Essay Database

Faith or Destiny Nathaniel Hawthorne made his mark as a major American writer in 1850, with the publication of The Scarlet Letter. His work appeals to different levels of readers because he creates complex and elaborate settings. Through conflicts within his characters, he analyzes the moral and psychological issues often consumed by their own passions. As he was growing up he could not escape the influence of Puritan religion. This influence along with the setting of …

…is better than everyone else and he disassociate himself from all those in the town as he judges them as being sinners. He becomes "a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man…" after his journey when he commits the ultimate sin of judging and condemning others without looking at one's own sinfulness. In the end "they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom (221).