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The Scarlet Letter Death, deceit, beauty, and love: These are some of the
many themes of Hawthorns The Scarlet Letter. The most visible theme in this
novel of the four is love. They say that love can last forever, and this book is
written proof. The protagonist, Hester Prynne, is a lovely lady who has
committed one of the worst crimes a woman can, adultery. Her husband had sent
her over to the new world from Europe. He had asked her to wait for him there
until he finished some business. She had waited for two years. When it seemed
that he would never come, she gave into temptation. After resurfacing incognito,
her husband discovers the identity of the unnamed man that she had relations
with. After all of her husband's attempts to destroy their love, they decided on
leaving the country. That way they would not have to bear the shame that the
town had grown to pay unto them. Even after her newly found love, Arthur
Dimmesdale, had passed away her love for him still thrived.
The punishment for
her crime was she must wear a scarlet A on her bosom for the remainder of her
life. Her daughter, Pearl, had stared at it, wondering what it was many times.
She had grown accustomed to seeing her mother wearing it. The townspeople had
all ridiculed her for her crime, but still commended her on her sewing skills.
These skills displayed every day in plain site on Her chest. One event that
truly explains the theme of this book is the part in the forest when Pearl sees
her mother for the first time as her true self. She saw her as she used to be
without the scarlet letter on her chest. Pearl's reaction was that of
non-recognition. She would not even approach her mother because she did not
recognize her. It was not until her mother put her hair up and the letter back
on that she would come back. Though she loved her mother she had grown
accustomed to seeing the letter everyday. If you grow up seeing something
everyday and then all of a sudden it is gone it can be very traumatizing. Though
at first Pearl was afraid of Arthur, she grew to love him in the end. The best
part of this book is the theme of everlasting love. The rest of it is actually
quite boring. If you like love stories this is a good one to read. There love
and hardships end in tragedy just like real life.
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