Franken Posted September 7, 2004 Report Share Posted September 7, 2004 Hey, I was just curious as to who here has read The Scarlet Letter and what your thoughts about it are... Personally, I think the book can teach some very good lessons in forgiveness. What's everyone else's thoughts on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest curvette Posted September 7, 2004 Report Share Posted September 7, 2004 What are the lessons in forgiveness you see in this book? I can see how the lack of forgiveness is illustrated in the Scarlet Letter. It's been a long time since I've read it. I remember that it was really sad. I think that the adulteress Hester Prynn was the best person in the book. She was a person of great integrity and loyalty. Her Minister lover was a good, but weak person who valued the opinions of others more than the well being of the woman he loved or their child. His unconfessed "sin" tormented him until the stress eventually caused his bad health and death. Hester's long lost husband was a vengeful, spiteful person. His inability to forgive caused much suffering to others and himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedomansam Posted September 7, 2004 Report Share Posted September 7, 2004 umm, this is the guy that wrote all those stories like "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Minister's Black Veil" and such, right? if so, a recurrent theme in his stories (and probably The Scarlet Letter, though I've never read it) is that no one is perfect and everyone seems to hide some sort of sin or imperfection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franken Posted September 8, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2004 Yeah, I would have to agree with you Curvette. Hester really did bear her trials the best, even as the people were condemning her she would embroider and give to the poor if I recall correctly. What I mean by the lesson of forgiveness, by what you said, is that we shouldn't make eternal judgements on people after they commit one wrong, they can still repent and shape up. That and the fact that really, everybody has their secrets, sins, it's just that Hesters was revealed to the people. About the minister though, I do think he was weak too, I mean how could he get up every Sunday and do his Sermons and whatever else he does pertaining to the church? I did very much like the conclusion of the book though that showed his lasting strength shining through. I was kinda hoping he'd recover though... and give the book a nice conclusion, I thought it was a little too sad for the story, but I guess that's just Nathaniel Hawthorne for ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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