The Scarlet Letter
by
Nathaniel Hawthorne
(Themes
- Past and Present)
The
clashing of past and present is explored in various ways. For example, the
character of the old General, whose heroic qualities include a distinguished
name, perseverance, integrity, compassion, and moral inner strength, is said to
be “the soul and spirit of New England hardihood.” Now put out to pasture, he
sometimes presides over the Custom House run by corrupt public servants, who
skip work to sleep, allow or overlook smuggling, and are supervised by an
inspector with “no power of thought, nor depth of feeling, no troublesome
sensibilities,” who is honest enough but without a spiritual compass.
Hawthorne
himself had ambivalent feelings about the role of his ancestors in his life. In
his autobiographical sketch, Hawthorne described his ancestors as “dim and
dusky,” “grave, bearded, sable cloaked, and steel crowned,” “bitter
persecutors” whose “better deeds” would be diminished by their bad ones. There
can be little doubt of Hawthorne’s disdain for the stern morality and rigidity
of the Puritans, and he imagined his predecessors’ disdainful view of him:
unsuccessful in their eyes, worthless and disgraceful. “A writer of story
books!” But even as he disagrees with his ancestor’s viewpoint, he also feels
an instinctual connection to them and, more importantly, a “sense of place” in
Salem. Their blood remains in his veins, but their intolerance and lack of
humanity becomes the subject of his novel.
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