Strong Character Vs. Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne
Published writer, Anne Lamott once said that “Perfection is shallow, unreal, and fatally uninteresting.” Fatally uninteresting… an ironic phrase in the context of the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, due to the unraveling climax and fate of the protagonist. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses a strong character vs. society conflict and symbolism to illustrate that striving to be perfect and unjudged in the eyes of society can destroy a person’s will to live.
Hawthorne uses a strong character vs. society conflict that expresses how the ideals and expectations of society can make a person strive for and unrealistic visage. Throughout the story, both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale struggle to overcome the pressures
of society; Hester being publicly disgraced and Dimmesdale trying to hide his secret from the judgmental town. As Hester reflects on her life with Chillingworth, she confesses that “I have thought of death,” said she, “have wished for it, would have prayed for it, were it fit that such as I should pray for anything. Yet, if death be in this cup, I bid thee again, ere thou beholdest me quaff it.” (Hawthorne pg 69). After her three hours of standing in front of the town in shame, Hester claims she would have welcomed death rather than continue living with her sentence that was punishing her for not following the town standards perfectly. But Hester wasn’t the only one struggling in the story, Dimmesdale encountered troubles and pain of his own which becomes evident when he and Hester meet in the forest. As Hester and Dimmesdale converse about their lives and the nature of their relationship, Dimmesdale gets emotional and cries out his pain to Hester by saying, “Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!... now it is all falsehood!--all emptiness!--all death!” (Hawthorne pg 183). Dimmesdale, being a minister, must hide his true identity from the town for fear of losing all of his Puritan followers and their faith in him. This makes him feel agony and shame……….
Hawthorne also uses many symbols in his novel to express that perfection is full of pressures and harms whomever is trying to attain it. The Black Man is used to symbolise sin and the devil, someone who Hester claims to be acquainted with as she tells Mistress Hibbins, “Had they taken [Pearl] from me, I would willingly have gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man’s book too, and that with mine own blood!” (Hawthorne pg 110) Warrant--Hester was willing to give her soul away rather than undergo the shame of the scarlet letter
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As Dimmesdale is dying on the scaffold, he rips open his shirt to the crowd, revealing that Hester’s A “is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast, and that even this, his own red stigma, is no more than the type of what has seared his inmost heart!” (Hawthorne pg 242). Although it is not directly stated, readers can assume the mark is that of a scarlet letter on his chest, symbolising his internal sin. The mark depicts his guilt and sorrow from hiding who he was from the town, attempting to be the perfect minister they all thought he was. Since so many people looked up to him, he knew his appearance had to be perfect in order to instil belief in people and keep them holy.
Hawthorne uses a strong character vs. society conflict that expresses how the ideals and expectations of society can make a person strive for and unrealistic visage. Throughout the story, both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale struggle to overcome the pressures
of society; Hester being publicly disgraced and Dimmesdale trying to hide his secret from the judgmental town. As Hester reflects on her life with Chillingworth, she confesses that “I have thought of death,” said she, “have wished for it, would have prayed for it, were it fit that such as I should pray for anything. Yet, if death be in this cup, I bid thee again, ere thou beholdest me quaff it.” (Hawthorne pg 69). After her three hours of standing in front of the town in shame, Hester claims she would have welcomed death rather than continue living with her sentence that was punishing her for not following the town standards perfectly. But Hester wasn’t the only one struggling in the story, Dimmesdale encountered troubles and pain of his own which becomes evident when he and Hester meet in the forest. As Hester and Dimmesdale converse about their lives and the nature of their relationship, Dimmesdale gets emotional and cries out his pain to Hester by saying, “Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!... now it is all falsehood!--all emptiness!--all death!” (Hawthorne pg 183). Dimmesdale, being a minister, must hide his true identity from the town for fear of losing all of his Puritan followers and their faith in him. This makes him feel agony and shame……….
Hawthorne also uses many symbols in his novel to express that perfection is full of pressures and harms whomever is trying to attain it. The Black Man is used to symbolise sin and the devil, someone who Hester claims to be acquainted with as she tells Mistress Hibbins, “Had they taken [Pearl] from me, I would willingly have gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man’s book too, and that with mine own blood!” (Hawthorne pg 110) Warrant--Hester was willing to give her soul away rather than undergo the shame of the scarlet letter
Link
As Dimmesdale is dying on the scaffold, he rips open his shirt to the crowd, revealing that Hester’s A “is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast, and that even this, his own red stigma, is no more than the type of what has seared his inmost heart!” (Hawthorne pg 242). Although it is not directly stated, readers can assume the mark is that of a scarlet letter on his chest, symbolising his internal sin. The mark depicts his guilt and sorrow from hiding who he was from the town, attempting to be the perfect minister they all thought he was. Since so many people looked up to him, he knew his appearance had to be perfect in order to instil belief in people and keep them holy.