The Scarlet Letter

Introduction

The Scarlet Letter is well-known novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This masterpiece of literature is purely based on a simple idea on the lines of the Bible sentence “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Hawthorne has beautifully based his entire novel this context and explained the situation brilliantly (Durst, Pp. 45).

The novel is set in the mid 17th century and is the story of Hester Prynne, who is publically punished for committing adultery. She is imprisoned and after getting released from the prison she is forced to wear a scarlet letter around her neck for the rest of her live. The scarlet letter is the indication that she has committed a crime. She gives birth to a girl named Pearl as the result of the adultery but refuses to disclose the identity of Pearl's father (Durst, Pp. 45).

The father turns out to be Hester's minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, who during the entire novel hides his crime, and quietly see Hester getting humiliated and ridicule by everyone for the crime committed by both of them. He maintains his good image in the society by hiding his crime. In the end of the novel, out of guilt he reveals his secret in front of everyone and dies immediately after that. Hester's long lost husband, Roger Chillingsworth, suddenly comes back in her live and resides in the same community under a fake name. He plans to seek revenge of his dishonor from the minister. All the characters ultimately pay for the crimes they have done. Hawthorne shows the readers how the natural course make the characters pay for what they have done and get what they deserve (Gross, Pp. 30).

The main themes that Nathaniel Hawthorne used in The Scarlet Letter are Sin, knowledge and Human condition. The themes are discussed below:

Sin

The general theme of the novel is 'Sin which interlinks and connects with the rest of the themes. The entire main characters, Roger Chillingsworth, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester Prynne, have committed sin in the story and as the result must face the consequences.

Hawthorne believed that there are no angels or devils and heaven or hell, however the people of his time believe in God and that He keeps record of each person's sins and later punishes them in the afterlife (Gross, Pp. 30). Hawthorne still believed in morality and traditions. He believed that through the process of natural course the people are punished and rewarded accordingly. This is exactly what he portrayed in 'The Scarlet Letter.'

The characters of his novels are punished and suffer the consequences of their sins gradually. The minister Arthur Dimmesdale gets his punishment, for not owning up and letting Hester get all the blame, by his own feelings of guilt and shame. Dimmesdale gets physically sick as a result of keeping his sin a secret and feeling the guilt and remorse for what he has done inside himself. He gradually falls ill and dies of the guilt. However due to his public confession his ...