Puritanism in Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Book Report/Review Example

Puritanism in Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne made a sensation when it was published. The content of the book was controversial and even scandalous. According to the plot, Hester Prynne, the main character of the story, gives birth to a child out of wedlock and never reveals the name of her lover who was a local preacher Reverent Dimmesdale. Surprisingly, the author of the novel was born and brought up in the Puritan family where such things were considered to be a sin. Controversies faced by main characters in the plot reveal Hawthorne’s attitude to Puritanism which is influenced by Romantic ideas. Hawthorne tries to be objective to Puritans showing their good and bad traits in the plot of the novel; he embraces Puritan ideology when it comes to personal traits and values; however, he critiques its practices of biased attitude, severity of laws and collective sense of guilt. Puritans believed that people were born sinners and they had to devote their lives to purify themselves. The sense of guilt was considered to be collective; once the sin was confessed, the punishment needed to be introduced. In Puritan tradition, public shame was the biggest punishment for all people. Peer-policing and judgmental attitude to each other worked effectively to detect and scapegoat “a bad apple” (Johnson). This tradition was depicted through people’s attitude to Hester Prynne and her child. Marked by the scarlet A, she was supposed to be excluded from the society where she lived. Moreover, she was expected to suffer from guilt and shame caused by this severe punishment. Refusal to make a public confession was unacceptable in Puritan community where Hester lived. She understood that she attracts even more attention when she refused to confess, but she cared about the future of Dimmesdale who was too weak to behave the same way. Despite the expected development of the plot, Hester perceived her sin as a lesson to learn. She developed a great will power and strength to survive public humiliation and isolation. First of all, she did not disclose the personality of Pearl’s father who was a local preacher. Second of all, she learned to live under the circumstances which were designed to humiliate her without guilt. Instead of being destroyed by the sense of guilt, Hester was ready to face the consequences of her “sin” and cope with them. For instance, when the day of her punishment took place, she “sustained herself as best a woman might” (Hawthorne). She objected people who wanted to take away her daughter from her either because Pearl deserved to have a better parent or she was a Devil’s child. Hester Prynne was a strong individual who could not be manipulated by public opinion. Her scarlet A lost its meaning under the influence of Hester’s behavior which purified her reputation. Her transformation stressed absurdity and severity of Puritan laws. The same idea of harshness of Puritanism appeared through negative representation of Puritans in the story. While adults observed the shame of others, their children played the games which reflected the world of their parents. In their games they attended church, judged Quakers, hunted witches or scalped Native Indians. Little Puritans were describes as “the most intolerant brood that ever lived” due to their behavior (Hawthorne). As well as their parents, they mocked Hester and Pearl. Townspeople did not stop oppressing Hester and Pearl after the judgment. They gossiped that “poor little Pearl was a demon offspring” (Hawthorne). In this way, they believed that the child had to be punished for the sin of her mother. Townspeople fully excluded Hester from their community. Even beggars and strangers did not communicate with her. There were several moments in the text when Hawthorne openly presented his critical attitude to Puritanism and its rules. For instance, when the narrator described his uncle, he stated that he was Puritan and had “both good and evil” traits related to this religious practice. Describing Boston, it was mentioned that there was a “whipping post” close to the market place where Puritans “corrected” different people either for heresy or for their behavior. Moreover, “Puritanic code of law” applied to judge Hester was described in its “dismal severity” (Hawthorne). Readers were offered to accept the point of view which was sympathetic to Hester where she was compared to “Divine Maternity” (Hawthorne). The picture of Hester holding her child would remind “that sacred image of sinless motherhood” to representatives of Catholic Church (Hawthorne). The same picture was perceived as “the taint of deepest sin” by Hester’s community (Hawthorne). Hawthorne still appreciated the values of piety, obedience and humble way of life promoted in Puritan communities. However, he objected severity of laws applied to judge those people who were considered to be guilty. Hawthorne was inspired by real events which took place during his life. According to Johnson, the character of Hester Prynne had many things in common with Ann Hutchinson, a young Puritan woman who was excluded from Boston Puritan church and tormented. Hutchinson was tried because of the fact that her interpretation of Puritan ideology was “slightly different in emphasis” (Johnson 83). The name of this historical persona appeared in the chapter called The Prison Door, where Hester saw the rose bush close to the prison door. Hawthorne wrote that this rose was “the moral symbol” showing that in the dispute between the church and Hutchinson he supported the last (Hawthorne). Significance of Hutchinson for the story is obvious. Historically, she stressed the power of God’s grace which was more than human deeds. Moreover, she expressed admiration and respect to sermons of Reverent Cotton, young preacher from Boston, and did not show the same attitude to works of other preachers in the area (Johnson 84-86). Both Cotton and Hutchinson promoted the idea that people could experience connection with God without the help of their ministers. Reverent Wilson was the main preacher in Boston who opposed views of Cotton and Hutchinson (Johnson 86). The same character appeared in the Scarlet Letter; Reverent Dimmesdale was required by Reverent Wilson to ask Hester the name child’s father. Parallel with that historic event added deeper meaning to the story stressing the power of Hester Prynne. Detailed comparison of Hutchinson and Hester Prynne outlined even more similarities between those characters. Hester Prynne and Ann Hutchinson were individualistic in their thoughts as they did not overemphasize the sense of guilt promoted in Puritan society (Johnson 89). This model of behavior represented Hawthorne’s Romantic worldview where an individual was perceived to be more important that the community. Moreover, the model of the conflict where an individual was opposed to the society was typical for the era of Romanticism (Swamm 56). Hester’s shame and guilt were represented as her teachers; living as “a woman of scarlet letter” for a long time, she became stronger and more independent in her thoughts and deeds. Scarlet letter made her special in her community. Her talent let her get through all misfortunes in her life. This individual persistence became an epitome of Romantic ideology which informed Hawthorne. The parallel could be found in Dimmesdale and Cotton too. Cotton abandoned his beliefs and stated that he had no conflicts with clergy. He did not follow Hutchinson till the end when she was “tried for heresy” (Johnson 88). Dimmesdale also abandoned Hester when it came to the consequences. Hester had to bare the punishment for two because she kept everything in secret. Even though Reverent Dimmesdale was tortured by his secret, he did not rush to confess. He felt shame because she was expected to suffer from his misdeed. He was weaker than Hester who had strength to cope with her punishment. Still, in the end of the story Dimmesdale confessed that he was a sinner and died. Confession of Dimmesdale and Hester’s transformation showed the power of Puritan way of life in guiding people to find the right solutions. Adultery seemed to be the only bad thing committed by Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. In all other spheres of life they were exemplar people. Despite all those critical references to Puritan society, Hawthorne did not claim that Puritanism was bad as a religion. By his novel, she showed that it was unreasonably harsh. His characters did commit sins; however, they accepted their personal responsibility for their deeds. Humiliation and shame which were the parts of Puritan punishment had a didactical function for all of them. Hester learned to be independent; Reverent Dimmesdale found strength to confess in order to die as a pure person. Focusing on personal issues, Hawthorne’s characters followed the idea that people had influence on their fates. In all other spheres of life, the characters followed ordinary Puritan lifestyle which kept them quite happy. According to Swamm, Hester’s “sin had given some sort of organizing principle to her life” (89). Despite all negative memories connected to Puritanism, she came back to New England because it was her home with her way of life and religion. In summary, Hawthorne critiqued Puritanism for its pressure on individuals and severe policies directed against people who did not obey the laws. He showed that “sin” did not deprive people from the opportunity to change; it taught them to be stronger and not to make the same mistakes further in life. Hester Prynne faced the consequences of her deed with dignity; she continued living and changed her reputation by her behavior. Categorical laws of Puritans made Hester and Pearl suffer; however, they developed their personalities and became strong. They followed Puritanism in their personal interpretation where their sins were pardonable. Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. eBooks@Adelaide. The University of Adelaide Library. 2014. Web. June 21, 2014. http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hawthorne/nathaniel/h39s/complete.html Johnson, Claudia Durst. Understanding the Scarlet letter: a student casebook to issues, sources, and historical documents. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995. Swann, Charles. Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tradition and Revolution. Vol. 52. Cambridge University Press, 1991. Read More