Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
In four pages this paper analyzes how Nathaniel Hawthorne utilized symbolism as a literary device in his 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter. Seven sources are listed in the bibliography.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGscarsym.rtf
Buy This Term Paper »
Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
A product of the moralistic, God-fearing Puritan/Calvinist landscape of New England, Hawthornes short stories and novels featured this judgmental and self-righteous approach to the human condition. For the
New England Calvinist, life involved choices between two extremes - right and wrong, good and evil, sanctity and sin. Hawthornes tales were religious allegories in which symbolism revealed more
about plot and characters than did the narrative itself. This is particularly true of the novel many critics regard as Hawthornes masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter (1850). Of
course, the most important symbol in the novel is featured in the title, which references the embroidered letter A Hester Prynne is forced to wear to ostracize her from society
for committing adultery and bearing a child that was not her husbands. Hawthorne conveys his own personal fascination with the letter in the novels introductory chapter: "It was the
capital letter A. By an accurate measurement, each limb proved to be precisely three inches and a quarter in length. It had been intended, there could be no
doubt, as an ornamental article of dress; but how it was to be worn, or what rank, honor, and dignity, in by-past times, were signified by it" (1323). He
then goes into great narrative detail to describe the letter to emphasize its significance: "The point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer--so that both men
and women who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time--was that SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated
upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself" (1334).
...