AN ANALYSIS OF GUILT AND REDEMPTION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SELF IN HAWTHORNE'S THE SCARLET LETTER

Abstract

This research paper explores the interplay of external and internal forces in the novel The Scarlet Letter, ostensibly in conflict but in fact brings forth an effective intermingling of binaries into a unified whole. Nathaniel Hawthorne as a writer successfully highlights the conflict and connects the opposite into an organic link. The novel itself was described by Hawthorne as a romance where “the Actual and the imaginary may meet” (Marcus 455). This research paper makes an attempt to identify areas where the internal and external stimulus cohere and give a holistic dimension to the protagonist and the novel’s development.