sin guilt and regeneration in the scarlet letter

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Review Of ResearchVol.1,Issue.IV/Jan; 12pp.1-4

Sachin Vaman Londhe Research Papers

ISSN:-2249-894X

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Sin, Guilt, and Regeneration in The Scarlet LetterSachin Vaman Londhe Assistant prof. in English K.N.B.College,Kudruwadi (Solapur University) Maharastra India 413208

AbstractThe Scarlet Letter (1850), the romantic fiction, is written by renowned American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne. The present article analyzes sin, guilt and regeneration in The Scarlet Letter. Different types of sin are represented in The Scarlet Letter. There are sins of the flesh, sins of weakness, sins of will and the intellect. Hester stands on the scaffold wearing a dull gray dress with a large scarlet"A" on her bosom. She shows to the world the result of her sin in the form of little Pearl. While Hester's sin is noticeable to all, Dimmesdale's sin is hidden. The minister hides his wrong, the fact that he has broken the moral law. Rodger Chillingworth, Hester's husband, an older man is guilty of two sins. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne is not overly concerned with the sin that has been committed; he is more concerned with the results of the sin. Hawthorne points out that while sin which is exposed and confessed, frees the sinner's mind and often brings about a transformation in the life, sin which is concealed and cherished tends to cause ruin and death. While Hawthorne's characters are sinners, many of them are presented as people who actually gain salvation and regeneration before the story ends. Introduction: The Scarlet Letter (1850), the romantic fiction, is written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He was American novelist and short-story writer, a master of the allegorical and symbolic tale. One of the greatest fiction writers in American literature, he is best-known for The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables (1851). In the present article an attempt has been made to analyze sin, guilt and regeneration in The Scarlet Letter. A sin is an act that violates a known moral rule. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Commonly, the moral code of conduct is ordered by a divine entity, i.e. divine law. Fundamentally, sin is rebellion against, or resistance to, the direction of supreme authority, and enmity toward, avoidance of, or hatred of the good. Guilt is the fact of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that violation. It is closely related to the concept of repentance. Regeneration means Spiritual or moral revival or rebirth. The purpose of this article is to examine the sin and guilt in the major characters in The Scarlet Letter Context: The setting of the novel The Scarlet Letter is Boston during the Puritan era. Anthony Trollope's summary of the novel reveals the plot of the novel: A woman[Hest

er Prynne] has been taken in adultery . . . and is brought upon the stage that she may be punished by a public stigma. She was beautiful and young, and had been married to an old husband who had wandered away from her for a time. Then she has sinned, and the partner of her sin, though not of her punishment, is[Arthur Dimmesdale] the young minister of the church to which she is attached. It is her doom to wear the Scarlet Letter, the A, always worked on her dress, -

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DOAJ开放文献

Sin, Guilt, and Regeneration in The Scarlet Letter

Vol.1,Issue.IV/Jan; 2012

Review Of Research

-always there on her bosom, to be seen of all men. The first hour of her punishment has to be endured, in the middle of town, on the public scaffold, under the gaze of all men. As she stands there, her husband [Rodger Chillingworth] comes by chance into the town and sees her and she sees him, and they know each other. But no one else in Boston knows that they are man and wife. Then they meet, and she refuses to tell him who has been her fellow sinner. She makes no excuse for herself. She will bear her doom and acknowledge its justice, but to no one will she tell the name of him who is the father the baby [Pearl] . For her disgrace has borne its fruit , and she has a child. The injured husband is at once aware that he need deal no further with the woman who has been false to him. Her punishment is sure. But it is necessary for his revenge that the man too shall be punished, -- and to punish him he must know him. Then he goes to work to find him out, and he finds him out. Then he does punish him with a vengeance and brings him to death, -- does it by the old man finds out and declares his intention to accompany them in their flight. The minister dies after he confesses, and the woman is left to her solitude. (240-41)Sin and Guilt:

Different types of sin are represented in

The Scarlet Letter. Arlin Turner notes that there are "sins of the flesh, sins of weakness, sins of will and the intellect. The transgression of Hester and Dimmesdale stand condemned by the laws of society"(59) .

Hester stands on the scaffold wearing a

dull gray dress with a large scarlet "A" on her bosom. She shows to the world the result of her sin in the form of little Pearl. While Hester's sin is noticeable to all, Dimmesdale's sin is hidden. The minister hides his wrong, the fact that he has broken the moral law – and the only suggestion that something is wrong in his life is the habit he has of constantly putting his hand over his heart. Rodger Chillingworth, Hester's husband, an older man is guilty of two sins. The first is against Nature. Selfishness had led him to marry Hester, a young, passionate girl. He knew that Hester did not love him and he was not the kind of man to make her a good husband. He admits in Chapter 4, "Mine was t …… 此处隐藏：15141字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……