The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Persuasive Essay

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a romantic novel that explores the entrapment of Hester Prynne by sin, and the consequent revelations she unveils as she endures complete social isolation. The novel spotlights America’s ignominious relationship with the Puritan church following its conception during the early 1600’s. To the naked eye, the novel revolves around female independence and the resulting exclusion from society. However, its underlying hypocrisy and religious tropes criticize Puritan ideologies, serving as a denouncement of Hawthorne’s Puritan bloodline. Hawthorne’s witty craft and intricate narrative employed in the novel suggest that the path to truth is often convoluted and confusing. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the elusiveness of reality and truth through the unraveling of his characters, represented in their superficial personas and deterioration of their outer appearances.

Despite Hester Prynne’s ignominy into a recluse and irreparable position in society, Hawthorne reveals her redeemable nature and inclination toward altruism through her upbringing of Pearl and transformation as a pillar of her community. Hawthorne presents Hester as the heroine who unabashedly symbolizes truth, thus establishing her as an outlier among a deceitful society, visualized in her scarlet ‘A’. His isolation of Prynne emphasizes the duality of her character, allowing her to step out of her patriarchal signifier. Within her needlework, Hawthorne remarks the situational irony of Hester’s choice to remain in her seclusion, while using her skills to help other townspeople, revealing herself as “a wellspring of human tenderness, unfailing to every real demand.” (Hawthorne 152). Hence, the letter becomes a symbol of her calling, exceptionally so that “many people refused to interpret the scarlet ‘A’ by its original signification. They said that it meant ‘Able’.” (Hawthorne 152). Through this, Hawthorne transforms the dynamic of Hester and develops a gradience against the community’s irascible condemnation of her. Likewise, Hawthorne’s characterization of Hester as a warm and maternal character transformed others' interpretation of her and redefined the badge of shame she wore. During her encounter with Governor Bellingham in which he threatens the suitability of Hester’s maternal abilities, she affirms the necessity of her role as Pearl’s mother through expressing that the lessons her scarlet letter “is teaching [her] at this moment - lessons whereof my child may be wise and better, though albeit they can profit nothing to myself.” (Hawthorne 102). Hawthorne includes this passionate revelation to demonstrate Hester’s recognition of the mistakes she’s committed and her desire to raise Pearl to be virtuous by conceding her own immorality. Through deepening her compassion and allowing her liberation from the constraints of Puritan society, Hester Prynne’s “elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread” (Hawthorne 12), meant to exclude her, functions counterintuitively as the conduit of her acceptance. Hawthorne’s developmental characterization of Hester explores the ironic process of her reconciliation despite an irreverent social shunning; thus revealing the faceted nature of sin.

Hawthorne portrays Dimmesdale’s frailty from his inability to reconcile with his sin to develop a stark contrast to his saintly reputation. Hawthorne confines Dimmesdale to the prison of his adultery and conscience, leaving him constantly tormented by an itching secret guilt. Simultaneously, Dimmesdale must preach sermons that, ironically, condemn his own actions and the actions of his ex-lover, Hester. Hawthorne tethers this guilt to the fundamental principles of Puritanism, in which sin is inevitable, and guilt is indoctrinated. Despite the Puritan notion that sin is entangled with punishment, Hawthorne restricts Dimmesdale from speaking publicly of his sin until the conclusion of the novel. Although a confession could alleviate Dimmesdale of his torment, the young preacher chooses to submit to a form of masochism in which he must “purify [his] body and render it the fitter medium of celestial illumination.” (Hawthorne 136). In doing so, Hawthorne masks Dimmesdale’s religious solace under the facade of self-inflicted torture. Furthermore, Hawthorne indirectly addresses the contradiction of the Puritan system through the blatant hypocrisy of Dimmesdale. His failure to purify his sin through conventional penance and his supposed fear of punishment are in obvious contradiction to his beatific position. Consequently, Dimmesdale’s “long, intense, and secret pain” (Hawthorne 145)  becomes a medium for his shame and the relinquishment of his guilt. Within his agony, Hawthorne observes the detriment of negative introspection and sinful behavior on Dimmesdale’s mental state as a symptom of his insanity.

Hawthorne depicts Pearl as a subversive preternatural child, marked as a symptom of Hester’s sin. However, Hawthorne reveals her to be a complicated symbol of beauty, truth, love, and passion. From Pearl’s conception, she is expected to be bound to evil and darkness, meant to reflect the illegitimate values through which she had been conceived. Hawthorne rejects this idea through his elaborate imagery of Pearl and consistent comparison to nature. He reinforces this most obviously through the juxtaposition of the prison door and the wild rosebush. The door is a mark of strict civilization; whereas, the wild rosebush acts in obvious contrast as a mark of nature. In a Puritan society so dependent on law and order, nature offers a sense of primitiveness, mystery, and lawlessness, making it clear that Hawthorne is seeking to personify Pearl through the rosebush. In Pearl’s characterization, she is compared to a “lovely and immortal flower,” (Hawthorne 83) endowed with natural beauty and grace. However, she is often referred to as an imp-like character with unusual intelligence. As the child of Hester and Dimmesdale, she serves as a “messenger of anguish” (Hawthorne 241), whereupon she must carry the burden of her parents’ shame and support Hester in her isolation. Hence, she’s endowed with an important role within the story in which she’s the catalyst in the salvation of Hester. Likewise, Pearl is a living conscience to Dimmesdale, for it is through her pleading and acknowledgement of their connection that drives him to public confession. Hawthorne declares Hester as a symbol of the passion committed with the Minister, so when she bestows a final kiss to Dimmesdale “a spell was broken” (Hawthorne 241). Dimmesdale’s truthful acknowledgement of his daughter instigates Pearl’s affection in like recognition, as she ceases to be a symbol of adultery and becomes human, in acceptance and forgiveness for her father. This climatic moment of the novel humanizes Pearl from an elf-child to a symbol of triumph over a repressed society.

Roger Chillingworth embodies a cold and dark character who, at first glance, is an intelligent and high society doctor; however, he allows his hunger for revenge to be all consuming and take form in his physical deformities. His slow descent from a kind scholar to an obsessive fiend creates the clear distinction that Chillingworth is representative of the devil, infiltrating and corrupting a superficial society. Hawthorne begins this development of Chillingworth as the paramour of the “black man,” (Hawthorne 174) through his physical appearance, presenting him as feeble and slightly deformed. Despite his external qualities, Chillingworth’s circumstances force readers to sympathize with him; a travel-worn man arrives in the Massachusetts Bay Colony with hopes of a warm homecoming, only to discover his wife being publicly punished for her act of adultery. However, his reaction to his wife’s sin is what determines him morally corrupt. He harshly assumes the role of the vengeful husband, whose anger and hunger for revenge is necessary to reset the laws of nature disrupted by Hester. Chillingworth begins to delude himself with fantasies of corrupting Dimmesdale’s soul and coercing him into paying a metaphorical debt. He eventually pursues his fantasies through clinical investigation of Dimmesdale in which he indoctrinates himself with “the severe and equal integrity of a judge, desirous only of truth.” (Hawthorne 120). In one of Hester’s final confrontations with Chillingworth concerning his fascination with Dimmesdale, he wears a dark visage and bears a disturbing resemblance to the devil. Hawthorne employs this imagery to convey the “striking evidence of man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil.” (Hawthorne 159). Chillingworth progressively becomes so enthralled with his mental torture of the minister that he loses sentiment and his prerogative for vengeance becomes futile.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter follows individualistic conflicts presenting the recurrent theme of appearance versus truth which remain central and woven into different elements in the novel. The reason for Hawthore’s inclusion of this theme lies within the hiddenness surrounding Puritanism and permeating effects of judgment, especially when encroached by a protagonist who threatens the sanctity of the Puritanical laws. The transformations of Hawthorne’s characters are highlighted through the use of symbolism, structural composition, and irony which all intertwine together to portray struggles within a punishment driven society.