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Need help with Chapter 1 in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter? Check out our revolutionary side-by-side summary and analysis.
- Characters
The Scarlet Letter Character Analysis | LitCharts. The...
- Chapter 14
The Scarlet Letter Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis |...
- Quizzes
The Scarlet Letter Quizzes | LitCharts. The Scarlet Letter...
- Themes
The Scarlet Letter presents a critical, even disdainful,...
- Quotes
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- Symbols
The Scarlet Letter Symbols | LitCharts. The Scarlet Letter...
- The Custom House
The Scarlet Letter The Custom House Summary & Analysis |...
- Plot Summary
The Scarlet Letter begins with a prelude in which an unnamed...
- Characters
- Plot summary
- Analysis
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- Significance
This first chapter contains little in the way of action, instead setting the scene and introducing the first of many symbols that will come to dominate the story. A crowd of somber, dreary-looking people has gathered outside the door of a prison in seventeenth-century Boston. The buildings heavy oak door is studded with iron spikes, and the prison ...
The one incongruity in the otherwise drab scene is the rosebush that grows next to the prison door. The narrator suggests that it offers a reminder of Natures kindness to the condemned; for his tale, he says, it will provide either a sweet moral blossom or else some relief in the face of unrelenting sorrow and gloom.
As the crowd watches, Hester Prynne, a young woman holding an infant, emerges from the prison door and makes her way to a scaffold (a raised platform), where she is to be publicly condemned. The women in the crowd make disparaging comments about Hester; they particularly criticize her for the ornateness of the embroidered badge on her chesta letter...
These chapters introduce the reader to Hester Prynne and begin to explore the theme of sin, along with its connection to knowledge and social order. The chapters use of symbols, as well as their depiction of the political reality of Hester Prynnes world, testify to the contradictions inherent in Puritan society. This is a world that has already fal...
But the images of the chaptersthe public gatherings at the prison and at the scaffold, both of which are located in central common spacesalso speak to another Puritan belief: the belief that sin not only permeates our world but that it should be actively sought out and exposed so that it can be punished publicly. The beadle reinforces this belief w...
The Scarlet Letter study guide contains a biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
Literature Notes. The Scarlet Letter. Chapter 1. Summary and Analysis Chapter 1. In this first chapter, Hawthorne sets the scene of the novel — Boston of the seventeenth century. It is June, and a throng of drably dressed Puritans stands before a weather-beaten wooden prison.
Jun 21, 2024 · The Scarlet Letter, novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. The work centers on Hester Prynne, a married woman who is shunned after bearing a child out of wedlock but displays great compassion and resiliency.
- Ronan Mcdonald
This introductory chapter establishes the narrator’s voice, style, and tone, and roots his “romance” in what appears to be autobiographical fact. What is the first clue that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father?
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A summary of The Custom-House: Introductory in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of The Scarlet Letter and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.
