Scarlet Letter Transcendentalism Essay

Hawthorne was influenced by both Puritan culture and the Romantic and Transcendentalism movements. Puritans believed that life should be lived with complete conformity to the teachings of the Bible, that life is lived only for the glory of God, and that moral purity is a constant priority. Puritans wanted to obey God’s will in order to ensure their future happiness in heaven. As a result, they did not hold earthly pleasures in high regard, such as celebrations or holidays. Romantics, however, put more of an emphasis on emotion and sensations. They believed in freedom of all sorts, such as freedom of speech and press, and were very liberal. Romantics had an appreciation for nature. The Romantic Movement brought about a revival of appreciation
for art, music, and literature, which encouraged even more freedom of expression.
It would not be incorrect to say that Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale represents the best of the one of the two worlds that had impacted Hawthorne’s writing. Dimmesdale embodies the better aspects of Puritan culture. He is a fine example of the immense value that Puritans put on their relationship with God. He values it to the point of detriment to himself, as he believes he doesn’t need to confess his sin, since God already knows. The guilt of not exposing his sins begins to weigh him down, and eventually leads to his demise. However, he continues to help others in order to obey God’s will. Dimmesdale has a sensitive conscience, which would be an enviable character quality, if it weren’t such an extremity. He can distinctly tell good from evil, and although he is tempted to do wrong, resists the desire, as shown in the following excerpt from the Scarlet Letter. “At every step he [Reverend Dimmesdale] was incited to do some strange, wild, wicked thing or other, with a sense that it would be at once involuntary and intentional; in spite of himself, yet growing out of a profounder self than that which opposed the impulse…The minister was glad to have reached this shelter, without first betraying himself to the world by any of those strange and wicked eccentricities to which he had been continually impelled while passing through the streets.”(Hawthorne, 1850)
While Dimmesdale represented Puritan culture, Hester represented Romanticism at its finest.
Near the beginning of the Scarlet Letter, Hester was a passionate and proud woman. Her characteristics reveal themselves throughout her attire, attitude, and countenance. Hester openly expresses her love for freedom, which is encouraged by Romantics. However, as she grows older, she matures and her rough edges begin to smooth. Since she is permanently distanced from civilization by the Scarlet Letter, she becomes independent. Isolated from everyone, Hester becomes more introspective and thoughtful. However, she still expresses her dormant passion through her business as a seamstress, making elaborate and vibrant dresses. Her passion is revitalized by her meeting with Dimmesdale, and Hester has a moment of complete transparency, fully expressing
herself.
Pearl does not have any trace elements of the rigidness of Puritan culture. She takes after her mother in that she is a Romantic. Pearl doesn’t conform to the ideals of Puritan culture, and is clearly at home in the forest and among the wild things. She is wild and not compliant with any rules set by Puritan culture, as shown in the following excerpts from the Scarlet Letter. “The truth seems to be, however, that the mother-forest, and these wild things which it nourished, all recognized a kindred wildness in the human child. And she was gentler here than in the grassy-margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother's cottage…With these [flowers] she decorated her hair, and her young waist, and became a nymph-child, or an infant dryad, or whatever else was in closest sympathy with the antique wood.” “She ran and looked the wild Indian in the face; and he grew conscious of a nature wilder than his own. Thence, with native audacity, but still with a reserve as characteristic, she flew into the midst of a group of mariners, the swarthy-cheeked wild men of the ocean, as the Indians were of the land; and they gazed wonderingly and admiringly at Pearl, as if a flake of the sea-foam had taken the shape of a little maid, and were gifted with a soul of the sea-fire, that flashes beneath the prow in the night-time.” (Hawthorne, 1850)
Hawthorne explores the relationship between Puritan culture and Romanticism by converting these beliefs into characters.
It could be argued that the relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale is doomed from the beginning because of their different beliefs and opinions. Dimmesdale simply can’t think like Hester because of an intrinsic difference and vice-versa. Hester will never be able to live as Dimmesdale does, because that’s just not how her mind works. What makes the story of the Scarlet Letter so tragic is that these two people in love can never be together, because of their own ideals and society’s
rules.