Hester Prynne: The Romantic Hero

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s usage of duality and descriptions displays

Romantic Era ideas and shows how his content is a product of this time and environment. The Romantic Era brought about the development of the archetype of the Romantic hero. Hawthorne uses Hester Prynne, the main character of The Scarlet Letter, as a near-perfect example of the Romantic hero to contrast her with Puritanical society as well as to show the duality of sin. The Romantic hero is characterized by a rebellious nature; they defy convention and are separated from society. Hawthorne uses the contrast of his Romantic hero and the society described to criticize the Puritans and imply that Hester’s character is favorable. He shows Hester refusing to
give up her adulterous partner and taking the punishment with a boldness and describes her as beautiful, “how her beauty shone out and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy” (Hawthorne 61), especially when compared to the other women in the strict Puritan society.
She is ostracized by society for her sin, represented by the scarlet letter, which is embroidered beautifully by her own hands as if to announce her defiance. Hawthorne purposely separates Hester via her beauty and her sin such as the Romantic hero is separated from society to emphasize the hypocrisy of the Puritans. Though Hester commits adultery and is punished by the Puritans, Hawthorne continually paints her as holy and saint like, comparing her to the Virgin Mary. This is ironic as later, Hester, who faced pain by being cast aside by the townspeople because of her sin, is called hardworking and “able” instead of adulterous. Hawthorne shows that Hester builds her character around the sin openly, whereas the people surrounding her hides them away. Dimmesdale is utilized by Hawthorne as another way to compare the puritans to Hester. Whereas Hester is rejected from normal town life as romantic heroes are also classified by their individualism, Dimmesdale is coveted as a holy pastor to the Lord the Puritans worship, though on the inside Dimmesdale is too a sinner as Hester and everyone else is. As Dimmesdale hides his sin, the guilt surrounding it intensifies. Hester wears her sin
out for the world to see and allows it to keep her grounded, while Dimmesdale hides it away. Hawthorne highlights the Romantic hero and uses the archetype to criticize Puritanical society.

Another aspect of Romanticism was the preference of emotion over reasoning. The

feelings emphasized could be intuitive, something Hawthorne displays in many of his characters. This intuition, or sense of the truth without previous knowledge, comes easily to two integral characters in The Scarlet Letter. Pearl and Roger Chillingworth both have an inexplicable way to “feel” the truth. Hawthorne makes it seem that some outer unnatural force is acting upon these characters and giving them insight. When Dimmesdale stepped onto the scaffold one night, consumed with his own guilt, a meteor passed by forming a red A in the sky. Pearl, who does not know the true nature of her relationship to Dimmesdale, asks him to stand with them the next day in front of everyone. She can’t possibly know that he is her biological father, but she intuitively understands that she has a connection with him. She isn’t the only one to feel this connection. Roger Chillingworth also senses that Dimmesdale is the other adulterer, though with no solid evidence. He keenly observes how Dimmesdale defends Hester keeping Pearl and acts upon this instinct that Dimmesdale must be the father. Romanticism emphasized these feelings over reasoning.

The Romantic Era was characterized by an emphasis on on emotions being truly authentic and a general belief that nature not society could bring about the truth. Hawthorne, an author of that time, truly is a Romantic author, using duality and descriptions to display the ideas of the Romantic Era.