StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Literary Critique - Book Report/Review Example

Cite this document
Summary
The tension between the public and the private self is depicted in this novel. The novel is set in the inconsiderate puritan community of seventeenth century Boston. Nathaniel Hawthorne has…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93.8% of users find it useful
Literary Critique
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Literary Critique"

The Scarlet Letter The scarlet letter is written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a of delicate craftsmanship. The tension between the public and the private self is depicted in this novel. The novel is set in the inconsiderate puritan community of seventeenth century Boston. Nathaniel Hawthorne has been often described as “rebellious puritan” and many puritan elements are present in this novel. The novelist finds the puritan society repressive authoritarian and sadistic in the novel. At the same time positive elements of the society also can be found out in the novel.

It tells that a sinner who humbly performs his or her own duty will be accepted by others. In The Scarlet Letter the novelist points out the guilt in the hearts of sinners as well as their persecutors. Hawthorne exploited the symbol of scarlet letter in the novel. The theme is that of a lonely individual in the society. We are arrested on the threshold of narrative and become surprised when reading the opening chapter “The Prison Door” (Hawthorne, 7). In the novel Hester is presented before the readers with her three-month old daughter emerging from the prison wearing the red letter “A” coming in front of the crowd gathered outside the Boston prison house.

This scarlet letter is a sign of her adultery. Hester’s husband is supposed to have died at sea. During the hour of her public appearance after the imprisonment her husband is present there. Hester’s ex-husband is now called Roger Chilling worth. Here in the novel it is very clear and significant that the members of the community are concerned about Hester’s daughter pearl’s future. Here one of the positive faces of the puritan society is reflected. Even at the end of her life she carries the letter A as the black background of her tomb.

But here the craftsmanship of the novelist is wonderful as it represents her as ‘angel.’ Hester Prynne in the novel never becomes a witch or a rebel but returns from Europe to Boston to become a Sister of Mercy. After this her life is of duty and penance in the puritan settlement.The novel is like a symbolic fable at many points. But the closest and minutest faithfulness to the times is portrayed in it though not directly. The psychological genuineness present in every great literature can be seen in this too.

The novel can be read as a tale of a tragic love also. It is a tragedy of the ‘grand passion’. Enough chances are there for the novel to be described as a ‘tragic love story.’ This love story has tragic repercussions upon its protagonists. The element of love in the novel is evident in it though directly it is not given. The consequences of love decide the course of the novel.Isolation is another important theme of The Scarlet Letter. The fate of the central character Hester is revealed by the manner in which she responds to her isolation.

Hester is presented as a symbol of the flaws and graces by which she is a human being. This human nature has the power to alienate the individuals from the rest of the society. A natural dignity and force of character are special about Hester. Her existence is based on this. She conforms outwardly to the puritan ideals by wearing drab, unattractive clothing. She covers her beauty. But she does not consider the human world’s law as the law of her mind. All her private thoughts are passive. Hester struggles a lot to maintain her humanity.

Hester’s sad transformation helps her remain human. Hester’s positive and negative qualities make her human. Through the presentation of Hester with such a nature Hawthorn presents each individual itself in the novel. The effects and nature of isolation also represented here. A spark of hope for the human condition is offered by Hawthorn in The Scarlet Letter. Hesters glowing passion and attractiveness, her humanity, make her graceful; at the same time lead her to fall. The meaningfulness of her life, and generally human life, even in all the adverse conditions are presented in the novel through Hester’s life.

“ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES”, (Hawthorne, 276), the novel ends with these words representing the full story and the strength of the novelist’s writing. Reference:1. Hawthorne, Nathaniel, The Scarlet Letter, Penguin, New York, 1983, 1-276.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(Literary Critique Book Report/Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words, n.d.)
Literary Critique Book Report/Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words. https://studentshare.org/literature/1757873-literary-critique
(Literary Critique Book Report/Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
Literary Critique Book Report/Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words. https://studentshare.org/literature/1757873-literary-critique.
“Literary Critique Book Report/Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”. https://studentshare.org/literature/1757873-literary-critique.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Literary Critique

Critique of Education Standard III

critique of Education Standard III Name: Institution: critique of Education Standard III Introduction In the current environment of liability, in advanced learning, majority of colleges and universities believe student education is the foundation of their institutional duties.... critique of Article Several authors have emphasized the instructional prospective of orientation service in the modes of digital and face-to-face....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Compare four different authors about education

Name Instructor Course Date Education: articles review Diane Ravitch, in “The Myth of Charter Schools” undertakes to critique the American system of education.... Ravitch uses a movie Waiting for “Superman”, a movie that involves a student who flees from public schools in the larger New York City for charter schools in Harlem....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Postmodernism, Irony, The Enjoyable by Umberto Eco

However, insofar that postmodernism represents an ideal category rather than a temporal appellation, literally "after modernism," its ability to recognize the role of the past in attempt to respond to the avant-garde, which is indicative of the modern, offers a compelling critique that can simultaneously recapture the past without imitating it.... In Umberto Eco's essay, "Postmodernism, Irony, The Enjoyable," seeks to analyze the past and current theoretical trends which have underscored postmodernism in an attempt to explicate the link between art, specifically that of the literary kind and "enjoyability....
3 Pages (750 words) Book Report/Review

A Critical Analysis of The Rocking Horse Winner

In concluding this critique of Lawrence's short story, there is a grave lesson to be learned here.... It seems the house comes alive with the desire for money as the following literary passage shows: “There must be more money!... Money can't possibly be worth losing your life for, but Lawrence's depictions in this literary work prove that for some, it's worth their very souls....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Great Expectaion & She

It is not just a literary technique, to present the appearance of being real or true, it is also a subject matter, developed alongside capitalism.... Since literary realism depicts life and plausible events that may happen in the past and in the present, one device used to emphasize its connection to the real world is using first person narration....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Song analysis

In much the same way that a Literary Critique seeks to focus a level of discussion and analysis upon the mechanisms that the writer uses, the core themes that are leveraged, and the use of language as a means of promoting understanding; the following analysis will engage in much the same manner of consideration with regards to this particular song....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Hollywood Film and Cultural Studies

Film developers investigate specific cultural features in the society thus present and criticize such in either fictional or factual… In doing this, film developers employ various archetypes in either proving or dispelling existing cultural myths in a society (David 65).... Philadelphia is one such film....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Classics 20 - discovering Romans

This… In such entertaining plots, the playwrights used various literary techniques to enact and resolve the various cultural problems that arise from personal beliefs and values.... Terence as such a playwright who infused humor in comedy with several other literary techniques to enact and resolve such types of cultural conflicts as generational and social problems as portrayed in the discussion below....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us