thesis statement about the scarlet letter

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The Scarlet Letter Thesis Statements and Essay Topics

Below you will find four outstanding thesis statements / paper topics for “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne that can be used as essay starters. All four incorporate at least one of the themes found in “The Scarlet Letter” and are broad enough so that it will be easy to find textual support, yet narrow enough to provide a focused clear thesis statement. These thesis statements offer a short summary of “The Scarlet Letter” in terms of different elements that could be important in an essay. You are, of course, free to add your own analysis and understanding of the plot or themes to them. Using the essay topics below in conjunction with the list of important  quotes from “The Scarlet Letter”  on our quotes page, you should have no trouble connecting with the text and writing an excellent essay.

Topic #1: Christian Values in the Scarlet Letter

Hester Prynne is scorned by almost everyone in the town when she is found to be pregnant by a man who is not her husband. She bravely bears her punishment and continues to live there. The citizens of the town are very harsh in both their judgment and treatment of her. They want to take Pearl away from her, but are waylaid by Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Because his identity as Hester’s lover is unknown, he is still considered to be a respectable member of the town. He is able to sway the stricter Reverend John Wilson. Yet if Reverend Wilson knew of Reverend Dimmesdale’s sin, he would react differently. Drawing on examples from the book, contrast the two reverend’s ‘Christian values’ set forth by the two reverends contrast.

Topic #2: The Role of the Men

In  Scarlet Letter , the minister is the unacknowledged father of Hester’s child. Hester allows herself to be shunned and punished by the townspeople, but never gives up his name. Hester bears the weight of their sins on the outside because she carries and gives birth to Pearl. The minister brands himself with the letter A on his chest, but does not come forward until several years later. Meanwhile, it eats at him over the years, eventually leading to his early death. In addition, Roger Chillingworth is Hester’s husband who shows up after the adultery has been committed. He is much older than Hester and is going by a different name. He only reveals his true identity to her, then seeks to bring about what destruction he can.  Explore the differences between the roles of husband and lover. Hester knows the ‘true’ identity of each man, yet she keeps it to herself for much of the book. How are Dimmesdale and Chillingworth different? How are the two men alike?

Thesis Statement #3: Symbolism

The Letter “A” that is pinned to Hester Prynne originally stands for adultery, but as Hester becomes more involved in the community, much of the town forgets Hester’s original crimes and claims that it stands for angel instead.  Even though Hester has improved her image with the town, she does not take off the letter until the near end of the novel, and never asks for forgiveness and an end to her ordeal.  The letter A has different connotations for different characters, and evolves through the novel.  Discuss how symbolism plays a role not only in a novel, but in life itself.

Topic #4: The Character of Pearl

Pearl is the person caught in the middle of her parents’ sins. She is shunned and mistreated because of what her mother did. She is also very perceptive of the relationship between Hester and Arthur. She spends her first few years enduring the treatment she receives from the townspeople. She struggles with her parents’ relationship. In the end, Hester takes Pearl to Europe. Pearl ends up marrying well and inheriting wealth upon Roger Chillingworth’s death. Examine how her character is shaped by her first few years—the maturity and understanding that she has of how the world works. Do the move to Europe and the inheritance from Roger Chillingworth somehow make up for her difficult childhood?

Themes and Analysis

The scarlet letter, by nathaniel hawthorne.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’ is stuffed with themes that border around aspects of religion and human morality such as sinning, confessing, and being penalized for such sin - much to the author’s intention of sending some strong moral lessons to his readership.

About the Book

Article written by Victor Onuorah

Degree in Journalism from University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Hawthorne’s move to go by such name as ‘ The Scarlet Letter ’ for the book’s title is symbolic in itself and already hints at the themes of penitence and punishment for the crime of adultery committed by two of the book’s major characters in Hester Prynne and the priest – Arthur Dimmesdale. There are some foundational themes as there are other subsets that still carry a vital message in them. The most important ones will be analyzed in this article.

Sin and Punishment

These are probably the two most obvious themes of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘ The Scarlet Letter ’ and they are very clearly executed throughout the pages of the book – beginning from the first chapter. 

Hester Prynne, who is the heroine of the book, is one of the characters who bear such guilts of sin and punishment. The sin for which she is being punished is that of adultery – which she commits with a Christian preacher, Arthur Dimmesdale.

Being she lives in the era of a Christian-inspired puritan society, her punishment becomes one of massive social shaming and disgrace – whereby she has to wear a dress with a large inscription of the letter ‘A’ appearing on her chest in blood red color. 

Contrition and Penitence

Hester and Dimmesdale – two prominent characters harboring the most damnable sin of their era – appear to have had a contrite heart after the act, particularly with Hester, who is publicly announced and disgraced. 

Readers could feel the genuineness of Hester’s contrite heart, having been legally married to Roger Chillingworth, her long lost husband – even though she would never regret the love she feels for Dimmesdale and the product of such love being her child, Pearl. 

Gender and Status Inequality Before the Law

Nathaniel Hawthorne, through ‘ The Scarlet Letter ,’ may have tried to point out the sheer inequality of the purity society before the rule of law. Hawthorne’s time is critical of several aspects of Puritanism, and here questions why preacher Arthur Dimmesdale doesn’t get served the same amount of humiliation as Hester gets. 

Though an argument can be raised that the executors of the puritan laws don’t punish Dimmesdale because they do not know for sure if he committed the crime – especially with Hester refusing to give that information out. Still, one can easily sense that they don’t do enough to get the man who’s responsible. 

Two hypotheses here are one; their interest in not punishing men but the women in such crimes. Two, Dimmesdale’s religious status makes him a very important person, so the executors would be tricky with handling a case of such a class. 

Necromancy and witchcraft

There is a massive dose of talks and meetings about and with witches, and even the devil – who is referred to in the book as ‘ The Black Man .’ These subjects are part of what gives the book its dark, spooky ambiance characteristic of gothic fiction. 

Mistress Hibbins is a high-profile suspect whose behavior is, by a puritan society’s standards, termed diabolic and hellish. Hibbins goes about negatively influencing people – like Hester and Pearl – instilling strange, anti puritan mentality in them, conducting and attending meetings and conventions where they invoke and commune with ‘The Black Man’ or devil himself. 

Key Moments in The Scarlet Letter

• After losing his job with the Salem Custom House, a man puts together a piece of the manuscript that he had discovered littering in the attic of his former job. On the cover is an inscription, ‘Scarlet Letter A .’ 
• The story which he has assembled from it narratives the story of a young woman called Hester Prynne who lives in a 1600s puritan society. 
• She appears to have been imprisoned for a heinous crime and is processioned out and made to stand over a public platform wearing a dress with the scarlet letter ‘A’ written boldly on her breast, on which she also carries her baby. 
• The crime for which she is paraded is adultery, and under a typical puritan leadership, social shaming and scorning are the repercussions for such acts. 
• While she faces the worse moment of her life, a man stands a stone’s throw away in the crowd observing the whole event. His name is Roger Chillingworth, the long-lost husband of the woman being punished at the platform. 
• On the platform with Hester is a popular preacher of the town, rev. Arthur Dimmesdale publicly pressures her to say who’s responsible for her baby, but Hester wouldn’t tell and is thrust back into her cell.
• With a keen interest in the matter, Chillingworth lies that he is a doctor to get access to his wife, and when he gets past security into the cell, he threatens her not to let anyone know she is married to him and that if she does, he would search out the man responsible and hurt him very badly.
• Following her release, Hester moves away from town and tries to survive as a dressmaker with young Pearl. Chillingworth is still in town posing as a doctor as he tries to unearth the father of his wife’s baby. And by now, Dimmesdale, the popular town people’s preacher, has failing health and is being tended to by Chillingworth. 
• Pearl grows fond of the scarlet ‘A’ on her mother’s breast, but Hester wouldn’t tell her the truth about it. 
• With Chillingworth now spending so much time with Dimmesdale, he starts to notice an unusually strange correlation between Hester’s case and the preacher’s health history. 
• One faithful day during Dimmesdale’s medical examination, Chillingworth finds that his patient has a similar scarlet letter ‘A’ etched inside his chest. He is convinced Dimmesdale is Hester’s lover and father of the illegitimate child, Pearl. 
• With this knowledge, Chillingworth decides to exert revenge on Dimmesdale by giving him the wrong meds and treating him so much so that his health deteriorates further by the day. 
• For Dimmesdale, it seems that his inability to confess publicly is eating him up and causing him constant emotional trauma and heartache. And on several occasions, he doesn’t eat and chastises and whips himself for his mistake. 
• On a faithful day, just after twilight, troubled by his guilt, Dimmesdale climbs up the platform and is joined by Hester and her daughter shortly, while Chillingworth skulks by the shadows observing them before a shooting star shimmers through the night sky to reveal his presence. 
• What follows next is an exchange of emotions. Hester begs Chillingworth to stop torturing Dimmesdale, but he argues he’s lenient to him. 
• Hester then plans a rendezvous with Dimmesdale in the wilderness, where she exposes Chillingworth’s real identity and begs Dimmesdale to elope with her across the Atlantic to start afresh in a new, distant town. He agrees to go with her after he has delivered a scheduled sermon. 
• On the day of the sermon, Dimmesdale is moved by his preaching that he decides to confess publicly that he is Hester’s lover and the father to Pearl (both of who had joined him on the platform). Opening his chest, he exposes a scarlet cut he had been carrying in his chest and dies as soon as Pearl kisses him.
• Chillingworth’s revenge is taken from him, and he dies a few months later. Hester leaves town with her daughter – explores Europe and marries a wealthy home, and seldom writes her mother. 
• When Hester dies, she is laid to rest beside Dimmesdale, and the later ‘A’ is erected in their resting place.

Style and Tone 

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing style is typically one that deploys a lot of metaphors and symbolism to execute his works – with the end goal often having a ton of morals to impact on the reader.

Hawthorne’s works are mostly mysterious, somber, and morose in terms of their themes and storylines. ‘ The Scarlet Letter ’ is no different from his typical style and follows his trademark standard for novel writing. 

The tone in ‘ The Scarlet Letter ’ is mostly sad and contrite, but also critical and disenchantment about puritan cultures, their leaders, and their tendency for being highly hypocritical.

Figurative Languages

Hawthorne brings the pages of ‘The Scarlet Letter’ to life with his heavy use of figurative expressions. Among the figurative language used include metaphor – which seems to appear pervasively throughout the book.

The author also uses tools like irony and personification to highlight his critiques of the purity legacy and traditions. 

Analysis of Symbols in The Scarlet Letter 

This is perhaps the foremost symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book and represents a variety of things. One such thing is that it serves as an identity for the transgressor or sinner of adultery – as is the case with the protagonist, Hester Prynne. 

Hester’s daughter’s character also has an allegorical attachment to its overall essence. Pearl is a direct repercussion of Hester’s son of adultery, but also a symbol of hope for a better life, in the latter part of the book.

Chillingworth

In the book’s reality, he is the husband of Hester, but in terms of the motif to which he represents, Chillingworth proves to be as his name appears; cold. He’s a cold and means man towards the people around him, and this is perhaps one of the reasons Hester could never find love with him. 

What is the main theme in ‘The Scarlet Letter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne?

Sin and punishment are probably the two most discussed themes in ‘ The Scarlet Letter ,’ and these subjects are pervasive and heavily indulged in by the author throughout the book. 

What does the color red represent in ‘The Scarlet Letter’?

The color red represents sin, and in the book’s case, the sin of adultery – which Hester, the protagonist, is indicted of from the onset of the book. 

What narrative style is deployed by Nathaniel Hawthorne in ‘The Scarlet Letter’?

Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes the third person narrative technique in his book, ‘ The Scarlet Letter, ’ as this allows the narrator to tell his story subjectively – but from a rounded, three-dimensional standpoint on the characters. 

About Victor Onuorah

Victor is as much a prolific writer as he is an avid reader. With a degree in Journalism, he goes around scouring literary storehouses and archives; picking up, dusting the dirt off, and leaving clean even the most crooked pieces of literature all with the skill of analysis.

Cite This Page

Onuorah, Victor " The Scarlet Letter Themes and Analysis 📖 " Book Analysis , https://bookanalysis.com/nathaniel-hawthorne/the-scarlet-letter/themes-analysis/ . Accessed 12 April 2024.

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The Scarlet Letter

Introduction the scarlet letter.

This historical novel of American Romanticism was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in 1850. It created a lot of controversy in literary circles. It showed the settings of the Puritan region of Massachusetts Colony of the 1650s, narrating a storyline of a woman, Hester Prynne, who suffers after having an affair with a church minister. However, she alone has to suffer for that affair with her daughter for having none of her crime. Her struggle to go through this repentance won her readers’ hearts. Despite comprising strong strictures against the hypocrisy of the religious bureaucracy, this novel is still considered Hawthorne’s tour de force.

Summary The Scarlet Letter

The story begins with a crowd preparing to punish a woman, Hester Prynne, for giving birth to a baby girl without revealing the husband’s identity. The crowd punishes her by making her wear a scarlet letter “A” on her dress to show the public that she is ashamed of her action. She is also forced to stand three hours on the scaffold to demonstrate that she feels ashamed at her sin. Women, mostly jealous of her beauty and dignified manner, taunt her and ask her the name of her husband, receiving only her refusal in response.

During the shaming ceremony, the woman happens to see her lost husband as a misshapen unknown person peering at her from the crowd. He gestures to her to remain quiet to protect his own identity. Choosing the name of Roger Chillingworth, he soon discovers the truth about her from his inquiry from different people. Then, he angrily raises the voice for the punishment of the father of the child, too, but without becoming prominent in the crowd.

Meanwhile, the local church ministers, Arthur Dimmesdale and John Wilson ask her about the likely father of the child, but they also face her staunch refusal. When she reaches the prison cell, she meets her husband, Roger Chillingworth, in the guise of a physician. As a physician he suggests her some herbs and plants, though, both of them talk about their marriage and their mistakes. However, Hester faces his probe about the identity of the father of the girl to which she again refuses to share with him. He does not force her, however, but claims to know it one day and asks her not to reveal his identity.  Hester willingly agrees to his proposal.

After she wins her release, she tries to settle in the town, but ultimately leaves for the outskirts facing staunch public resentment. She takes shelter in a hut on the outskirts of town and earns her bread through her needlework skills. Living a quiet and simple life, she starts playing with her daughter to whom she names, Pearl. However, strangely, Pearl takes her “A” locket to her heart, always playing with it. Finding no other playmates, Pearl soon develops into an impulsive girl about whom the order of the church authorities soon arrives about separating her from her imperfect mother.

Adamant as she is in her refusal about uncovering the identity of her husband, she is adamant in handing over her girl. Therefore, she meets Bellingham, the Governor of the city, who is present with the church authorities, Dimmesdale as well as Wilson. Hester, immediately, sensing the upper-hand of the religious authority, pleas to Dimmesdale who asks Governor to stop this mother-daughter cruel segregation to which he agrees.

It soon transpires in the town that Dimmesdale is witnessing a sharp decline in his health at which Chillingworth arrives at his lodging to treat him. He, however, senses that this decline is due to some psychological guilt and not due to some physical ailment. Soon he sees a symbol of shame on his chest. The more the minister hides his guilt, the more tormenting it becomes for him. At last, he visits the site where Hester got punishment and confesses his guilt in isolation, for having no courage to do it publicly. On the other hand, his deteriorating health also shocks Hester, who decides to break her silence .

Later, Hester meets the minister and narrates her ordeal, telling him about her revengeful husband, Chillingworth. She begs him to leave Boston to start life afresh somewhere else. Gaining strength from this new freedom from his shameful past, the church minister delivers a fiery sermon but suddenly loses his control. He climbs on the same scaffold to confess his guilt and tells everyone about his affair with Hester. Afterward, he dies in the arms of Hester. The controversy of seeing the same letter “A” carved on his chest also faces the same fierce refusal from a few in the crowd. Shortly after this incident, Chillingworth, too, dies, leaving a good amount of inheritance for Pearl. Hester, after left alone, starts living in the same cottage. After her death, her body is buried in the grave near Dimmesdale’s.

Major Themes in The Scarlet Letter

• Sin: Sense of sin, its impacts, and its manipulation and exploitation for ulterior motives is the major theme of The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne has committed this sense of having an illicit relationship with a church minister. The church minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, has committed the same offense and equally guilty as Hester. However, he sits on the jury as Hester doesn’t reveal his identity while she is standing in the criminal enclosure. When the court accuses her of adultery, as the punishment for her sin, she is excluded from the social circle and forced to wear scarlet color “A” sown on her dress. Dimmesdale does not show any remorse. However, what impacts the readers most is the way Hester dignifiedly hides this fact and only discloses when it becomes imperative. Chillingworth does not show any mercy on her.
• Conformity to Religion: Religion must need confirmation, or else the person may face subjection of censure. One of the novel’s major themes, The Scarlet Letter, confirms the religiosity of those times of puritanism, for Hester, has not confirmed its convention of the religion to stay chaste. Dimmesdale, too, shows the same trait, but he keeps it hiding, while Hester could not hide due to the birth of Pearl, her daughter from Dimmesdale. That is why she has to undergo sufferings for defying a religious convention.
• Criticism of Puritanism: The Scarlet Letter is also a critique of puritanism as well as stricture on it. It is a critique that shows how puritanism, a theological concept, has crept into public life, overtaking every social, moral , and financial aspects of life. As a stricture, it shows that it has not done good to the public life, for Hester has to undergo suffering for defying its principles, while Dimmesdale enjoys privileges because of aligning with the religious clergy.
• Public and Individual Guilt: The novel also demonstrates that when an individual, such as Hester, is caught for some guilt, he must undergo suffering that they do not deserve. However, when the whole public is involved, there is a deafening silence from the clergy as well as the jury. Dimmesdale represents the public morality and the public as the church minister but has no guts and courage like Hester to stand up for a trial. However, he feels it in his heart as an individual and has displayed the symbol on his chest.
• Moral Codes: Moral codes, ethical frameworks, and their social confirmation is another smaller thematic strand in that Hester defies a social value of the ethical framework of the Puritan social fabric. As it happens openly and people see a piece of evidence , she gets punished for violating this code. However, the case of Dimmesdale stays hidden, the reason that he does not face any punishment; rather, he faces only mental stigma.
• Gender Suppression: Gender suppression and feministic resilience is another partial theme that The Scarlet Letter demonstrated through Hester’s character . However, it does not seem that Hawthorne has consciously inserted it. Instead, it seems that it is part of the story that whereas Hester is involved, she faces punishment while it comes to a man, Chillingworth as well as Dimmesdale, they hoodwink not only the legality but also the religiosity.
• Mockery of Law: The novel shows that when a law does not protect the weaker section of the society, such as Hester Prynne, it ceases to exist as a law. Mr. Dimmesdale shows that some segments can wield law for their own purposes. Therefore, it needs to be changed, as the novel has mocked such a law.
• Domination of Patriarchy: The novel also shows that patriarchy always conspires to win when men and women are put against each other. Hester Prynne has no way to win against Dimmesdale, for he is as much responsible for bringing Pearl into this world as Hester is, yet he gets away while she faces imprisonment as well as a stricture.
• Redemption: Despite being relegated to the background, the redemption theme comes in the open when Hester has to endure long-sufferings for her sin. However, Dimmesdale wins it through his sermons and isolated confession.

Major Characters in The Scarlet Letter

• Hester Prynne: Hester Prynne is not only the primary female character but also the protagonist of the novel on account of her dignified manner, resilience, and patience to suffer the stigma of adultery. When the jury awards her punishment, she does not remonstrate. She chooses to wear the scarlet letter ‘A’ and leaves the town to live the rest of her life in isolation with her daughter Pearl. On the other hand, Dimmesdale, the minister of the city, who had seduced her, stays hidden until the end. Meanwhile, Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, sees her and asks her the name of the child’s real father, Pearl, but she refuses. When the Governor, Bellingham, too, turns against her by ordering the retrieval of Pearl from her custody, she subtly makes Dimmesdale confess his guilt, though it does not happen publicly.
• Arthur Dimmesdale: A respected and reverend church minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, hoodwinks Hester into his love, committing adultery followed by the birth of Pearl, his daughter. However, when she faces public shame, he distances himself from her, sitting on the theological bureaucracy’s higher stand. Inwardly though, he is aware of his culpability, which gnaws at him and forces him to accept his guilt by the end, showing the sign on his chest after which he dies on the scaffold.
• Pearl : Pearl is Hester Prynne’s illegitimate daughter and symbol of her parents’ love and passion. She is inquisitive by nature. As she is naughty as a child and fails to recite the Bible, the church plans to put her in foster care. However, the church gives her another chance to Pearl and allows her to stay with her mother with Dimmesdale’s and Governor Bellingham’s approval. Pearl is also a reminder and symbol of the minister’s adulterous affair. Dimmesdale finally dies, confessing his crime. Also, Pearl gets considerable property from her stepfather, Chillingworth.
• Roger Chillingworth: A Dutch, Roger Chillingworth is the assumed name of the former husband of Hester Prynne, who is amazed at finding his beloved wife in an adulterous affair and having a child, Pearl. However, he does not disclose his identity and let the clergy decides her fate, though he comes to meet her as a physician to counsel her. He also plans to avenge this from Dimmesdale about whom he comes to know somehow.
• Governor Bellingham: He is an authoritative and manipulative person who exploits the helplessness of Hester Prynne and orders to take Pearl away from her. His role seems critical in forcing Hester to seek help from Dimmesdale. However, his role appears to include the other side of the story as he accepts Dimmesdale’s reasoning of letting her stay with her mother.
• General Miller: General Miller is the first official of the Custom House. His collecting duty has made him a politically strong person. He protects the employees and workers from being fired. That is why his role seems like a minor character in the novel.
• Mistress Hibbins: Hibbins’ character sheds light on the witch-hunting of those times. Despite being Governor Bellingham’s sister, she is killed when it transpires that she meets the “Black Man” in the woods for witchery.
• Inspector : He is the inspector at the Custom House and has been a product of nepotism, for his father created that seat to keep his son in the job. Due to his father’s influence, he seems to have harbored the emotion of being a permanent employee.
• John Wilson : He is another minister of the church who is involved with Dimmesdale to award punishment to Hester Prynne.

Writing Style of The Scarlet Letter‎

Despite its being written around three centuries back, The Scarlet Letter still shows the beauty of the language used by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his masterpiece. Its diction is subtle and ornate, its sentences are long, complex, and intricate, while its terseness and concision resonate in the minds of its readers. However, this style ’s major feature is Romanticism, shown through a battle between the forces of good and evil.

Analysis of Literary Devices in The Scarlet Letter

• Action: The novel’s main action comprises the sufferings and woes of Hester Prynne when she is tried for adultery, thrown in prison, and subsequently ordered to keep away from the town. The rising action occurs when Dimmesdale and Wilson both award punishment, while the falling action occurs when Dimmesdale confesses his sin and punishes himself, showing his sense of shame carved on his chest.
• Allegory : The Scarlet Letter shows the use of allegory not only through its places, symbols, and incidents but also through the characters, which resemble abstract ideas such as sin, sense of sin, hypocrisy, authority, shame, and condemnation.
• Antagonist : Although it seems that Dimmesdale is the main antagonist of The Scarlet Letter in the opening chapters, it is Roger Chillingworth, who is the antagonist of the novel on account of his machinations, and stooped physical deformity that is equal to the distortion of his soul.
• Allusion : There are various examples of allusions given in the novel The Scarlet Letter. The first allusion is of Hester as she seems Eve thrown out of Paradise. Therefore, it seems a Biblical allusion. The second illusion is to Babylon, an ancient city, and third to Sir Thomas Overbury, the poet Overbury. Some other Biblical allusions include Cain, the Holy Spirit, the Pearl , and Adam and Even.
• Conflict : The are two types of conflicts in the novel The Scarlet Letter. The first one is the external conflict that starts between Hester Prynne and the authorities, including the religious church ministers, that ends in the defeat of Hester. The second conflict is the mental conflict going on in the mind of Dimmesdale because of his part in punishing Hester and her innocence.
• Characters: The Scarlet Letter presents both static as well as dynamic characters . The church minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, and Pearl are dynamic characters as they change with the storyline. However, static characters include Mistress Hibbins and Governor Richard Bellingham, as they do not change during the course of the novel.
• Climax : The climax in the novel arrives when Dimmesdale and Wilson are on the jury to punish Hester.
• Foreshadowing : The novel, The Scarlet Letter, shows various examples of foreshadowing . For example, i. A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes. (Chapter-1) ii. It was a circumstance to be noted, on the summer morning when our story begins its course, that the women, of whom there were several in the crowd, appeared to take a peculiar interest in whatever penal infliction might be expected to ensue. (Chapter-2) iii. “It is done!” muttered the minister, covering his face with his hands. “The whole town will awake, and hurry forth, and find me here!” (Chapter-XII)
• Hyperbole : Hyperbole or exaggeration occurs in the novel at several places. For example, i. Her spirit sank with the idea that all must have been a delusion, and that, vividly as she had dreamed it, there could be no real bond betwixt the clergyman and herself. ii. The minister started to his feet, gasping for breath, and clutching at his heart as if he would have torn it out of his bosom. (Chapter-XII) Both of these statements shows facts overblown and exaggerated even if they are in emotions and not in reality.
• Imagery : Imagery means to use of five senses such as in these examples: i. When they found voice to speak, it was at first, only to utter remarks and inquiries such as any two acquaintances might have made, about the gloomy sky, the threatening storm, and, next, the health of each. (Chapter-XVII) ii. There played around her mouth, and beamed out of her eyes, a radiant and tender smile, that seemed gushing from the very heart of womanhood. A crimson flush was glowing on her cheek, that had been long so pale. (Chapter-XVIII) The first example shows the images of sound color as well as sight, while the second, too, demonstrates the presence of these images.
• Metaphor : The novel shows good use of various metaphors . For example, i. Hester’s first motion had been to cover her bosom with her clasped hands. (Chapter-VI) ii. she seemed the unpremeditated offshoot of a passionate moment. (Chapter-VII) iii. No golden light had ever been so precious as the gloom of this dark forest. (XVII) iv. The instillment thereof into her mind would probably have caused this aged sister to drop down dead, at once, as by the effect of an intensely poisonous infusion. (Chapter-XX)
• Mood : The novel, The Scarlet Letter, shows a satirical mood , though, at times, it becomes quite somber, serious, ironic as well as jubilant by the end.
• Motif : The most important motifs of the novel, The Scarlet Letter, is of light and darkness for Pearl and Hester.
• Narrator : The novel is narrated by a third-person narrator , though the writer himself enters the novel to narrate its introduction . Even the third-person narrator is also the writer.
• Personification : Personification means to attribute human acts and emotions to non-living objects . For example, i. While the shadow of his figure, which the sunlight cast upon the floor, was tremulous with the vehemence of his appeal. (Chapter-VIII) ii. The crisis flung back to them their consciousness, and revealed to each heart its history and experience, as life never does, except at such breathless epochs. (Chapter-XVII) iii. They needed something slight and casual to run before, and throw open the doors of intercourse, so that their real thoughts might be led across the threshold. (Chapter-XVII) Both of these examples show sunlight and crisis personified here.
• Protagonist : Hester Prynne is the protagonist of the novel. She comes into the novel from the very start and captures the readers’ interest through her extraordinary qualities until the end when Dimmesdale accepts his fault and dies.
• Paradox : The Scarlet Letter shows the use of paradox as “Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers—stern and wild ones—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.” (Chapter-XVIII). The narrator means that these have made her strong instead of a weak creature.
• Rhetorical Questions : The novel shows good use of rhetorical questions in several places. For example, i. But Arthur Dimmesdale! Were such a man once more to fall, what plea could be urged in extenuation of his crime? None; unless it avail him somewhat, that he was broken down by long and exquisite suffering (Chapter-XVIII) ii. “Do I feel joy again?” cried he, wondering at himself. “Methought the germ of it was dead in me! (Chapter-XVIII) iii. But where was his mind? (Chapter-XXII) This example shows the use of rhetorical questions posed by different characters such as Dimmesdale, himself, and then the narrator.
• Theme : A theme is a central idea that the novelist or the writer wants to stress upon. The novel, The Scarlet Letter shows the titular thematic strands of color and gender marginality, patriarchy, hypocrisy, and love.
• Setting : The setting of the novel, The Scarlet Letter, is the city of Boston in the 1600s.
• Simile : The novel shows good use of various similes. For example, i. But yet returned, like the bad half-penny. (Introduction) ii. a quality of enchantment like that of the Devil’s wages… (Introduction) iii. He now dug into the poor clergyman’s heart, like a miner searching for gold; (Chapter-X) iv. Sometimes, a light glimmered out of the physician’s eyes, burning blue and ominous, like the reflection of a furnace, or, let us say, like one of those gleams of ghastly fire that darted from Bunyan’s1 awful door-way in the hill-side, and quivered on the pilgrim’s face. (Chapter-X)

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• Nathaniel Hawthorne 

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Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter: Resilience and Redemption Essay

Introduction, plot summary: love, hate, and guilt, the main characters: a triangle of struggle, the themes of resolve and confession, the society reflection.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th-century American writer who remains renowned for his input in the classical literature. Some researchers even phrase him as “one of the most significant and influential writers” of his age (Lei, 2015, p. 2164). Among the legacy of Hawthorne, it is worth mentioning The scarlet letter , a work which became vital for the writer’s fame. The plot of the novel immerses the readers into the 17th century to demonstrate the environment of the Puritan era in America. The events revolve around the punishment of a young woman, Hester Prynne, who is accused of adultery. Through the main characters, Hester, her husband “Chillingworth” and her lover Dimmesdale, the author used symbolism to unveil his message about adamant will and redemption. Moreover, thanks to the historical fiction genre, Hawthorne managed to elaborate on notable aspects of social history.

Throughout the plot, the reader finds out about a fictive public scandal in 17th-century Boston. The public attention is caught by the young woman, Hester Prynne, who gave birth to an illegitimate child and is accused of adultery. As a result, Hester must regularly stand on the village’s scaffold and wear the scarlet “A” letter on her clothes. Moreover, she resides in prison, shunned by all the villagers. Despite the humiliation, Hester refuses to name her lover, the father of the child.

During one of the trials, it turns out that Hester’s husband, presumably missed, has returned to the village. Enraged by the wife’s betrayal, the husband vows to avenge his pride by destroying Hester’s love for good. The husband takes up a different persona of a doctor, Roger Chillingworth. With this play, he aims to gain the village’s trust and deduce the identity of his adversary.

Chillingworth gets closer to the head of Boston’s church, a young priest Reverend Dimmesdale, who experiences health issues. At the same time, Hester is released from the detention and lives isolated on the outskirts of the village. Her sewing skills only help her in earning money for living alone. However, she successfully defends her newborn daughter, Pearl, from the attempts to take the child away. Furthermore, she remains adamant in refusing to divulge the identity of Pearl’s father.

Gradually, Chillingworth starts to suspect that Dimmesdale could indeed be Hester’s lover. After all, Dimmesdale’s condition appears to be connected to some unresolved mental torment. Chillingworth discusses the matter with the priest several times, trying to make him confess the presumed sins. Eventually, Chillingworth confirms his suspicions when he notices the same “A” letter on Dimmesdale’s body, that his wife wears. However, he is unable to act with hostility due to the earlier promise to Hester.

In the end, Dimmesdale and Hester meet in the forest and confirm their love, while Dimmesdale contemplates about the public confession. Despite several failed attempts, he brings himself to the public reveal as Hester’s lover and Pearl’s father. This act frees Dimmesdale from spiritual suffering and allows him to die peacefully. Chillingworth, who was unable to stop the confession, dies on the next year while leaving the fortune to Pearl. Afterward, mother and daughter leave for England, only to return before Hester’s death. She wears the “A” letter to the very end, and after the demise, she is buried alongside Dimmesdale.

The plot and the central themes undoubtedly revolve around three leading characters: Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth. Among them, Hester should be considered the main protagonist of the whole story. She is described as a young woman who was unhappily married to an elderly husband. Thus, she could not abstain from searching for a true love, which she found in Dimmesdale. Her name is partially symbolic – according to Lei (2015), the name is derived from the Greek goddess of household Hestia, while the “Prynne” surname alludes to her adultery. However, her nature is characterized by her powerful will and refusal to give up in despair. As Elbert (2014) states, Hester is an epitome of a motherly figure who genuinely cares about her love and child. Hence, Hester managed to endure all the hardships while proudly wearing the scarlet letter.

At the same time, Dimmesdale presents a person who is shameful of his wrongdoings but painfully struggles in the attempt to confess. He is a highly revered head of the town’s church. Furthermore, according to the book, he is so “passionate about God and religion,” that the followers always cling to him (Hawthorne, 2004, p. 64). However, the sin realization slowly kills Dimmesdale since he does not live up to the declared ideals. Eventually, Dimmesdale manages to cope with the shame and release his doubts by voicing the truth to everyone. While he dies soon after, he feels relieved because he finally did the right thing.

Chillingworth represents the dark side of the characters’ past. Most researchers agree on the opinion that he acts as the novel’s villain (İsaoğlu, 2015). He sought a happy family live by marriage with Hester but feels betrayed by her sin. Thus, he is ready to use deceit so he could achieve his form of justice. On this premise, Chillingworth pressures both Hester and Dimmesdale in pursuit of his goal. However, his efforts prove to be futile because of Hester’s resolve and Dimmesdale’s newfound courage to confess. At least, Chillingworth manages to change his ways at the end of life by leaving the fortune to Pearl.

Among the important topics explored in the novel, one should name the unconditional and steadfast love, as well as the struggle to redeem one’s sins as the most central themes. Hester’s unwavering personality demonstrates the first aspect from the beginning to the end. Even when her life was crumbling, she abandoned nether her love for Dimmesdale, nor hope for a better future she eventually attained. Secondly, the suffering of Dimmesdale showcases how destructive one’s unconfessed sin can become. According to Lei (2015), the character serves as a parallel to the Original Sin of Adam and Eve. Nonetheless, the author shows the hardships of redemption, which still can lead to salvation.

While the mentioned themes dominate throughout the novel, one can see one more aspect highlighted by the author. In the description of the 17th century, Hawthorne presents the flaws of society, which remain actual to the present days. Particularly, Hawthorne accentuates the ostracizing of Hester to demonstrate the inability of the community to understand her conditions. Hence, one can apply a famous saying that people fear what they do not understand. Such a failure leads to the isolation of society members who are not evil and just lost their way.

In his historical fiction, The scarlet letter , Hawthorne succeeded in exposing notable moral themes. The plot is centered around the adultery of the main heroine Hester and a local priest Dimmesdale. The capacity of the former to withstand social pressure and the final resolve of the latter to reveal the sin emphasize the topics of spiritual resilience and the redemption of the mistakes. Also, Hawthorne touched the issues of society’s everlasting shortcomings, like the misunderstanding and isolation of those who break the public rules.

Elbert, M. (2014) ‘The woman’s law in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter ’, in Bendixen, A. (ed.) A companion to the American novel . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Son, pp. 373-393.

Hawthorne, N. (2004) The scarlet letter . Smyrna, DE: Prestwick House Inc.

İsaoğlu, H. (2015) ‘A Freudian psychoanalytic analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter ’, The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies , 3(32), pp. 499-511.

Lei, N. (2015) ‘A brief study on the symbolic meaning of the main characters’ name in The Scarlet Letter ’, Theory and Practice in Language Studies , 5(10), pp. 2164-2168.

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IvyPanda. (2020, July 7). Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter: Resilience and Redemption. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hawthornes-the-scarlet-letter-resilience-and-redemption/

"Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter: Resilience and Redemption." IvyPanda , 7 July 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/hawthornes-the-scarlet-letter-resilience-and-redemption/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter: Resilience and Redemption'. 7 July.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter: Resilience and Redemption." July 7, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hawthornes-the-scarlet-letter-resilience-and-redemption/.

1. IvyPanda . "Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter: Resilience and Redemption." July 7, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hawthornes-the-scarlet-letter-resilience-and-redemption/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter: Resilience and Redemption." July 7, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hawthornes-the-scarlet-letter-resilience-and-redemption/.

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Introduction to Literary Criticism: "The Scarlet Letter

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The paper examines ‘The Scarlet Letter’ to determine whether Hawthorne critiques Puritan society’s stringent regulations or supports it in its genuine sense. The article first determines whether Hawthorne agrees with the Puritan concept of sin by examining his perspective on sin. We examined varied past studies using survey method to carry out a descriptive analysis of the author’s justification for Hester’s belief that she is a sinner for the Puritans. Moreover, Hawthorne psychologically analyzes the struggle that exists in the thoughts of the characters as sinners that provokes an endless debate but remains unsolved. Besides, the study explores Hawthorne’s views on Puritanism, which raises a question for academics who are unsure of just how Hawthorne opposes the quintessence of the Puritan way of life. We find that the readers get confused by Hawthorne’s devotion to the novel as they read it and wonder if he was both a Puritanism product and a reaction against it; however, the stu...

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Sin, shame and ignominy is romanticized and spiritualized. Actually, the paradigm of sin and shame is shifted in the novel. “God gave me the child! He gave her in requittal of all things else. She is my happiness!- she is my torture, none the less! See ye not, she is ... endowed with a million-fold the power of retribution for my sin?” Thus American Romanticism had reflected the future American values of life. Emersonian individualism echoes in the narrator's voice. He narrates the stream of Hester's consciousness - "Alone in the world, cast off by it, she felt that she possessed indefeasible rights against the world and was ready to defend them to the death."

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The main purpose of this study is to show the internal situation of the characters through external events by exploring every character’s mind, emotions, and thoughts of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. By traveling through every character’s surroundings, incidents, and inner thoughts, this study arrives at the destination of psychological state. Moreover, the picture of puritan community is displayed relation in the plot of this novel. The inter-connection of major characters are displayed as they hold the hands of each other although they are isolated. This novel clearly contains the psychological work of fiction set in puritan New England. The actual target of my work is to analyze the psychological sight of the characters and incidents of this particular novel.

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The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel hawthorne, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

The Puritans believed people were born sinners. Puritan preachers depicted each human life as suspended by a string over the fiery pit of hell. As a result, the Puritans maintained strict watch over themselves and their fellow townspeople, and sins such as adultery were punishable by death. Hester is spared execution only because the Puritans of Boston decided it would benefit the community to transform her into a "living sermon against sin." But just as Hester turns the physical scarlet letter that she is forced to wear into a beautifully embroidered object, through the force of her spirit she transforms the letter's symbolic meaning from shame to strength.

Hester's transformation of the scarlet letter's meaning raises one of The Scarlet Letter 's most important questions: What does it mean to sin, and who are the novel's real sinners? Hester's defiant response to her punishment and her attempts to rekindle her romance with Dimmesdale and flee with him to Europe shows that she never considered her affair with Dimmesdale to be a sin. The narrator supports Hester's innocence and instead points the finger at the novel's two real sinners: Dimmesdale and Chillingworth . Chillingworth's sin was tormenting Dimmesdale almost to the point of death; Dimmesdale's was abandoning Hester to lead a lonely life without the man she loved.

Sin ThemeTracker

Sin Quotes in The Scarlet Letter