The Scarlet Letter

Notes on the novel as a whole

 

Structure:

  • begins with scaffold scene, ends with scaffold scene, turning point on the scaffold towards the end: Chillingworth, Hester, Dimmesdale (and Pearl) are at all three scenes
  • Story focuses on the three characters, and on Pearl as an auxiliary
  • Story within the story: story of a hundred years ago, told a hundred years after=two hundred year old story

 

 

Foils and opposition:

                        Dimmesdale                  Hester

                        Dimmesdale                  Chillingworth

                        Good/God                    evil/Black Man

                        Civilization                    wilderness

                        Town                           forest

                        Puritans                        Indians

                        Chillingworth                Pearl

                        Light                             dark

                        Hidden A                     scarlet A

                        Governor                      Mistress Hibbins

 

Symbolism of A (scarlet letter (adultery, able, angel, “awe & reverence,” meteor, Dimmesdale’s mark, Pearl, grave stone)

 

Transcendental commentary on Puritanical beliefs

  • Hawthorne as a transcendentalist
  • Transcendentalism was a religious and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century that was dedicated to the belief that divinity manifests itself everywhere, particularly in the natural world. It also advocated a personalized, direct relationship with the divine in place of formalized, structured religion.
  • “Civilized” Puritanism vs. God’s presence in the natural world, in the forest, in the wilderness

Other social commentary: conception of sin--Puritan view that should be avoided at all costs because once you've sinned, you cannot be fully redeemed or Hawthorne's view that to sin is inherent in being human so the most important aspect is to learn from mistakes and to seek redemption and forgiveness.

 

Pearl’s role:

  • devilish?
  • paradox
  • Guardian angel steering her parents towards the right decision?
  • The personified scarlet A.

 

Civilization vs. wilderness

            Rosebush and Prison door, forest and light vs. town & dark

 

Sin, knowledge and the human condition

  • Adam and Eve: expulsion from Eden and suffering—like Hester and Dimmesdale
      • Made aware of their humanness, forced to toil and to procreate—two labors
      • Sinning is part of being human
  • But in this novel, this expulsion also results in knowledge that is not evil—knowledge of what it means to be human . For Hester, the scarlet letter functions as "her passport into regions where other women dared not tread," leading her to "speculate" about her society and herself more "boldly" than anyone else in New England. As for Dimmesdale, the "burden" of his sin gives him "sympathies so intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind, so that his heart vibrate[s] in unison with theirs." His eloquent and powerful sermons derive from this sense of empathy. Hester and Dimmesdale contemplate their own sinfulness on a daily basis and try to reconcile it with their lived experiences.
  • The Puritan elders, on the other hand, insist on seeing earthly experience as merely an obstacle on the path to heaven. Thus, they view sin as a threat to the community that should be punished and suppressed. Their answer to Hester's sin is to ostracize her. Yet, Puritan society is stagnant, while Hester and Dimmesdale's experience shows that a state of sinfulness can lead to personal growth, sympathy, and understanding of others. Paradoxically, these qualities are shown to be incompatible with a state of purity.
  • Ending of the novel: Hawthorne’s interp of Dimmesdale’s death as criticizing Puritanical beliefs that are too harsh and are hypocritical. That evil is a part of all of us and must learn to cope. That no one is pure. But some in the novel interpret it as an allegorical performance—he meant to deliver a lesson on sin and was not actually confessing to any real sin. That all men have a potential for evil and so therefore must be punished severely in order to repress it. The good can be wholly pure.

 

Light and darkness

  • Light in the forest, darkness in town. Holy light, dark, dreary clothing
  • Light chases Pearl, runs from Hester
  • "celestial radiance" vs. "dusky and lurid glow", love vs. hate p. 178

The Nature of Evil

·        The characters in the novel frequently debate the identity of the "Black Man," the embodiment of evil. Over the course of the novel, the "Black Man" is associated with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and Mistress Hibbins, and little Pearl is thought by some to be the Devil's child.

·        The characters also try to root out the causes of evil: did Chillingworth's selfishness in marrying Hester force her to the "evil" she committed in Dimmesdale's arms? Is Hester and Dimmesdale's deed responsible for Chillingworth's transformation into a malevolent being?

·        This confusion over the nature and causes of evil reveals the problems with the Puritan conception of sin. The book argues that true evil arises from the close relationship between hate and love. As the narrator points out in the novel's concluding chapter, both emotions depend upon "a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent … upon another." Evil is not found in Hester and Dimmesdale's love, nor even in the cruel ignorance of the Puritan fathers, but in the cruel and prolonged revenge of Chillingworth.

·        Evil, in its most poisonous form, is found in the carefully plotted and precisely aimed revenge of Chillingworth, whose love has been perverted.

·        Is Dimmesdale evil in his perversion of love? Dimmesdale, who should love Pearl, will not even publicly acknowledge her. His cruel denial of love to his own child may be seen as further perpetrating evil. In the end, his expressed love for her “ends the spell” and she grows into a admirable young woman.