The Scarlet Letter Analysis - Essay Example

The Scarlet Letter Affiliation The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet letter is a romantic and historic work by Nathaniel Hawthorn that he did in 1850. It is one of his best romantic works since it gruels the reader through different themes mainly conformity and identity in the society. The Scarlet letter tells of a story about Hester Prynne that was judged by the community and condemned by the community and led out of prison wearing a scarlet letter “A” on her breast (Hawthorne and Pearson, 2004). The letter is meant to hold her in shameful accord and to label her as an adulterer in the community. The story is set in Boston where Hester lives after her husband had asked her to leave and he would come later but was feared to have died in the sea. Hester engaged in an affair and is with a child that compounds the rumors by the community that she is an adulterer. The husband however makes it to Boston and in an attempt to revenge for her adulterous acts reveals himself to her only to change his name to Chillingworth. The author also uses Dimmsdale to show the difference in characters between the different characters and their major decisions in the novel. The author takes one through the deceit, love, identity, revenge and bitterness between the different characters in the novel and how it has impacted the development of the plot. This paper looks at the different themes and characters and how the author has mixed the different characters to demonstrate the main themes in the work that are identity and conformity to the people. Thesis statement: The society can form an identity about a person that one can either conform to or change depending on what they truly believe in. Hester is a woman who has been shamed in the Boston community as adulterous and has been labeled with the scarlet letter to compound her deeds. The fact that her husband is not the father of her child means that she can move to another area and start over since all the people have already condemned and are judging her. In addition, her husband reveals himself to her and vows to revenge for her sinful acts and her lack of moral principles. She however does not reveal the identity of the father of the child even after she has been strongly asked to do so and swears to live in the same community and never to take off the letter (Hawthorne and Pearson, 2004). The woman is strong-willed and does not believe in being changed by the community but instead stays in Boston and ensures that she takes up a cause that changes the perception of the people that she stays with in the long-run. The letter is made by the community in order to stigmatize her and rob her of her own true identity but instead she opts to change the cause of the people’s beliefs through her strong will and determination. Giving her daughter the best example and advice are also top on her priority list as she wants her to also get her own identity and make sure that she can stand on her own. When Chillingworth tells Hester that the town elders have allowed her to remove the letter she reacts in dismay since she aims to transform the letter from being a symbol of shame to being a symbol of her transformation. The people with a high level of moral codes and the preachers are made to believe that Hester is a woman lacking in moral decadence and does not deserve any part in the society due to her acts especially after she fails to name the father of the child. The author is also regarding Hester in the same level and exemplifies her as a bad woman that does not follow any form of moral cords especially looking at the time when the work was created she would be comparable to a prostitute. However, as the author continues to illustrate the character of Hester in the book there is a level of understanding and admiration of her deeds in the society (Hawthorne and Pearson, 2004). Hester has transformed the Scarlet letter and made it into a letter that does not signify an adulterous lady but an independent lady that is ready to fight for her identity. When her lover Dimmsdale is revealed and is looking dejected Hester offers solace and makes the main decisions and arrangements with him to move out of the community. The lady is so determined to the cause that she finally agrees to remove the Scarlet letter and is willing to take her child with her on the trip. Even after Dimmsdale dies, she stills embarks on her journey where she stays with her daughter away from Boston for a few years and later comes back. The author shows Hester as a lady that is not willing to conform to the society but is ready to transform herself for the society to conform to her own true self. The lady has transformed the true meaning of the scarlet letter in the community and has moved from being a talk of the town from her immoral act to being a lady that is admired by the whole society. The author uses the lady as a mirror to show that although the society may form a perception and identifies one with a specific set of behavior or rules the true power of their acts and beliefs rests with the accused. It is upon an individual to take up the beliefs or change the beliefs of the society about them. On the surface it may appear as though Hester has conformed to the whims of the society and accepted their identity that they paint to affect her. This is because she wears the letter on her breast meaning that she has conceded defeat in the eyes of the community members. However, Hester does not accept the perception of the community and works hard to change what they believe about her until she later makes them see her as a good and kind woman who has a stature in the society. Arthur Dimmesdale is used by the author to mirror the community assertion of Hester and how an identity can be made by the people. Dimmesdale is a respected minister in the community and due to his eloquent and emotional speaking many people in the community believe him to be a good man that is morally upright and abides by the moral codes that the people believe should be followed by every member of the community. The people listen to his counsel and he even helped Hester when her child was about to be taken away from her since they believed that he was a true statesman and his opinion was held in high regard (Hawthorne and Pearson, 2004). However, this is not wholly accurate since he was the father of Pearl Hester’s daughter. Although he knew he was the father he allowed Hester to be publicly humiliated and take all the blame although he knew that he also had a part to play in the sins of Hester. In comparison to Hester who was strong-willed and took the burden on her own believing in her own true identity and not that which the community painted he does not stand by the same principles. Dimmsdale allows himself to uphold the image that the members of the society have set for him and since he does not want to paint any wrong image persists on the same until he finally realizes that he has made a mistake and wishes to profess to the members of the community. Hester moves from being a sinful and bad woman rebuked by the community but Dimmsdale moves from being a good man to his true being that the community do not believe him to be. It is fascinating to see how the writer has presented the Boston community from being unforgiving for a woman but cannot believe that a man with the status of Dimmsdale in their community is responsible for such an unforgiving act. The author paints two pictures of the community when it comes to judging and condemning Hester to the case of Dimmsdale. The community does not believe in the choices that Dimmsdale has made although he confesses and were quick to judge Hester without any form of confession (Hawthorne and Pearson, 2004). Dimsdale has not taken the position that he is given by the community to good accord and he ends up falling ill due to the guilt that he feels as a result of his guilt and in the end does not make the choices that are expected of him by her lover Hester. He is a kind hearted man that is dying with guilt due to being painted as a saint by the community and yet he knows the problems in his life and instead of taking up the mantle and continuing with the good work he ends up falling ill due to guilt. The author has used the two characters where on one hand there is Hester who forms a name for herself after being condemned by the community and on the other hand there is Dimmesdale that is eaten away by the guilt that he feels due to the community appreciating his efforts in the community and holding him in high regards. The writer is using the two characters to show the different choices that are made given the identity made by the society since one may opt to change and be good or stay in the same regard and still be respectable in the society (Hawthorne and Pearson, 2004). Similar to Hester, Dimmesdale does not allow the identity from the surface impact or change his true identity and after the people do not believe he falls sick. It takes the efforts of Hester who proposes the two to move away to console him even though he does not make it. He also does not conform to the identity formed by the people but forges his own identity although as opposed to Hester’s case he the people do not see his true identity. The mentioning of man’s laws and the natural order is in itself an indictment of conformity. The work shows two different people who have committed the same sin but instead of being adjudged similarly there seems to be double standards where one is seen as being given better treatment than the other. In this regard, the people of Boston are known to be giving Hester a torrid time in her stay in Boston since what they believe to be true is what is adjudged to be the best way as long as the man’s laws state so. Hester does not love her husband who is abusive and does not regard her as a wife and expects her to perform her duties even after he ignores all her needs. Dimmesdale on the other hand is her lover whom they are in love and has been meeting her every need and cherishes her advice and also her company (Hawthorne and Pearson, 2004). In addition, Hester’s husband did not accompany her wife to Boston and left her for long and yet expected her to be faithful. However, the man’s law judges the two to have been unlawful and immoral in their actions and does not measure the level of sacrifice, dedication and love that they have for each other. The aforementioned factors according to the natural order should necessitate the people to take another look at their love and allow them to be in love and pursue their dreams together. There is also a cultural context that is in play in the romantic work as the main characters are foreigners who have come to Boston. The Boston community has an unbearable attitude towards women who are found to have been immoral. The community is certainly critical of Hester after she was found guilty of immorality and is told to wear the scarlet as a symbol of her immorality. There are also the double standards that are set for the men as compared to the women and they are not judged the same. This is mainly because the men are the main decision makers in the society a factor that can be seen when Chillingham comes to Hester to tell her to remove scarlet after the decision was agreed by the elders. The people from the other cultures are also depicted as having some a history or have acquired bad behaviors in Boston (Hawthorne and Pearson, 2004). Chillingham is a good example of the writer’s depiction of foreigners into the country where he is depicted as a vengeful and a schemer that has come to Boston and hid himself to push for his agenda. The author depicts the foreigners as being changed by the Boston community and their identity by the community changed. However although their identity by the community changes their true characters does not change and as a result they do not conform to the community but rather change themselves to show their true characters. Pearl is Hester’s daughter and has been living with her mother since her inception wondering about the emblem on her mother’s breast and its true meaning to their lives. She is used by the author to constantly remind the reader of the scarlet letter as she is fascinated by the letter and the reasons why the letter is embedded in her mother’s breast. Having discovered that the same emblem is not on all the other women she constantly asks her mother the questions that intrigue one as a reader and come out as being more honest than the adults. She is constantly given a voice of reason and asks her mother the right questions regarding her life and also the girl’s future. She is more conscious and thoughtful than the community and other adults in her thinking and although some of the questions show that she is only a child she has the right capacity to be able to change her life for the better for instance in chapter 16: “Mother,” said little Pearl, “the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. . . . It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!” “Nor ever will, my child, I hope,” said Hester. “And why not, mother?” asked Pearl, stopping short. . . . “Will it not come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?” (Hawthorne and Pearson, 2004, pg183)) The girl exemplifies great awareness and understanding of the things that are happening around her and is wondering whether the same will happen to her life. She is worried about the misfortunes hitting her mother currently and would like to see a change. Culturally the child has grown in an American or the Boston culture but has also been raised by a foreigner. Having taken from the events that she witnesses from her daily life she is depicted as being extremely aware and conscious of the proper morals and attitude that a person should certainly have. In conclusion, the author takes the reader through a journey where he engages the reader on the formation of identity by the community and how this affects an individual. He uses the different characters in the work to depict how identities formed can be changed and how the identities can also be biased or subjective towards only a select few. The Boston community is riddled with lies and revengeful acts but in all the mess Pearl is born and she lives an honest life that she shares with her mother. She is the conscience in the work as she reminds the reader and the mother of the vices of the community. The people forge their own identities and fail to conform to the identity that has been established by the community. References Hawthorne, N., & Pearson, L. S. (2004). The Scarlet Letter and other Writings(4th ed.). Norton Critical Editions. Read More