Literary Elements in The Scarlet Letter

Plot 1Takes place over a seven-year

period. Involves the familiar triangle of

wife-lover-husband Is a struggle between good

and evil, with the eternal souls of the characters at stake

Plot 2Suspense is built around these

questions:Will the identities of the lover

and the husband be revealed?How will the identities of the

lover and the husband be revealed?

Plot 3

The main psychological movement in the novel derives from the husband’s insatiable quest for revenge

SettingBoston in the mid-1600sProvides a framework of rigid

social mores and religious beliefs

a “people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical”

Definition of “mores”

The accepted traditional customs and usages of a particular social group

Moral attitudesManners or ways

Structure

Hawthorne’s form of the novel was writing innovative for 1850

Instead of an ongoing chronicle of events, it is a series of separate, fully realized scenes interspersed with expository chapters

Point of View

omniscientHawthorne reveals both the

inner and outer lives of his characters with asides on social criticism, history and psychology

Major Characters

Hester Prynne 1

Young EnglishwomanHas been living alone in

BostonHer husband has been missing

for several years

Hester Prynne 2Has given birth to a childRefuses to name the fatherShe pays for her sin in many

ways, although she never renounces her love for Dimmesdale

Arthur Dimmesdale A popular and admired young

clergymanRefuses to acknowledge that

he is the father of Hester's childUndergoes intense internal

suffering and becomes prey to Chillingworth’s slow revenge

Roger Chillingworth 1

Hester’s husbandA scholar much older than sheArrives in Boston after years of

captivityFinds that his wife has just

given birth to a daughter

Roger Chillingworth 2

Is the major antagonistThe novel chronicles his

spiritual deteriorationHe takes revenge on

Dimmesdale, whom he suspects, correctly, of being the child’s father

Pearl

the daughterblithe (happy, joyful)

highly intuitive (capable of knowing without deduction or reasoning)

intelligent imaginative

Theme 1 The effects of sin and the

possibility of redemptionHawthorne is interested

primarily in the psychological and social consequences of sin on his characters and in their process of redemption

Theme 1: the effects of sin and the possibility of redemptionHesterThe consequence of sin is

isolation from societyHer redemption is worked out

through a life of patient and selfless work

DimmesdaleConsequence of his sin is

internal anguish caused by his guilt and the psychological torment inflicted by Chillingworth

His redemption comes only with confession

Theme 1: the effects of sin and the possibility of redemption

ChillingworthHis sin is obsession with revenge

and violating “in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart”

The consequence is a gradual shriveling of both soul and body

Redemption escapes him

Theme 1: the effects of sin and the possibility of redemption

Theme 1: Secondary Effect

Insight into the hearts of others is a secondary effect of the sin of all three characters

As eating the forbidden apple brought a kind of knowledge to Eve and Adam

Theme 1: Secondary Effect Insight into the hearts of others Both Hester and Dimmesdale

use this understanding to positive ends

Chillingworth, however, uses his insight to torment the already suffering Dimmesdale

Theme 2: Hypocrisy 1

Hypocrisy appears in the conflict between outer appearance and inner reality

Theme 2: Hypocrisy 2

Depicted in the vindictiveness of the pious women of town toward Hester

Theme 2: Hypocrisy 3

Illustrated in the portrayals of Chillingworth and Dimmesdale

Both live hypocriticallyEach poses as something

other than what they are

Major Symbols 1

The scarlet letter itself is the central symbol

It changes meaning for the people of Boston as Hester steadfastly works out her absolution

The A also becomes the pathway to redemption for Dimmesdale

Major Symbols 2

The scaffoldthe cruel public exposure of

private sinsthe means to redemption

through confession

Major Symbols 3

Elements of nature are used to symbolize good and evil

Evil: weeds, unsightly vegetation, darkness, and shade

Good: flowers, sun, and lightThe forest is a changeable

symbol representing both good and evil

Irony 1Situational Irony is central to

the action of the novelSituational Irony is the contrast

between the intention or purpose of an action and its result

In situational irony, the expectations aroused by a situation are reversed

Situational Irony 1

The guilty Dimmesdale is able to minister brilliantly to his congregation

Situational Irony 2Chillingworth is the wronged

husbandHe might normally claim reader

sympathyBut he turns out to be a fiendA physician who destroys

rather than heals