Transcendentalism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'

Knollmeyer 1
Samuel Knollmeyer
Ms. King
American Masterworks
11 February 2015
Transcendentalism in
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter
, a story constructed with verbose prose and prolific detail, has a level of metacognitive encouragement that delves into the deeper implications of sin and human nature. Nathaniel Hawthorne, born in the first half of the 1800’s, looks back, reflecting on a time that haunts his family name. He was born Nathaniel Hathorne, but later changed his name to cleanse himself of its religious stigma. His great­great­grandfather, a judge of the Salem Witch
Trials, who convicted and sentenced witches to death, had never repented his wrongdoings. That name change sheds light on the possibility that Hawthorne condemned his ancestor’s actions,
(Hawthorne, 113)
Here, Hawthorne is referring to Hester’s embedded spirit of self reliance. When he refers to men overthrowing kingdoms, he is equating their revolutionary spirit to that of Hester’s. Now, these revolutionary men are obviously in no accordance with their respective rulers, whom they are over­throwing, and are self reliant when basing their judgement against their ruler. Before any connections between self reliance and Hester can be made, it is imperative to note that Hester’s sin was committed out of love, rather than being done out of spite for societal boundaries.
Moreover, because Hawthorne directly relates the self reliant ‘men of the sword’ to Hester, he is stating that Hester herself is self reliant, which is one of the main principles of
Transcendentalism. The author portrays Hester as an independent woman, which can be seen not only by how Hester lives a removed lifestyle, but also through her ability to resist conforming to societal boundaries.
The polar opposite of Hester’s love and self reliance is Chillingworth’s need for retribution and revenge. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the aforementioned Transcendentalist thinker, wrote an essay titled
“Puritans.”
Notre Dame EDU
. Notre Dame, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2015.
<https://www3.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/puritans.html>.

Knollmeyer 10
Kay Kizer, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, is extremely knowledgeable about the Puritans. This essay focuses on the specifics of Puritan life and delves into some of their ideologies. She goes further to examine their political systems and how they are extremely influenced by the fervent belief of predestination. She goes on to say that because of this interconnectedness between Church and State, any church infraction will also result in governmental punishment.
This information of the Puritans is required to ensure the reader has a concrete view of the time period in Boston in this paper. Her analysis on their beliefs builds a strong foundation for further investigation of
The Scarlet Letter
. Because Hawthorne detests the Puritans, it is imperative to establish a background of Puritanical Boston to note why he criticizes them. All in all, this source encompasses the Puritans lifestyle and talks about the interrelation between church and state, which is necessary in discussing Hawthorne’s views of Transcendentalism in contrast to