The Scarlet Letter Essay Research Paper Essay

The Scarlet Letter Essay, Research Paper

Essay: The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter explores the conflict between private truth and public appearances, and the choice between sin and salvation. Although written in the 19th century, the long and gruesome story of Hester Prynne, branded with a large, red A because of her unforgivable sin her adulterous relationship with a young idolized minister, explores questions still asked today: What is moral. And what is good. The main focus of my essay is to prove that Hawthorne s The Scarlet Letter is one of many Romantic beliefs, through analyzing the most important aspects throughout the book, from its theme and symbolism to the main characters. I will show how this directly ties in with the Dark Romantics, who through their work, show that guilty secrets serve to isolate people from the world and from their relationship with others. The saddest of all prisons is a person s own heart Restrictive and very conservative environments bring about severe penalties on fallen souls. Because of the vox populi, a sinner may be scorned for life and pushed to take drastic measures that may lead them into greater peril. The judgmental voices about them ensure their eternal misery. The Scarlet Letter elaborates this idea to near perfection. Thus, the outcome of the plot is inevitable and poor Hester is condemned for bearing a child out of wedlock. It s obvious that because of the epoch in which the story takes place, such a sin is looked upon as the sin of all sins. The consequences are undoubtedly eternal. It s only in the presence of the Puritan society that the weight of the sin pulls Hester down. The Scarlet Letter was a literal soapbox for Hawthorne to convey to the world that the majority of Puritans were strict and unfeeling. For example, before Hester emerges from the prison she is being scorned by a group of women who feel that she deserves a larger punishment that she actually receives. Instead of only being made to stand on the scaffold and wear the scarlet letter on her chest, they suggest that she have it branded on her forehead or even be put to death (p. 47) Perhaps the most important influence on the story is the author s interest in the Dark side ( Introduction VIII). Hawthorne confronted reality, rather than evading it (VII). Writers such as Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe acknowledged the natural tendency in human life to commit sin, feel or inflict pain, and in times face or even practice evil, many times in the form of revenge. The Dark Romantics view of existence derived from both the mystical and the melancholy aspects of the Puritan belief. In their works, they explored the conflict between good and evil, the psychological effects of guilt and sin, and even madness and derangement in human psyche. The Dark Romantics saw the blackness and the horror of evil. From this imaginative, unflinching vision they shaped a uniquely American literature. Many of the important symbols in the novel lie either in the setting or in the characters. The scaffold appears in the beginning, middle, and end of the novel. Hawthorne uses this symbol to divide his novel into three parts. Just as it rises above the market place, it rises above the regular structure of the novel. All the three incidents on the scaffold are the high points in novel. Symbolicly the scaffold represents the strict moral code of the Puritans. It displays Hester’s act and her punishment. It also represents acknowledgement of sin. It is here that both Hester and Dimmesdale acknowledge their sin. The scaffold scenes are the most substantial situations in the story because they unify the book in two influential ways. First of all, every scaffold scene reunites the main characters of the novel. In the first scene, everyone in the town is gathered in the market place because Hester is being questioned about the identity of the father of her child. In her arms is the product of her sin, Pearl, a three month old baby who is experiencing life outside the prison for the first time. Dimmesdale is standing beside the scaffold because he s Hester s pastor and it s his job to convince her to repent and reveal the father s name. A short time later, Chillingworth unexpectedly shows up within the crowd of people who are watching Hester after he is released from his two year captivity by the Indians. In the second scene, Dimmesdale is standing on top of the scaffold alone in the middle of the night. He sees Hester and Pearl walk through the market place on their way back from Governor Winthrop s bedside. When Dimmesdale recognizes them and tells them to join him, they walk up the steps to stand by his side. Chillingworth appears later, also, standing beside the scaffold, staring at Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl. In the final scaffold scene, Dimmesdale walks to the steps of the scaffold in the front of the whole town after his Election Day sermon. He tells Hester and Pearl to join him yet again on the scaffold. Chillingworth then runs through the crowd and tries to stop Dimmesdale from reaching the top of the scaffold, the one place where he can t reach him. Another way in which the scenes are united is how each illustrates the immediate, delayed, and prolonged effects that the sin of adultery has on the main characters. The first scene shows Hester being publicly punished on the scaffold. She is being forced to stand on it for three hours straight and listen to the people talk ab