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The Scarlet Letter
The book The Scarlet Letter is all about symbolism. People and objects
are symbolic of events and thoughts. Throughout the course of the book,
Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester, Pearl, and Arthur Dimmesdale to signify
Puritanic and Romantic philosophies.
Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner;
she has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery. For this
irrevocably harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her
life. However, the Romantic philosophies of Hawthorne put down the
Puritanic beliefs. She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is
forgiven. Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity" and she can do
no wrong. Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a
Puritanical sign of disownment, is shown through the author's tone and
diction as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece.
Pearl, Hester's child, is portrayed Puritanically, as a child of sin who
should be treated as such, ugly, evil, and shamed. The reader more
evidently notices that Hawthorne carefully, and sometimes not subtly at
all, places Pearl above the rest. She wears colorful clothes, is
extremely smart, pretty, and nice. More often than not, she shows her
intelligence and free thought, a trait of the Romantics. One of Pearl's
favorite activities is playing with flowers and trees. (The reader will
recall that anything affiliated with the forest was evil to Puritans. To
Hawthorne, however, the forest was beautiful and natural.) "And she was
gentler here [the forest] than in the grassy-margined streets of the
settlement, or in her mother's cottage. The flowers appeared to know it"
(194) Pearl fit in with natural things. Also, Pearl is always
effervescent and joyous, which is definitely a negative to the Puritans.
Pearl is a virtual shouting match between the Puritanical views and the
Romantic ways.
To most, but especially the Puritans, one of the most important members
of a community is the religious leader; Arthur Dimmesdale is no exception.
He was held above the rest, and this is proven in one of the first scenes
of the book. As Hester is above the townspeople on a scaffold, Dimmesdale,
Governor Wilson, and others are still above her. But, as the reader soon
discovers, Arthur Dimmesdale is his own worst enemy. He hates himself and
must physically inflict pain upon himself. "He thus typified the constant
introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself" to
never forget what he has done (141). To Dimmesdale, it is bad that Hester
is shown publicly as a sinner, but people forget that. What is far worse
than public shame is Dimmesdale's own cruel inner shame. Knowing what
only he and Hester know, the secret eats away at every fiber of
Dimmesdale's being. As the Puritans hold up Dimmesdale, the Romantics
level him as a human.
The Scarlet Letter is a myriad of allegorical theories and philosophies.
Ranging from Puritanic to Romantic, Nathaniel Hawthorne embodies his ideas
to stress his Romantic philosophies through Pearl, Hester, and Dimmesdale
throughout all of this.
Word Count: 491
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