Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter Essay

« and her husband is supposed to meet her there.

She finds comfort in the person of Minister Arthur Dimmesdale, and let herself be tempted by an act of passion, and love that gave birth to a « sinful » child.

Then Hester has to carry the burden of her shame embodied in the Scarlet Letter, and in Pearl.

Hester follows what we can call natural laws : Roger Prynne (aka Chillingworth) is described as old, deformed, and a man of science confine in his books, whereas Hester is young and beautiful, in the world of natural laws this union is odd.

But Dimmesdale and Hester are a perfect match.

But in the Puritan society, that is far from being that simple, Hawthorne points out that punishment and providence dominate Puritan culture ; proximity and description of the cemetery and the prison in chapter 1, foreshadows the effect of the Puritan culture on Hester.

She has to conform to the Puritan punishement, and thus Puritan laws in order to attain redemption.

Hester is depicted as a victim of love, but guilty of her sin, and she seeks redemption, she conforms to the rigid Puritanism.

She becomes a victim of Purtitan laws, and their harsh vision of life, her beauty and radiant self is hidden throughout the descriptions of her, but her love makes her hide her light, it is not taken away from her.

In the first scaffold scene, chapter 2, the women in the crowd are angered by her beauty and quiet dignity, and her strenght and love that prevailed her from naiming her lover, and partner in sin.

In chapter 13 « Another view of Hester » we see again that beauty that she had on the beginning of the novel, that was hidden by the Scarlet Letter and the cap : symbols of the Puritan society, but in the wilderness she is her true self.

Hester finds her strength in love, she has an iron will that permits her to defy the law, she won’t reveal the name of her lover, even though the law, and the church, order her to.

Hawthorne uses Hester’s sin to question the nature of law and punishment in Puritan society ; no doubt throughout the novel that Hester has paid her due, Hawthorne shows it, in Chillingworth’s , Dimmesdale’s opinions.

From the chapter 13 the scarlet letter is no longer seen as a sign of shame but a sign of strength, and « Able ».

But this has come with a price: no friends, no passion, no love or affection.

Once again to conform to Puritan society made her lost hope to find love in all its forms. Hester is strong figure for the colony, as the plot unfolds, and mostly for Dimmesdale.

Who has not confess his sin, and stays in the dark, with his guilt.

He relies on Hester to redeem him, he thinks she can provide the mercy and forgivness he has not felt at the hands of God.

In chapter 17, in which Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest, symbols of nature, natural laws, humanity are placed next to the more artificial laws of Puritan society as Hawthorne develops the conflict with Hester and Dimmesdale.

In consequences they are reluctant to leave this place, here they find peace and harmony they cannot feel in Puritan community.

Dimmesdale’s speech, in chapter 2, is the illustation of its tormented soul.

On one level, he gives a public chastisement of Hester for not naming her lover; on another level, he makes a personal plea to her to name him as her lover and Pearl's father because he is too morally weak to do so himself.

Ironically, what is initially intended to be a speech about Hester becomes more a commentary about his own sinful behavior.He wants her to deliver him from his guilt, without public repentance salavtion is not attainable.

The dichotomy between Dimmesdale’s public speech, and personal meanings is most evident in the phrase « believe me ».

As Hawthorne said « No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true.

» He warns us not to let our reputations become more important than our lives, and it poses an interesting question about the danger of valuing appearances.

Dimmesdale is the only Puritan of the four main characters, he has much to lose if he reveals his sin, he has responsability towards the town’s people, sermons to do, and of course God’s protection.

But as Hawthorne wrote only redemption, and truth is the way to get Pearl’s love and God’s trust.. »