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  • Essay / American version of the Garden of Eden: Dualism in The Scarlet Letter

    The story of Adam and Eve illustrates the sinful nature of man. A common theory about the story of Adam and Eve is that God wanted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The argument is that if God had not wanted Adam to eat the apple, he would not have put the tree there in the first place. It was not the serpent who tempted Eve, but God. The serpent lured Eve into temptation, but it was God who created the temptation. The duality in God's action is obvious. If God had created a temptation-free paradise, the serpent would have had no sin to cause Eve to commit. Therefore, if God had not created this temptation, the serpent would essentially have no purpose. So God not only created temptation, but in doing so created a purpose for the serpent, and assuming that the serpent would not have existed if it had not had a purpose, he also created the snake. Not only was God necessary for the existence of the serpent, but the serpent was also necessary for the existence of God. Without the presence of evil, the presence of good has no meaning, and vice versa. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay The Puritans, as presented in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, create a serpent by denying any human connection to nature and sin when they attempt to create a virtual Garden of Eden in America. John Winthrop said in "A Model of Christian Charity" that "we shall be as a city upon a hill...if we treat our god falsely in this work which we have undertaken, and thereby cause him to withdraw his present aid from we will become a story and a word throughout the world. Adam and Eve tried to deceive God, but God knew they were “dealing falsely” with Him, so He “withdrew His present help from them.” In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne illustrates, primarily through Pearl and Hester, the inevitable dichotomies generated by the creation, by human hands stained with original sin, of a "utopia of human virtue and happiness" (41) on earth . found in the novel's protagonist, Hester Prynne, the bearer of the scarlet letter. Hester is both a representation of Eve, the first woman and creator of original sin, and the Virgin Mary, the only human being born without original sin. When Eve sinned, she acquired knowledge: “And when the woman saw that the tree was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable for making one wise, she took the fruit thereof, and she also gave it to her husband. with her, and he ate. And both their eyes were opened..."(Genesis 3:6-7) When Hester sins, she also gains knowledge, the knowledge "that the outward appearance of purity was but a lie. and that, if the truth were to be shown everywhere, a scarlet letter would burst into many other breast than that of Hester Prynne” (77) Hester knows that people are enamored of sin and the knowledge it brings. people are infatuated with her, and Hester, before “Another Vision of Hester,” is the embodiment of sin in the eyes of the community. “She shuddered to believe, but could not help believing, that this. gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the sin hidden in other hearts." (76). Others may not act on the sins they hide in their hearts, as Hester does, but the potential for sin is present, and Hester can feel it when “She [feels] an eye – a human eye – on the ignominious mark, it seems to bring momentary relief, as if half her agony were shared. »(76). In the Christian faith, simply having ungodly thoughts is considered a sin; the scarlet letter is an inevitable catalyst ofungodly thoughts, so when the members of the community look at her, they sin with her, thinking ungodly thoughts. The thought that others share Hester's sin gives her, and even gives her, knowledge of the secret sin of others, just as the tree of knowledge gives Eve knowledge of good and evil. Likewise, just as Eve is not alone in sin, neither is Hester; Dimmesdale is Hester's Eve Adam, but because Dimmesdale refuses to reveal his sin, the only knowledge he gains is knowledge of the torture of secret sin. If Hester were merely a representation of Eve, Hawthorne's religious and social implications would be basic and rather elementary. uncontested, but Hawthorne challenges the reader by giving Hester characteristics of the Virgin Mary so profound that they cannot be denied. Hester's portrayal of Mary is a dichotomy in itself in that Hester's shame is the result of her infidelity, rendering her far from a virgin, let alone sinless. Yet Mary's virginity is her most remarkable and revered characteristic; The virgin birth is a central theme of the New Testament. Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit, one of the three persons of God. It is no coincidence that Dimmesdale, a preacher, believed to be God's human channel, conceives Pearl. Pearl is the most obvious manifestation of the Virgin Mary in Hester. Jesus is the Son of God, and also the third person of the Holy Trinity, the incarnation of God in three persons, and is therefore immortal: Hawthorne refers to the Pearl as "a lovely and immortal flower" (79). The angel Gabriel told Mary that “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…” (Luke 1:35). When Hawthorne states, "God, as a direct consequence of the sin which man thus punished, had given him a lovely child..." (79), it is implied that Pearl was conceived in part by God, but in addition the hand of God. in Pearl's conception, Hawthorne, while recognizing that Pearl's conception was "a direct consequence of sin," also describes Pearl as "the scarlet letter endowed with life" (91). The scarlet letter is a symbol of sin, the same sin that resulted in Pearl's conception, so Pearl is not only infected by original sin, but is also the embodiment of it. This role makes sense for Pearl; she is the daughter of Hester, the Puritan Eve, the creator of original sin and the quintessence of sin in the eyes of the Salemites, but Pearl is also the symbol of Jesus, who never sinned. The idea of ​​simultaneous innocence and guilt is demonstrated. through the symbol of the green “A” that Pearl makes for herself in the woods. "Pearl took some eel grass and imitated, as best she could, on her chest, the decoration she knew so well on her mother's letter - the letter "A" - but freshly green, instead of scarlet! " (160-161) Pearl unknowingly creates a mark of shame for herself because she saw this mark of shame on her mother. This act illustrates Pearl's sinful birth, but is also a sign of her innocence in many ways. Pearl simply imitates her mother and ignores the meaning of the letter "A" on her mother's chest. So, although Pearl's birth is a sin, Pearl does not knowingly sin, nor does she even fully understand the concept of sin. The color of the letter is also important. Green is the color of nature, and nature is inherently divine in the sense that it sustains all life and all life is a part of it. Thus, the “A” in Pearl is a divine symbol of sin, an obvious duality. Moreover, all the sins of the novel occur in the forest, in the heart of nature. If we assume that nature is the earthly form of God, it..