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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This is a 5 page paper in which the writer provides an overview of the theme of the individual vs. society in "The Scarlet Letter". A deductive analysis is conducted of Hester's punishment scene. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KW60_KFlit029.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
through the sublimation of individual responsibility into instruments of collective power such as morality, shame, guilt, and the law, has the power to oppressively control the lives of individuals living
in that society. This theme in strongly reinforced in the passage describing protagonist Hester Prynnes punishment of being publicly shamed upon the scaffold. In this passage, Hawthorne makes skillful use
of contrast to show society and the individual in conflict, first by showing how society excuses itself for the disgraceful act of publicly shaming Hester by presenting the spectacle as
a dignified and somber affair of the law, and secondly by showing how this collective dehumanizing of the punishment ultimately makes it more destructive to Hester as an individual.
In the first half of the passage in question, Hawthorne devotes himself to exploring the contrast between the spectacular nature of Hesters public humiliation and the austere gravity with which
it is carried out. It is suggested strongly that Hesters public humiliation would have been a callous affair at the individual level, but that the "spectacle" is given some sort
of "effectual meaning" through being cast as a proper and dignified legal affair, rather than a personal vendetta (Hawthorne 2005, p. 42). As Hawthorne writes, "the scene was not without
a mixture of awe... [as well as] guilt and shame", purely because of the dignified character of the society carrying the scene out, a society not yet "grown corrupt enough
to smile, instead of shuddering, at [the spectacle]" (Hawthorne 2005, p. 42). In other words, even though an individual is being exposed to shame and ridicule in the context of
public spectacle, the affair is somehow made less corrupt by the fact that the entire society is engaged in the spectacle, and has cast the spectacle not as a personal
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