The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Crime & Punishment)

The Scarlet Letter

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

(Crime & Punishment)

 

“Crime” and “Punishment” are legal terms, and in that respect, it is a society that imposes its code of conduct on the erring individual. “Sin” and “Redemption” are religious, Christian terms, these mean that the code of conduct that an individual violates is not legal but religious or moral. Through noble deeds and penance, an individual can make amends for his sin. The idea of adultery has sparked off a number of novels.

In the novel, ‘The Scarlet Letter’, Hawthorne is not interested in telling a story, his interest lies in showing how sin affects three different individuals. The sin here is taken not so much as a theological problem but as a psychological one. The Puritan society of Boston was a theocracy, i.e., it was a religious as well as a political organization. Individuals who defied or offended the society were dangerous as they might cause anarchy in the society, which was itself still trying to adjust itself in a new country wherein there was danger from the Red Indians, the Spaniards and from the Natives itself. The crime that Hester has committed is over before The Scarlet Letter begins. In this sense, the novel deals, not with crime and punishment, but with the effect of a particular sin on a group of people—Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth.

Hester Prynne is a woman of undaunted courage who withstands the misfortunes and shame that circumstances bring upon her. She is tricked into marriage by an old, misshapen man of learning for whom she “felt no love, nor feigned any.” Being still in wedlock, she unlocks her heart to another. This lapse was integral to her nature which was “rich, voluptuous, oriental characteristic, a taste for the gorgeously beautiful.”

Bullied, tortured and imprisoned, Hester would not name the father of her child. On the contrary, she carried her cross—the flaming letter ‘A’—with rare courage and force. She had violated the law of Moses. The sin of her co-partner, Arthur Dimmesdale, is aggravated by his concealment of it, his hypocrisy and his continuing to wear a mask of piety for several years before he determines to make a confession. Hester does not look upon her moral lapse as a sin either against God or against herself, though she certainly considers it to be a serious violation of the social order. On the contrary, Dimmesdale regards this moral lapse as a sin against God, a sin against himself and a sin against society.

Hawthorne provides a probing leap into the emotions of the wearer of the scarlet letter. The children in Salem begin to have a dread of Hester which they imbibe from their parents. It was a vague idea that there was something horrible in this woman. She lives alienated and isolated but has a remarkable strength of mind to bear the agony. The scarlet letter gives her insight into the hidden sins of others. She knows that if truth be told, everywhere will the letter ‘A’ blaze on so many other bosoms beside hers. As a result of the penance imposed on Hester by society, a great change comes over her. She stays on in Boston so that the torture of her daily shame might purge her soul so that she could “work out another purity than that which she had lost, more saint-like, because of the results of martyrdom.” The decision in itself is a step towards moral amelioration. Hester herself admits that “the badge hath taught me.” Thus, Hester becomes a ‘Sister of Mercy’, helping every soul in distress, with her goodness and resolve. She achieves a spiritual victory over her society which begins to acknowledge her changing status in her community.

Hester’s acts of service to society should not, however, blind us to her real weakness. She is by nature a passionate, sensual woman, though her sensuality is successfully suppressed by her for seven long years. It rises to the surface as soon as an opportunity presents itself. Meeting her lover, Dimmesdale, in the forest after seven years, she is ready to do the same thing again. She removes the letter ‘A’ from her bosom and throws it away. With her rich and luxurious hair tumbling down, her voluptuous beauty casts a spell on the Minister once again. She is able to coax into agreeing to her plan to escape to Boston. Thus, the two sinners who had already suffered a lot, are ready to take another plunge. In case of Hester, the decision to flee is the result of a genuine conviction, though Dimmesdale does not suffer publicly as a criminal, but his raw conscience causes him constant torment, laceration and mortification. He hurts himself physically for his sin but ‘punishes’ himself in secret. In this sense, whereas Hester’s regeneration is more social, Dimmesdale’s regeneration is actually a ‘salvation. Like King Arthur of yore, he has overcome sin, temptation and evil to emerge triumphant in his public confession of sin and death. Yet his spiritual salvation is, perhaps, more subjective than actual.

Roger Chillingworth, the physician, the indifferent but wronged husband of Hester Prynne has every right to know the identity of the man who wronged him. But as a husband, he had nearly abandoned his young and beautiful wife to pursue his academic interests. Nevertheless, in spite of his devilish designs against Dimmesdale, Chillingworth through his act of leaving huge fortune to Pearl, redeems himself significantly.