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Powers of Imprisonment in The Scarlet Letter
Summary: A discussion of the ways in which each main character in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is imprisoned. Pearl, Roger Chillingworth, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester Prynne all exhibit the various unusual forms of imprisonment that they are under, such as Hester's scarlet letter "A," Dimmesdale's pride, and Chillingworth's need for revenge.
Places such as solitary confinement, detention, and penitentiaries are all types of imprisonment, but Nathaniel Hawthorne exemplifies many different powers of imprisonment throughout his best-known novel, The Scarlet Letter. "Hawthorne calls the progression of the story `the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow'" (Fogle 32). The Scarlet Letter consists of a heated love triangle that results in a young girl without knowledge of who is her father. During The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne illustrates different types of imprisonment within Pearl, Roger Chillingworth, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester Prynne.
Youth is expected to be a joyous, happy time when life is carefree and overflowing with amusing times. Pearl's childhood, however, is not that of an average young lady. Born in the Boston jail, because of her mother Hester's sin, Pearl's first form of imprisonment is because of the Puritan laws against adultery. Growing up in isolation from anyone...
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This section contains 1,282 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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