The Relationship between Reason and Experience Essay Example for Free

The Relationship between Reason and Experience Essay The various man-made creations, the formation of different school of thoughts and literature that reflects the varieties of human experiences and the different ideas that govern man’s way of living attest man’s love of wisdom. Man as the highest form of animal is an authentic specie that never stops learning, innovating, creating, and seeking ways to gain more choices in giving his life more meaning. As he continually desire to seek answers in his questions towards his existence, there is a continuous enhancement of man’s intellect. Reviewing the history and looking around the contemporary world itself will ascertain man’s development towards intellect. But how do knowledge and rationality develop that resulted to man’s creation of many things? People establish knowledge and rationality in different ways. Human beings basically hate uncertainty or skepticism. But skepticism as it resulted to ambiguity and doubt motivates man to seek for answers in fulfilling his wonder. The use of observation from experiences or senses is one of the most important resources in acquiring knowledge. People can easily believe the idea that mind apprehends truths through the medium of the senses for the reason that people really learned from experience. However, is there something as absolute knowledge by which human beings accumulate truths without having to experience it? This paper will attest that human beings’ innate reasoning and experience are inextricably linked in the acquisition and manipulation of knowledge. Experience that is associated with empiricism and innate reasoning associated with rationalism are interrelated. Over the years, the source and extent of knowledge has been strongly debated in the world of philosophy. Rationalism and empiricism are the two rival schools of thoughts that gave accounts on the theories of knowledge. Basically the debate between empiricists and rationalists was whether or not knowledge is acquired from the senses or experiences. Empiricism holds the â€Å"attitude that beliefs are to be accepted and acted upon only if they first have been confirmed by actual experience† (â€Å"Empiricism†). Empiricism emphasizes the role of experience as it gives evidences in the formation of ideas. Just like in science, hypothesis and theories must be tested through observation and experiments to be sure of its factuality. However some reality or knowledge on empiricism in the context of experimental reasoning is not always credible. All can be subject to revision. â€Å"As far as possible, empiricism also try to avoid any reference to abstract entities and to restrict themselves to what is sometimes called a nominalistic language, i. e. , one not containing such references† (Carnap 1997). Empiricism apparently believes that â€Å"innate knowledge is unobservable and inefficacious; that is, it does not do anything†. A particular knowledge only works and becomes more meaningful if one experiences it. For example, how would you know or imagine the richness of color present in a rainbow if you were born blind? Or how can we possibly get the idea of a perfect circle and a perfect square without seeing it? We can possibly describe it in words and description but its full meaning will never be realized without experience. The only way to have a complete idea of a rainbow or on any object is to experience it with the use of senses. â€Å"Aristotle was one of the scientists who believe in the concept of empiricism; he felt that it is imperative that we trust our senses, for what else have we to trust? † (Purvis) Rationalism on the other hand holds the idea that â€Å"reason is the chief source and test of knowledge and that reality itself has an inherently logical structure† (â€Å"Rationalism†). Moreover, rationalists believe that there are truths in this world that are beyond the reach of sense perception that can only be explained by reason and logic. Mathematical truths for example (e. g. 0+1=1) are said to be absolutely true or a statement â€Å"A nun is a female† or â€Å"A priest is a male†. These truths according to rationalists were acquired prior to experience. They will remain true whether an individual experience it or not. But in creating these mathematical truths are they not already acquired through experience? In favor of empiricism, â€Å"mathematics is a good way of showing how both rationalism and empiricism are both important components of knowledge† (Purvis 2008). The creation of numbers is not innate or they are not things on themselves. They are manmade creations that we use â€Å"to more conveniently operate and organize our empirical perceptions† (Purvis 2008) Rationalists also hold the concept that humans’ sense of morality with the presence of conscience and guilt and man’s logic are innate. But we can not rationally prove the rightness and wrongness of morality or logic without empirical evidence. The idea that there is indeed a morality will never be realized without understanding its consequences from experiences. Man was encouraged to create morality for the purpose of making his existence more meaningful. With no raw data from experience then there should be no participation in full metaphysics. Given that there is an innate sense of reasoning, but that will only be fully revealed and realized through experience. Reason and experience for me, are both reliable source of knowledge. The senses and the mind are both necessary in acquiring knowledge and truth. So the argument should arise in proving the relationship of reason and experience. Experience can sometimes be a less reliable source of knowledge or reality since at any moment new experience may disapprove the old. However we can not be completely dependent upon reasoning to gain knowledge since people naturally need experience to test the truths of logical arguments. We can not imagine a life without experience. The fact the people react or reason means people respond in their environment and their present experience or situation. Our ability to perceive is an experience in itself. The innate existence of logic and rationality I believed will come into a complete understanding and will transform into life with the use of experience. However there are also things that can never be understood or considered an absolute truth without experiencing it. Some people in order to accept truth backed up it with concrete proofs from past or future experience. Work Cited Page: Empiricism. Encyclop? dia Britannica. 2009. Encyclop? dia Britannica Online. 15 Feb. 2009 http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/186146/Empiricism. Rationalism. Encyclop? dia Britannica. 2009. Encyclop? dia Britannica Online. 15 Feb. 2009 http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/492034/rationalism. Carnap, Rudolf. â€Å"Empiricism, Semantics and Onthology†. Revue Internationale de Philosophie. Retrived 15 February, 2009. from http://www. ditext. com/carnap/carnap. html Yount, David J. Empiricism V. Rationalism online. Retrieved 15 February 2009 from http://www. mc. maricopa. edu/~yount/text/empm-v-ratm. html Purvis, Dustin. Rationalism Vs. Empiricism. SocyBerty online. 2008, April 17. Retrieved 15 February, 2009 From http://www. socyberty. com/Philosophy/Rationalism-Vs-Empiricism. 110492/1

Legislation of Civil Rights in the 1960’s :: Racism, Civil Rights, Discrimination

The issue of civil disobedience is as old as Socrates and as modern as Nelson Mandella. It is such an important issue today because the civil rights revolution is an attempt to seek new tactics of social and political reform. At the time of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it was described as the most significant piece of legislation to be passed by the U.S. Congress in the twentieth century. The legislation resulted in ending virtually overnight legal racial segregation of black Americans in the American South. This territory was a place where public segregation of blacks from white Americans had been categorized in state laws. Many of those who participated in the congressional enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 understood the enormous historical significance of the doctrine. History In 1619 in Jamestown, Virginia a Dutch ship sailed into the harbor with twenty African slaves. These slaves were brought from Africa used to profit the southern United States. They provided a cheap and reliable source of labor. The America north was more of an industrial area and the use of slaves was less useful. Throughout the 1800’s the north and the south drifted apart on the issue. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves in the states that seceded from the Union. After the Civil war, three amendments to the Constitution were made, the 13th, 14th and 15th. These amendments abolished slavery, gave blacks the right to life, liberty and property, and the right to vote. In the Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson the court ruled blacks separate but equal. This continued racism spurred early civil rights movements and the creation of the new organization of the National Association for the Advancement o f Colored people(NAACP). In the years that followed around 1962-1963, the south was the site of confrontations between black demonstrators and segregationist whites. The Civil Rights Act to the Supreme Court Many feel that Martin Luther King Jr. used nonviolent demonstrations to deliberately provoke attacks from violence prone white southern officials and white mobs. Whether or not King used this strategy his efforts resulted in the mass media coverage he needed. The civil rights movement became one of the largest publicized events in U.

Berkshire Hathaway Phenomenon In the Context of Modern Finance Theory Essay

Berkshire Hathaway Phenomenon In the Context of Modern Finance Theory Septtember 2013 Berkshire Hathaway Phenomenon In the Context of Modern Finance Theory Introduction Over the 46 years ending December 2012, Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) has achieved a compound, after-tax, rate of return in excess of 20% p.a. Such consistent, long term, out performance might be viewed as incompatible with modern finance theory. This essay discusses the Berkshire Hathaway phenomenon in the context of modern finance theory. Part 1 Modern Portfolio Theory Berkshire Hathaway’s investing strategies mainly differ with modern portfolio theory on two aspects. The first one is the attitude towards the undesirable thing in investment. And the second one is the perspective of diversification. As Harry Markowitz pointed out in Portfolio Selection, one of the assumptions is (Markowitz, 1952)â€Å"the investor does (or should) consider expected return as a desirable thing and variance of return an undesirable thing†. However, in Warren Buffet’s point of view, (Roberg G, 2005) the only undesirable thing should be the possibility of harm. He emphasizes on conducting fundamental analysis to work out a company’s future profits, so as to determine the intrinsic value instead of monitoring the stock prices. This is because in the long term, the investment outcome is mainly harmed by misjudging the business value, including misjudging of inflation rate and  interest rate etc. As such, risk is defined differently between Mr Buffett and Modern Portfolio Theory; one is defined by possibility of misjudging the  intrinsic value of business, the other being simplified to variance of expected returns. If we consider risk as a probability statement, then maybe Mr B uffett’s definition is closer to the original meaning. Also, the assumption of maximising one-period expected utility is not what Buffet focuses on in his investment strategies. (Roberg G, 2005)In this case, Justin Industries, which was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 2000, can serve as a good example. During the five years prior to the acquisition, stock price of Justin Industries dropped by 37 percent, which should result in a huge variance of expected return. But Mr Buffett saw it as a perfect opportunity to purchase a well-managed traditional business with over 100 years of history. He offered a 23 percent premium over stock price at the time, and the stock price shot up by 22% on the day of announcement. It is also stated by Markowitz that, (Markowitz, 1952)â€Å"a rule of behaviour which does not imply the superiority of diversification must be rejected both as a hypothesis and as a maxim†. On the contrary, Mr Buffett has his famous quote, (Roberg G, 2005)â€Å"diversification serves as a protection against ignorance. If you want to make sure that nothing bad happens to you relative to the market, you should own everything. There is nothing wrong with that. It’s a perfectly sound approach for somebody who doesn’t know how to analyse business†. One can always argue that Berkshire Hathaway does not operate in only one industry, and they tend to invest in more industries in recent years. But as the business grows in volume, it is reasonable to be involved in new industries when there are few sound investment opportunities in the industries they already operate in, let alone that the technology industry was rarely in the list of holdings of Berkshire Hathaway, not even when Apple’s stock was soaring. The reason being, (Roberg G, 2005)â€Å"investment success is not about how much you know but how realistically you define what you don’t know†. Chart 1 (Martin & Puthenpurackal, 2007) Distribution of Berkshire Hathaway Investments by Industry The chart above shows distribution of Berkshire Hathaway’s investments by industry and firm size during the time frame 1976-2006. Judging by the size and number of investments, it can be concluded that a large amount of wealth was placed in manufacturing industry during the 30 years in study, although for diversification purpose, more weight could have been placed in the industry of agriculture, forestry and fishing, construction or retail trade. Having compared the differences, it is still worth noting that Markowitz did not rule out fundamental analysis in portfolio selection process, as is said in his foregoing paper,(Markowitz, 1952)â€Å"the process of selecting a portfolio may be divided into two stages. The first stage starts with observation and experience and ends with beliefs about the future performances of available securities. The second stage starts with relevant beliefs about future performances and ends with the choice of portfolio. This paper is concerned with the second stage†. Part 2 Efficient Market Hypothesis The strong form of efficient market hypothesis states that all information, no matter public or private, instantaneously affects current stock price. Semi-strong form is only concerned with public information, while the weak form suggests that current stock price reflects information in the previous prices. In short, they simply imply that in the long run, no one should be able to beat the market in terms of investment return. As is said in Fama’s paper in 1970, (Eugene F, 1970)â€Å"the evidence in support of the efficient markets model is extensive, and (somewhat uniquely in economics) contradictory evidence is sparse†. However, Warren Buffet has always criticised efficient market hypothesis as much as he could. The major  reason is that, as a fundamental analysis advocate, (Roberg G, 2005)he thinks analysing all available information make an analyst at advantage. He once said, (Banchuenvijit, 2006)†investing in a market where people believe in efficiency is like playing bridge with someone who has been told it does not do any good to look at the cards.† Also in his speech at Columbia University in 1984, he mentioned, â€Å"ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace, and those who read their Graham & Dodd will continue to prosper.† (Roberg G, 2005)To illustrate, we can take Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. in 2009 for example. At the time, shares of Burlington Northern had dropped 13 percent in 12 months. Also, the market was soft during GFC, so the possibility of competitive bids was low according to Tony Russo, a partner at Gardner Russo & Gardner, which holds Berkshire shares. If efficient market hypothesis does stand, the market would rebound quickly when GFC took place, and such opportunity of relatively low-priced acquisition would not exist. Even if it exists, other investor should anticipate quick upward adjustment of price and participate in bidding when they find out about this opportunity. However, this does not prove that fundamental analysis is superior, because intrinsic value is not yet clear defined, and how does Mr Buffet calculate the intrinsic value is still a mystery. Part 3 Capital Asset Pricing Model When examining assumptions of Capital Asset Pricing Model, it is obvious that Mr Buffett is at odds with almost every one of them. Firstly, the model assumes that all investors are Markowitz efficient, but as mentioned earlier, Mr Buffett does not treat variance of expected return as an absolute drawback, so the second rule that Markowitz Efficiency must follow does not stand. Secondly, the model is backed by the assumption that investors have  homogeneous expectations and equal access to opportunities, which suggests that everyone is supposed to have the same view of future profit stream. However, as a recent paper pointed out, (Frazzini, et al., 2013)Mr Buffett’s return is largely due to his selection of stocks. If everyone has the same view with Mr Buffett and the same access to the investment opportunities, then if not everyone, a large number of people should be as rich as Mr Buffett, when the reality is the opposite. So Mr Buffett would not agree with this assumption either. The third assumption is that capital markets are in equilibrium, which is practically what only efficient markets can achieve, which, as discussed above, is not in line with Mr Buffett’s view point. The final one, which is that Capital Asset Pricing Model only works within one period time horizon, is apparently against Mr Buffett’s long-term holding strategy. Apart from model assumptions, one of the strongest contradictions between Mr Buffett’s view point and Capital Asset Pricing Model is that the model is for short-term predicting purpose, which would clearly be categorised into (Roberg G, 2005)â€Å"speculation† instead of â€Å"investment† by Mr Buffett. In addition, â€Å"market portfolio† is not of practical use, compared with Mr Buffett’s way of only analysing businesses he is familiar with, because the market portfolio we use cannot truly represent the entire market. Part 4 Multi-factor Pricing Models Unlike Capital Asset Pricing Model, which has only one factor, in Multi-factor Pricing Models, such as Arbitrage Pricing Theory and Fama-French three-factor model, the rate of return is linked to several factors. As diversification is still suggested by the model, the same divergence on diversification exists with Mr Buffet’s strategies and Multi-factor Pricing Models. Moreover, differences also lie in the fact that multi-factor models usually take in some macroeconomic factors, which investors should not consider according to Mr Buffett, (Roberg G, 2005)the rationale being that if a single stock price cannot be predicted, the overall economic condition would be more difficult to predict. Despite the differences, some micro factors included in the multi-factor model, such as P/E ratio and book-to-market ratio, can also be used to conduct fundamental analysis to determine the intrinsic value and possibility of growth of a business. As such, the ideas of which factors to take into account can coincide within the two different approaches. Chart 2(Martin & Puthenpurackal, 2007) Factor Regressions of Berkshire Hathaway and Mimicking Portfolios In a paper by Gerald S. Martin and John Puthenpurackal, they conduct a regression analysis using Fama-French three-factor and Carhart four-factor models on monthly returns of Berkshire Hathaway and mimicking portfolios. (Martin & Puthenpurackal, 2007)The adjusted excess returns turn out to be significant with p-values < 0.024; the excess market return and high-minus-low book-to-market factors are again significant with p-values < 0.01. However, small-minus-big and prior 2-12 month return momentum factors are not significantly explanatory factors. As such, preliminary conclusion can be reached that book-to-value highminus-low can be a common factor in both multi-factor models and Mr Buffett’s fundamental analysis. In addition, the factors of firm size and momentum are not likely to be considered by Mr Buffett. Also, both Berkshire’s and mimicking portfolio’s returns outperform the multi-factor models in study. (Bowen & Rajgopal, 2009)But as is pointed out in another thesis, the superior performance is attributed to the earlier years and they observe no significant alpha during the recent decade. Part 5 Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model According to Berkshire Hathaway’s letter to shareholders in 2008,(Buffett, 2008)their put contracts reported a mark-to-market loss of $5.1 billion, and this led to Mr Buffett’s â€Å"criticism† towards the Black-Scholes formula as is claimed by the media. However, the loss was in fact caused by inclusion of volatility in the formula when volatility becomes irrelevant as the duration before maturity lengthens. As Mr Buffett said in the letter,(Buffett, 2008)if the formula is applied to extended time periods, it can produce absurd results. In fairness, Black and Scholes almost certainly understood this point well. But their devoted followers may be ignoring whatever caveats the two men attached when they first unveiled the formula. As such, Mr Buffett’s comment on Black-Scholes formula is more of self-criticism than the other way around. This is reflected in his earlier comment on performance in the letter,(Buffett, 2008)†I believe each contract we own was mispriced at inception, sometimes dramatically so. I both initiated these positions and monitor them, a set of responsibilities consistent with my belief that the CEO of any large financial organization must be the Chief Risk Officer as well. If we lose money on our derivatives, it will be my fault.† We can understand why Mr Buffett gave this â€Å"fair† comment about the formulae when referring to the Black-Scholes paper,(Black & Scholes, 1973)†if the expiration date of the option is very far in the future, then the price of the bond that pays the exercise price on the maturity date will be very low, and the value of the option will be approximately equal to the price of the stock. â€Å" Mr Buffett also commented that (Buffett, 2008)†The Black-Scholes formula has approached the status of holy writ in finance, and we use it when valuing our equity put options for financial statements purposes. Key inputs to the calculation include a contract’s maturity and strike price, as well as the analyst’s expectations for volatility, interest rates and dividends† and that â€Å"even so, we will continue to use  Black-Scholes when we are estimating our financial-statement liability for long-term equity puts. The formula represents conventional wisdom and any substitute that I might offer would engender extreme scepticism†. Despite Mr Buffett’s confession, a scholar studied the letter and reached a different conclusion why the loss was made:(Cornell, 2009)He first ruled out risk-free rate, inflation rate and drift and focused on volatility, which is consistent with where Mr Buffett thought he made a mistake. The lognormal diffusion assumption, which implies that volatility increases linearly with respect to the horizon over which it is measured, was discussed at length with controversial evidence. As such, its misuse is not a strong explanation regarding the absurd results. He then found out in the letter that Mr Buffett believed that inflationary policies of governments and central banks will limit future declines in nominal stock prices compared with those predicted by a historically estimated lognormal distribution. If Mr Buffet is right, then the Black-Scholes model will indeed significantly overvalue long-dated put options, to which a possible solution is making the left-hand tail truncated to reduce the value of long-dated put options. Summary Throughout this essay, we have discussed the common views and divergences between Mr Buffett’s investment strategies and Modern Finance Theories. Now we summarize the main points as follows: Common views Divergences Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model Modern Portfolio Theory Efficient Market Hypothesis Capital Asset Pricing Model Multi-factor Models Chart 3 Common Views and Divergences between Modern Finance Theory and Mr Buffett’s Strategies Modern Finance Theories Modern Portfolio Theory Divergences with Warren Buffet 1. Risk Defined as Volatility 2. Short Investment Horizon 3. Diversification Efficient Market Hypothesis Capital Asset Pricing Model Reliability of Fundamental Analysis 1. Markowitz Efficient Investors 2. Homogeneous Expectation and Equal Access to Opportunities 3. Markets in Equilibrium 4. Short Investment Horizon 5. Predicting Function Leads to Speculation 6. Impractical â€Å"Market Portfolio† 7. Diversification Multi-factor Models 1. Macro Factors 2. Diversification Chart 4 Detailed Divergences between Modern Finance Theory and Mr Buffett’s Strategies Bibliography Banchuenvijit, W., 2006. Investment Philosophy of Warren E. Buffet, Bankok: The University of Thai Chamber ofCommerce. Black, F. & Scholes, M., 1973. The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities. The Journal of Political Economy, 81(3), pp. 637-654. Bowen, R. M. & Rajgopal, S., 2009. Do Powerful Investors Influence Accounting, Governance and Investing Decisions?, Washington D.C.: University of Washington. Buffett, W. E., 2008. Letter to Shareholders, Omaha: Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.. Cornell, B., 2009. Warren Buffet, Black-Scholes and the Valuation of Long-dated Options, Pasadena: California Institute of Technology. Davis, J., 1991. Lessons from Omaha: an Analysis of the Investment Methods and Business Philosophy of Warren Buffett, Cambridge: Cambridge University. Eugene F, F., 1970. Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of THeory and Empirical Work. The Journal of Finance, 25(2), pp. 383-417. Eugene F, F. & Kenneth R, F., 1992. The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Return. The Journal of Finance, XLVII(2). Markowitz, H., 1952. Portfolio Selection. The Journal of Finance, VII(1), pp. 77-91. Martin, G. S. & Puthenpurackal, J., 2007. Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery: Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, Reno: University of Nevada. Roberg G, H., 2005. The Warren Buffet Way. 2 ed. Hoboken: John Wiley& Sons, Inc.. William F, S., 1964. Capital Asset Prices: A Theory of Market Equilibrium under Conditions of Risk. The Journal of Finance, 19(3), pp. 425-442.

Compare And Contrast Hester And Dimmesdale - 1771 Words

French poet Jean De La Fontaine once said, â€Å"Nothing weighs on us so heavily as a secret does.† Set in the harsh Puritan community of seventeenth-century Boston, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a tale of a woman named Hester Prynne who is involved in an affair scandal. As a result she is punished by the relentless society and is ordered to bear a scarlet â€Å"A† on her bosom for the remainder of her life which stands for adulterer. However, the mystery as to who the father is of her newborn baby, Pearl would remain a mystery for seven years. One of the town’s most renowned figures, their beloved minister Arthur Dimmesdale proves to be a true exhibit of Mr. Fontaine’s saying since he is the illicit lover of Hester and is Pearl’s†¦show more content†¦Hester’s scarlet letter is a piece of clothing, the â€Å"SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom† (Hawthorn 51). Her int erpretation of the extremity of her sins is one of self composure and calm. She views her sins solely as a violation in the natural order of the environment and therefore cannot even perceive her sin as being evil except through outside influence. Dimmesdale on the other hand, has a scarlet letter carved in his chest. This is revealed when Dimmesdale was giving his revelation, in which â€Å"he tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed!† (Hawthorn 232). Dimmesdale s personal interpretation as to the extremity of his own sins is a violation of God s law, which is the law that he is totally dedicated to and supported by. Dimmesdale s interpretation of his sin is much more severe than Hester s, it is a violation and direct contradiction of his own self consciousness and physical existence. Therefore the appearance of his A, even though it is never directly described in the novel, must be powerful, broken, and brutally dishonest (...a ghastly rapture; Hawthorne pg.95). Since the Scarlet Letter on Hester is visible to the public, she was criticized and looked down on. â€Å"This women has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die† (Hawthorn 49) is said by a female in the marketplace talking about Hester. She becomes a stronger person through living this hard life.Show MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Scarlet Letter 746 Words   |  3 PagesChapter 8: What is the purpose of Hester and Mistress Hibben’s interactions? What does it say about Hester? Chapter 9: What two contrasting images does the town hold about Chillingworth? How were they brought about? Chapter 10: From the context of the chapter, what can readers infer is on Dimmesdale’s chest? Chapter 11: In what ways, can the reader infer, does Dimmesdale incorporate his suffering into his sermons? Chapter 12: Compare the internal suffering of Dimmesdale to Hester’s suffering. Who isRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne830 Words   |  4 PagesHawthorne summarizes Hester Prynne’s perspective of the forest in one phrase. Early in the book, as Hester leaves prison, Hawthorne describes the forest as â€Å"dark, inscrutable†¦ open to [Hester], where the wilderness of her nature might assimilate itself with a people whose customs and life were alien from the law that had condemned her† (75). Hawthorne explains Hester’s connection to the evil, isolated, and free forest, which serves as the location for her conversations with Pearl, Dimmesdale, and ChillingsworthRead More Greatest Sinner in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter Essay1267 Words   |  6 Pagesnot take responsibility for it. 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Avoiding subjugation to the conservative Puritans Society rule, the reverend feigned obliviousness all the while Hester, the person he committed adultery with, fearlessly bared her shame upon her bosom. The society held Dimmesdale to a higher standard; as a result, their influences hindered his ability to take responsibility for his actions. TheRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Scarlet Letter 1917 Words   |  8 Pagesmay be unfamiliar to him. He possesses some of the qualities of another fictional character, written about over two centuries before him. Hester Prynne is marked by her scarlet letter, giving people a preconceived notion about who she is, similar to Harry’s iconic scar. She also puts others before herself, including those who had betrayed her trust (Dimmesdale), similar to Harry saving his enemy Draco from being engulfed in flame in the seventh installment of the series. 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During his life, he wrote a sketch of Hutchinson thus portraying his interest towards her and the characteristics of her life. It could be accurate to say that Anne Hutchinson was used as a guide to make the character of Hester PrynneRead MoreHistory Notes3525 Words   |  15 Pagesis higher level reading, but I urge you to do as much as you can with the novel independently – push yourself. The reading becomes easier as you adapt to Hawthorne’s language and style. Chapter 1 1.Hawthorne establishes a contrast between the darkness of the Puritans and the beauty of the rose. Examine the descriptions of the Puritans, the prison, and the prison door. What does Hawthorne imply about the nature of human beings by his emphasis on the early establishment of