Adultery in The Great Gatsby and The Scarlet Letter - Essay Example

of Adultery in The Great Gatsby and The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850) and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1922) are novels which are divided by a great expanse of time. There is however a theme which, though treated very differently in these novels, offers interesting possibilities for comparison and contrast. This of course is the theme of adultery. The essay shall seek to explore the intrinsic connection between the representations of adultery in these novels and the social and historical milieus in which they are set. This shall also make for a fruitful study of the change in portrayals of marriage, human relationships and fidelity in American fiction through the ages. In Hawthorne’s novel the Hester’s fall and the penalty that she incurs as a result of it constitutes the novel’s critique of the tyrannical exegetical authority of early Puritan society. In The Great Gatsby however the critique is primarily of the degeneration of human relationships during the economic boom of the 1920s. It is noteworthy however that though there is a hiatus of centuries between the locations of these novels; the chief victims of the acts of adultery continue to be the women in the novel. While in The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale is far less affected by the act of adultery than Hester and her daughter Pearl, in The Great Gatsby Myrtle and Daisy are the chief victims of the many acts of infidelity committed during the course of the narrative. In a significant instance Tom Buchanan introduces Myrtle to Nick as “my girl.” The use of the possessive pronoun “my” is important for it reduces the woman in question to the status of a mere commodity. Nick too judges Myrtle harshly for her worldly ambitions which she tries to advance through her adulterous affair with Tom. Thus in the world of the novel, women become powerless pawns in the complex and irrevocable web of lies, deceit and infidelity created by the characters if the novel. Perhaps the most important point of confluence in these novels is their ironic if not pessimistic view of the institution of marriage. In Hawthorne’s novel the marriage between Chillingworth and Hester is loveless, and society condemns the clandestine relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale notwithstanding the fact that it based on love and understanding. In Fitzgerald’s novels, marriages and relationships are often based on considerations of material prosperity or carnal desire divorced from compassion. The scepticism in the novels is however not directed at the possibility of a fulfilling conjugal relationship but rather at the society’s definition of marriage based on utilitarian rather than emotional concerns. The most striking aspect that a comparative study of these novels brings to the fore is the fact that adultery in The Scarlet Letter is a definitive event, in The Great Gatsby it seems to be ubiquitous. There is in the former a possibility of a spiritual redemption for the adulterers Hester and Dimmesdale. One may however argue that the novel’s representation of adultery is not didactic in nature. Though the denouement shows the characters standing atop the town scaffold, it is not forgiveness that they seek but rather uphold their erstwhile clandestine relationship. Thus the eponymous scarlet letter transcends the meaning assigned to it by the Puritan clergy to assume multifarious meanings-angel, able et al. Many critics consider these two novels to have instances within them that are intrinsically connected to the Garden of Eden. Eden was the place where man fell from his position of innocence to that of sin. It is often represented as a utopia in literature. However, there are differences between the conventional representations of Eden and the way America is in these novels. In The Great Gatsby, America becomes an Eden not in a Utopian sense but in that of a dystopic one. The ashheaps that are continually referred to is a symbol of the hellish situation that the people in America find themselves in. Eden as the place where man fell is what the reader gets to know through the novel. Adultery is then also an aspect that ties in with the fall of man as there are several explanations of the fall that focus on the sexual aspect of it. Eden then becomes a place which is reminiscent of the pessimistic possibilities that lie in store for man. Adultery becomes a part of the excesses of the society of the United States of America during the Jazz Age. While there is in The Great Gatsby a pessimism that can be seen in regard to relationships in general, The Scarlet Letter talks of the possibility of a familial structure that transcends social structures and the established institutions of the society. Both the novels critique those aspects of the society that represent an overpowering influence in the society. While Hawthorne criticizes religion as an all-powerful social institution that invades the individualities of people, commerce and trade have made adultery an everyday event in the world that Fitzgerald talks of. There is an awareness of the corruption of American life in either novel. In The Scarlet Letter, however, there is an acceptance of the fact that America with all its faults is a nation of relative freedom. This can be seen from the fact that Hester does not leave America despite the promise of a new beginning elsewhere. Adultery is condemned in this society only as a result of religious sanctions that the society imposes. The corruption of the society can be seen in the fact that the pious Dimmesdale chooses to not reveal his part in the ‘crime’ until his death is certain. The scaffold that becomes a symbol of the guilt of Hester is a geographical site that is looked upon with hate and is invested with a great deal of shame. In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s house is however, not looked upon as a site of shame even though it is the place where the beginning of the short-lived second affair between Gatsby and Daisy begins. This place is covered over with wealth and there is no shame that is associated with adultery here. This is significant as it ties in with the notions of corruption that Fitzgerald associates with the increasing commerce that was happening in the United States of America. This again signifies the changes that took place in America in the period between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries. The importance of the Jazz Age on the production of the novel is another aspect of this issue. The aspect of adultery becomes a symbol of the American way of life. The corruption of this life is what Fitzgerald and Hawthorne seek to discuss through their novels. As part of this, they also look at the different forces of the society that play a part in creating the circumstances that lead a person into adultery. Religion in The Scarlet Letter and commerce and national prosperity in The Great Gatsby become very important factors in determining the ways in which the characters act. They also determine to a great extent the decisions that they take and the very manner in which they perceive themselves. Acts of adultery are important events in the creation of the identities of the characters in these novels. They are also important as far as the creation of the senses of the self of a person is concerned. Adultery is thus, not just the breakdown of the structures of the family that enables the preservation of status quo (Foucault 18) but also a symbol that stands for the corruption in a society that eats it from within. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. London: Wordsworth, 2000. Print. Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality Vol: 1. New York: Penguin, 1990. Print. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. London: Wordsworth, 1986. Print. Read More