Themes in the Scarlet Letter
In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne incorporates Puritanism into several themes of his work: Individual vs. Society, The Nature of Evil, and The Heart vs. the Head. The novel is set in the Puritan town of Boston in the 1700s. Hester Prynne, the protagonist, is being persecuted for her crime of adultery and is forced to wear a scarlet "A" on her chest. Hawthorne shows the reactions of the Puritans to Hester's sin and the strength of Hester as she overcomes the isolation and criticisms of others, while still refusing to tell the identity of her lover. The Puritan society revolved around the church and anyone who objected to the church was considered a sinner. Hawthorne uses the morals expressed in Puritanism, the deep development of his meaningful characters, and a lot of symbolism to develop his themes of Identity vs. Society, The Nature of Evil, and the Heart vs. the Head in his work. In The Scarlet Letter, the theme of the Individual vs. Society is displayed in the interactions of Hester Prynne and Governor Bellingham with the Puritan society. The greatest example of the individual struggling against a powerful society is with Hester Prynne and her persecution. Hester was a young woman who was married in
Europe to an older man. Her husband sent her ahead to settle in Boston but in the time she was there she got word that her husband had died. Hester then sleeps with another man who she believes she is in love with. She becomes pregnant, then arrested, and judged for her sin of adultery. When she is accused, Hester rebelled against the law of the society by refusing to admit that what she has does is a sin and by withholding the name of her lover. Puritanism revolved around the church and the Bible; puritans took the context of the Bible literally and thought that nothing beyond that existed and if it did, it was evil. Anyone who was convicted of committing a crime would be presented before a board of reverends who would judge him or her harshly and give them their punishment. The Massachusetts School Law of 1642 established the men that would manage the "evil" of others. It states, " in euery towne ye chosen men appointed for managing the prudentiall affajres of the same shall henceforth stand charged with the care of the redresse of evil." Therefore, when Hester committed adultery and was arrested by the society that she no longer had faith in, she stood up for her rights. In her eyes, she had done nothing wrong because she was only fulfilling her love. This is looked down upon by the Puritan social code and me
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Approximate Word count = 894
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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