Hester vs. the Community in The Scarlet Letter Essay examples -- Scarl

Hester vs. the Community in The reddened Letter Nathaniel Hawthornes The violent Letter seems to be created around Hawthornes obsession with the forbidding quality of the ruby-red A, the symbol from which the novel takes its title. Rrom the rose-bush which Hawthorne selects a flower from as an pass to the reader(1) to the elfish child Pearl, every aspect of the story is drenched in this letters cerise hue. Perhaps this repetition reflects Hawthornes own repressed desires, as whatsoever critics suggest(2). However, what seems more compelling is the last which the symbol serves for Hester Prynne and the union which has condemned her. For Hester the symbol is clear a literary one she fashions the scarlet A to fulfill the function of telling, in one solid image, her story of sorrow and strength. For the prude community the symbol does not lead to truth, but rather conceals it. They place their fears and darkest imaginings into this brand. Hawthornes realizable artistic obses sion brings to life a tortured woman, and the torment of the friendship that inflicts her punishment. Freudian symbolism must be differentiated from literary symbolism in order to form a deeper understanding of the symbolic scarlet A conceived as a punishment by a Puritan societys desire to uphold its truths, but brought into physical existence by Hester Prynnes fancy.(3) Daniel Weiss embarks on the enterprise of solidifying this distinction in the first chapter of his book highborn The amateur Agonistes Psychology, Myth, and the Art of Fiction.(4). Weiss suggests that the literary symbol is a concrete and untranslatable presentation of an idea, or an experience that cannot find its way into consciousness miss throu... ...Art of Fiction. Ed. Stephen Arkin and Eric Solomon. Seattle U of Washington P. (1985) 21. 11. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter Ed. Ross C. Murfin. sassy York, New York Bedford Books of St. Martins P., (1991) 74. 12. Weiss, Daniel. The Critic Agoni stes. The Critic Agonistes Psychology, Myth, and the Art of Fiction. Ed. Stephen Arkin and Eric Solomon. Seattle U of Washington P. (1985) 21. 13. Brodhead, Richard H. New and Old Tales The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne, Melville, and the Novel. Chicago U of Chicago P., (1973) 44. 14. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter Ed. Ross C. Murfin. New York, New York Bedford Books of St. Martins P., (1991) 58. 15. ib. 57. 16. ibid. 112. 17. ibid. 75. 18. ibid. 75. 19. ibid. 161. 20. ibid. 154. 21. ibid. 200. 22. ibid. 201. 23. ibid. 134.