The Scarlett Letter Essays - English-language Films, Free Essays

The Scarlett Letter Essays - English-language Films, Free Essays The Scarlett Letter The Effective Use of Symbolism The novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an intriguing account of a Puritan community that experiences a breakdown in beliefs. The story deals with a woman, Hester, who commits adultery with a Calvinistic minister resulting in the birth of a child (Martin 110). As compensation for her crime of passion and her refusal to name her lover, Hester is sentenced to wear an embroidered scarlet letter on her bosom. It is this letter, or secret sin, that becomes the emphasis of the novel and assumes many different roles (Martin 111). Hawthorne starts the novel by portraying the literary reality associated with the different aspects of the letter (Martin 110). From the start, Hawthorne seems to say, this is a scarlet letter; because of that, it is capable of further meaning. The letter will have to carry the burden of the tale (Martin 111). Hawthornes use of symbolism is fully developed in the multi-meanings hidden in the scarlet letter through a variety of characters. The scarlet letter represents different ideals to different people and should be given the proper consideration (Martin 114). In the Puritan community, the letter is viewed as a moral obligation to inform others of Hesters sin, one that they feel should be dragged out into the sunshine (Hawthorne 43). They believe the letter symbolizes psychological and religious truth. The Puritans are a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly Foti 2 interfused, that her mildest and severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful (Hawthorne 40). It is said that meager, indeed, and cold, was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for, from such bystanders at the scaffold (Hawthorne 40). The Puritans are firmly against Hesters actions and feels that she has disgraced them along with herself. They feel that she must take responsibility for her actions. The effect of her punishment however is not what the Puritans had hoped to achieve. Hesters sin has grown from that of passion to one of purpose. Even with Hesters sympathetic attitude, she was not filled with regret and therefore the letter had not done its task (Martin 122). To the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the scarlet letter contains a whole new meaning. He views the letter as a constant reminder of his sin and cowardice. His guilt continues to grow as a result of his not being able to come forth in front of the community and take responsibility for his actions. His guilt and sin become magnified by his inability to stand beside Hester at the scaffold. Dimmesdale, also is ironically charged with questioning Hester and trying to convince her of the importance of identifying her fellow sinner (Hawthorne 52). He begins to feel more and more grief and it begins to affect his mental and physical state. He soon becomes weak; however, it is believed by the community to be because of his too unreserved self-sacrifice to the labors and duties of the pastoral relation (Hawthorne 80). When Dimmesdale is believed to be near death, the community again believes it is because the world was not worthy to be any longer trodden by his feet (Hawthorne 88). Dimmesdale se ems to be haunted by Satans emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth. This diabolical Foti 3 agent had the Divine permission, for a season, to burrow into the clergymans intimacy and plot against his soul (Hawthorne 94). Chillingworth proposes to Dimmesdale that a sickness, a sore place, if we may so call it, in your spirit, hath immediately its appropriate manifestation in your bodily frame (Hawthorne 99). However, Dimmesdale denies and refuses to discuss it with him. Dimmesdale becomes weaker and weaker because by the constitution of his nature, he loved the truth, and loathed the lie, as few men ever did. Therefore, above all things else, he loathed his miserable self! (Hawthorne 105). Before Dimmesdales death, he finally confesses to his sin on the scaffold and frees his soul and conscience. Spectators have testified to seeing on the breast of the unhappy minister, a SCARLET LETTERthe very semblance of that worn by Hester Prynneimprinted in the flesh (Hawthorne 182).

The Friendship Story of Damon and Pythias

The Friendship Story of Damon and Pythias Turn of  the 20th-century storyteller James Baldwin included the story of Damon and Pythias (Phintias) in his collection of 50 famous stories children should know [See Learning Lessons From the Past]. These days, the story is more likely to appear in a collection showing the contributions of ancient gay men or on the stage, and not so much in childrens storybooks. The story of Damon and Pythias shows true friendship and self-sacrifice, as well as concern for family, even in the face of death. Perhaps its time to try to revive it. Damon and Pythias endured either the father or the same despotic ruler as Damocles of the sword hanging on a slender thread-fame, which is also in Baldwins collection. This tyrant was Dionysius I of Syracuse, an important city in Sicily, which was part of the Greek area of Italy (Magna Graecia). As is true of the story of the Sword of Damocles, we can look to Cicero for an ancient version. Cicero describes the friendship between Damon and Pythias in his De Officiis III. Dionysius was a cruel ruler, easy to run afoul of. Either Pythias or Damon, young philosophers in the school of Pythagoras (the man who gave his name to a theorem used in geometry), ran into trouble with the tyrant and wound up in prison. This was in the 5th century. Two centuries earlier there had been a Greek named Draco, an important law-giver in Athens, who had prescribed death as the penalty for theft. When asked about his seemingly extreme punishments for relatively minor crimes, Draco said he regretted there was no punishment more serious for more heinous crimes. Dionysius must have agreed with Draco since execution appears to have been the intended fate of the philosopher. It is, of course, remotely possible that the philosopher had engaged in a serious crime, but it hasnt been reported, and the reputation of the tyrant is such that it is easy to believe the worst. Before the one young philosopher was scheduled to lose his life, he wanted to put his familys affairs in order  and asked leave to do so. Dionysius assumed he would run away and initially said no, but then the other young philosopher said he would take his friends place in the prison, and, should the condemned man not return, he would forfeit his own life. Dionysius agreed  and was then greatly surprised when the condemned man returned in time to face his own execution. Cicero doesnt indicate that Dionysius released the two men, but he was duly impressed with the friendship exhibited between the two men and wished he could join them as a third friend. Valerius Maximus, in the 1st century A.D. does say that Dionysius released them and kept them near him ever after. [See Valerius Maximus: The History of Damon and Pythias, from De Amicitiae Vinculo or read the Latin 4.7.ext.1.] Below you may read the story of Damon and Pythias in the Latin of Cicero, followed by an English translation that is in the public domain. [45] Loquor autem de communibus amicitiis; nam in sapientibus viris perfectisque nihil potest esse tale. Damonem et Phintiam Pythagoreos ferunt hoc animo inter se fuisse, ut, cum eorum alteri Dionysius tyrannus diem necis destinavisset et is, qui morti addictus esset, paucos sibi dies commendandorum suorum causa postulavisset, vas factus est alter eius sistendi, ut si ille non revertisset, moriendum esset ipsi. Qui cum ad diem se recepisset, admiratus eorum fidem tyrannus petivit, ut se ad amicitiam tertium adscriberent.[45] But I am speaking here of ordinary friendships; for among men who are ideally wise and perfect such situations cannot arise.They say that Damon and Phintias, of the Pythagorean school, enjoyed such ideally perfect friendship, that when the tyrant Dionysius had appointed a day for the execution of one of them, and the one who had been condemned to death requested a few days respite for the purpose of putting his loved ones in the care of friends, the other became surety for his appearance, with the understanding that if his friend did not return, he himself should be put to death. And when the friend returned on the day appointed, the tyrant in admiration for their faithfulness begged that they would enrol him as a third partner in their friendship.M. Tullius Cicero. De Officiis. With An English Translation. Walter Miller. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1913.