woman !and wherefore is she here set up to
public shame!”
Also society always blame for women not
men. Why not men ? because ,
“ society can not be flat it is ups and down”
However, also we can defined that the
look from the authorities on individual them become downward and we can see them
standing in a balcony above Hester the symbol of individuality is locates the
scaffold . we are faced with a crowd. The crowd represent the puritan society
and ideology represent :
“ a way of legitimating the power of the ruling
class in society”
It tells the story of socio-political-psycho-cultural
history of a particular time and an ‘individual’ as its victim . here an
individual tries his\her ‘wings of fire’ . to fly but trapped or caught in
social taboos also we can see the authenticity of the novel.
The
custom house – this chapter forms the historical background of the novel. The
custom house demonstrates and reconstructs the history. The discovery of letter ‘A’ in custom house revoke his
literary feelings and made him realize that neither his own past as writer not
the public, historical past was dead. The custom house is a root to reach the
past. Hawthorne portrays one of the most enigmatic child figures in American
literature.
Pearl plays an important role more as
a dynamic force of moral guardian then a static symbol of sin in the plot. A link
between her mother and father and she may create confusion in our mind her suppressed
by authority. Here, Hawthorne stresses
the moral rather than the biological importance to pearl of her human origin.
As readers we may not like Hester a
character specially a woman breaking the boundaries and deciding her own fate
matters little for Hester whether she is labeled as adulteress or able or
angel.
The story has to go beyond Dimmesdale’s
confession and death. Later pearl leaves in New England pearl has no historical
ties with new England. She has her choice and rejection of identity by pearl. It
is the journey for ideas. Because idea is never die it is a lie. At last we can
say that,
“ we are the
people who turn the world upside down”
-
Mother
Ann
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