Scarlet Letter free essay sample

Short Answer 1. Anne Bradstreet uses birds as a metaphor for her children. She goes on to say, â€Å"Four Cocks were there, and Hens the rest. † This means that four were boys and the others were girls. She also says, â€Å"Till at the last they felt their wing, Mounted the Trees and learned to sing. † This meant that the children eventually grew up and went on to conquer the challenge of adult hood. 2. The destinies of the eight children were: (1) The first one left to see the world. (2) The second one found a husband and left home with him. 3) The third one also found a mate and lives where the Aurora first appears (maybe a beach or some type of coast). (4) The fourth one went off to â€Å"The Academy†. (5) The fifth is spending some time away from his mother trying to find his independence. (6, 7, and 8) The last three are still with their mother. We will write a custom essay sample on Scarlet Letter or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 3. The tone is somewhat sad because she misses her first five children. She says, â€Å"If birds could weep, then would my tears†¦Ã¢â‚¬  showing that she has a sense of sorrow towards her children leaving. She goes on to say, â€Å"Farewell, my birds, farewell, adieu, I happy am, if well with you. This line shows that even through her pain, she is slowly learning to let go. 4. She wishes that they tell their children about how much they love her. 5. Bradstreet states, â€Å"And fore she once would let you fly,  She shewd you joy and misery,  Taught what was good, and what was ill,  What would save life, and what would kill. Thus gone, amongst you I may live,  And dead, yet speak and counsel give. Farewell, my birds, farewell, adieu,  I happy am, if well with you. † She basically said that before they left home there was â€Å"joy and misery† and they were taught right from wrong. She also said that they were taught how to live and what to do to avoid death. Lastly, she says that if they are happy, then she is happy as well. Part II: Creative Writing The Extra Weight Hester Prynne is a lion, Majestic, with her coat as golden as the gates in Heaven But because of the extra weight of the Scarlet Letter, She has been made lame. Her reputation as one of the beautiful in all the pride, Has been tarnished because of the Extra Weight. When brought on trial before the King Leo, All of the Pride roared and spat their rudeness, All in hopes to bring her down. The King began to explain her punishment, â€Å"Even though your mate’s whereabouts are unknown, That’s no excuse to commit a heavy sin. The usual punishment would be death, But because I know this not be of your character, I have something instead in mind. For the sake of your soon-to-be cub Pearl, I sentence you to Extra Weight. Carry this ‘A’ upon your breast, For everyone to know the sins you have committed. † For now the Majestic lion has carried the weight, and the weight has become as light as a feather. And though everyone has forgotten her sins, The weight of the ‘A’ will always be remembered. Fin. Scarlet Letter free essay sample In the extraordinary novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a very unusual main character named Pearl. At the beginning of the novel, she is just an innocent infant who is abhorred by all the townspeople because of the sin her mother, Hester Prynne, committed before Pearl was born. In this novel, Pearl is a static character and living symbol of sin. In the beginning, the reader is introduced to Pearl as the infant â€Å"whose innocent life had sprung a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank and luxurious of a guilty passion† (59). Hawthorne describes Pearl as an impeccant infant who is brought to the world without knowing she is a symbol of sin. â€Å"God, as a direct consequence of the sin had given her [Hester Prynne] a lovely child† (59). Pearl is Hester’s living representation of the exquisite scarlet letter that Hester has to wear on her bosom for the sin she committed. We will write a custom essay sample on Scarlet Letter or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Pearl is a gift sent to Hester from God, but Pearl was not sent with the normal qualities kids generally contain. â€Å"Hester could not help questioning at such moments whether Pearl was a human child† (61). Pearl surprises her mother with all the aberrant actions she does at the beginning of the novel. At the governor’s hall Pearl is introduced to Governor Bellingham. Bellingham asks Pearl who made her and she replies that she was not made at all but plucked off the bush of wild roses. This answer astonishes the governor and even Hester because the real answer is that she was created by God. The governor is concerned Pearl is not learning what a child must know at her age. As she gets a few years older, Pearl shows no development as a character. She is still a peculiar little girl. â€Å"Pearl was a born outcast of the infantile world† (62). Children give Pearl dirty looks and talk about her constantly. The kids know the story of Pearl and choose not to play with her. Pearl did not seem to mind; she stood up for herself when the kids wanted to pick on her. Most children at a very young age get scared and distressed, but Pearl is the complete opposite. She is not use to meeting new people or socializing with anyone either. Pearl is a ceaseless reminder of Hester’s sin which was committed with Arthur Dimmesdale. Pearl points constantly at her mother’s letter frequently which makes Hester keep remembering she has done wrong. It is almost as if Pearl is a tool created to torture Hester for what she has done. In chapter twelve, Hester and Pearl are walking home from a governor’s funeral and they see Dimmesdale standing on the scaffold. They slowly approach and Dimmesdale tells them to stand with him and they do. â€Å"’Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide? ’ inquired Pearl† (102). Strange as it may seem, Pear has been starting to make connections with Hester and Dimmesdale. This makes Pearl to be a very curious little one because most kids would have never made any assumption between those two adults. She knows Dimmesdale has to be standing on the scaffold for a certain reason which she seems to capture. Scarlet Letter free essay sample The Scarlet Letter There are many forms to degrade a person, some are deep wounds that can leave an imprint forever, and some go through one ear and out the other. There have been many occasions where ones life is played upon, where the only solution is death. But there are two of those imprints I want to focus on; revenge and hatred and how these two abhorrent features can destroy a person physically and spiritually. Revenge is defined as to inflict punishment in return for injury or insult. In Nathaniel Hawthornes novel, The Scarlet Letter, we find that two characters exemplify this theme. Roger Chillingworth and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale have an extensive conflict that portrays an example for us. The clergymans shy and sensitive reserve had balked this scheme. Roger Chillingworth, however, was inclined to be hardly, if at all, less satisfied with the aspects of affairs, which Providence- using the avenger and his victim for its own purposes, and, perchance, pardoning where it seemed most to punish- had substituted for is black devices. We will write a custom essay sample on Scarlet Letter or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In this quote from the book, it states that Roger Chillingworth, being the doctor of Dimmesdale, will use his medications against him. Chillingworth suspects of Dimmesdale committing a great sin that involves his wife Hester Prynne. Calm, gentle, passionless, as he appeared, there was yet, we fear, a quiet depth of malice, hitherto latent, but active now, in this unfortunate old man, which led him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had even wreaked upon an enemy. To make himself the one trusted friend, to whom should be confided all the fear, the remorse, the agony, the ineffectual repentance, the backward rush of sinful thoughts, expelled in vain! Chillingworth is taking advantage of being Dimmesdale so called friend, so he gets him to confess this reat sin that he is being suspected upon. He will be asking questions that will provoke Dimmesdale or rather make him think in such a way that he will express it physically. The reason why Dimmesdale seems to be sick is because of the secret sin he keeps inside, its destroying him. Making him weak, pale, rather old, and putting him in a position where he believes that medicine will cure it. Dimmesdale being the preacher of the town will have a great spiritual agony that will haunt him through this life and the next, making this the spiritual sickness that will not leave unless he confesses. And the cause of this all would be Chillingworth. Hatred can destroy victim or attacker, being an intense dislike, extreme aversion or hostility. All of these aspects, Chillingworth was putting upon Dimmesdale, slowly making him pay for the sin. In a word, old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of a mans faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devils office. He was going through stages of hatred that transformed him into something that he didnt foresee. Chillingworth was turning into a devil within a blink of an eye. Hester said to Chillingworth while talking to him about Dimmesdale, Since that day, no man is so near him as you. You tread behind his every footstep. You are beside him, sleeping and waking. You search his thoughts. You burrow and rankle in his heart! Your clutch is on his life, and you cause him to Chillingworth is like a dark shadow haunting Dimmesdale every mille-second of the day, and Dimmesdale not knowing what Chillingworths real intensions are. In this case, hatred was destroying both Chillingworth and Dimmesdale, one turning into a devil and the other being tortured and pressured. With this I come to a conclusion that revenge, hatred, and a person, dont mix well. Just like oil and water. Think about having the conscience follow you throughout your life, that with a simple act of these implements you completely destroyed a person into pieces. It degrades him or her, self-esteem drops down to a low level, but most importantly you can put that person into a place where death is the only answer to escape. A rattlesnake, if cornered will become so angry it will bite itself. That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is a biting of oneself. We think we are harming others in holding these spites and hates, but the deeper harm is to ourselves. †E. Stanley Jones