Cruelty In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne commit an act of adultery that is marked by the birth of their daughter Pearl. As a result, the two are forced to face the consequences of their sin by means of the cruelty they receive from their peers. While the Puritans ostracize Hester by forcing her to wear a scarlet A, Dimmesdale is secretly tormented by Hester’s husband Roger Chillingworth. This animosity results in both characters gaining greater insight into the meaning of being human. Therefore, cruelty functions as a means of carrying out the selfish motivations of an individual or society, while revealing how cruelty dehumanizes the perpetrator and enlightens the victim.
From the very beginning
Hawthorne describes that as a result of “standing alone in the world,” Hester was able to “assume a freedom of speculation” that allowed her to radically ponder about topics that “would have held to be a deadlier crime than that stigmatized by the scarlet letter” (147-148). This demonstrate how the freedom from the confines of society, enabled Hester to think about profound subject matters that she could never thought of before, such as her own identity within society. As the years pass by and the town’s opinion of Hester changes, she is able to come to the realization that no matter how she defines herself, the town’s people will always have a set opinion of her that she can’t control. Hester is able to personally grow from this revelation, and stays true to herself in the end because she no longer cares what society thinks of her. The scarlet letter and the cruelty it has subjected her to, has allowed her to gain a greater understanding about the identity of oneself. Furthermore, the isolation the Puritans have caused, has also resulted in Hester being able to have greater sympathy for those around