Perspectives on The Scarlet Letter

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A 9 page research paper/essay that addresses 3 critical perspectives on this classic work. There is an old Buddhist parable that describes how a raja had six blind men examine an elephant and relate what they believe an elephant to be like. Each blind man touches a different part of the elephant: one the tail, another the trunk, etc. Consequently, the animal that they each describe is very different because they each have a totally different perspective. Similarly, literary criticism can take very different perspectives. While critics may be analyzing the same novel, their particular critical perspective can result in widely divergent interpretations of the author's narrative. This examination of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter demonstrates this point by looking at this early American masterpiece from three different critical perspectives: feminist, psychological and historical. Bibliography lists 5 sources.