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... y important to her. She can either betray her love for Dimmesdale and her own self-respect by giving in to her husband and to puritan custom, or she can choose to stick by her principles and, in turn, trade away both her freedom and her reputation. Under the harsh circumstances, Hester seems to do the best she possibly can, constantly showing both willful determination and loving kindness despite all of her mistakes. Little by little, Hester begins to accept the life that has been dealt to her and seems to be deeply sorry for what she has done.
Hester's penitence and selflessness is shown in her willingness to serve the people who have sentenced her. She eventually spends most of her life helping the poor, needy, and sick. Hester's moral transformation is reflected by her physical transformation from a gorgeous, extremely well dressed woman, to a drab quietly dressed puritan with dark, undecorated clothing and a gray covering over her thick golden hair. Arthur Dimmesdale Dimmesdale is a caring man in many ways but he is also a coward and a hypocrite. Even worse, he knows that he is a coward and a hypocrite. He realizes what he needs to do and he hates the man that he is becoming, but he just does not have the will to make the change.
Even when he is first described in the novel, he is said to be frail and sickly. As Dimmesdale's guilty conscience continues to eat away at him, he physically grows more and more pale and weak. Dimmesdale's physical condition is a clear representation of his internal moral struggle. Eventually, when he gains a partial victory over his doubts and gives his confession at the end of the novel his guilt finally kills him.
The author seems to be suggesting that the minister's greatest sin was not his adultery, which he could have repented for, but his hypocrisy, and in the end it completely destroyed him. Roger Chillingworth Hester's old, cruel, and deformed husband. He shows his real cruelty by sending Hester alone to America from England with no way to fend for herself, and then abandoning her there for two years without even writing to her to tell her that he is alive. At first glance, this character doesn't seem to have any of the realism or depth of the characters of Hester or Dimmesdale, but a few of his actions do reveal that he may be more than just a basic evil character pasted into the role of a vengeful husband. After all, there is no dagger or shotgun in this novel, and no barrel mustache. Instead, Chillingworth chooses to take the psychological approach.
Because of the way that Chillingworth is portrayed and the impression which he makes on the reader, it seems clear that the writer intended for Chillingworth's slow psychological torture of the minister to be seen as even worse than the adultery that was committed. Even though Chillingworth really has been wronged, his personality makes anyone feel like none of Chillingworth's vengeful actions are justified. Pearl Pearl serves as the living representation of the scarlet letter. She actually wears scarlet more than once in the novel and shows constant interest in the letter her mother wears. When her mother tries to remove the letter, she screams and cries until her mother puts it back on. Whenever she is angry, she reminds her mother of the scarlet letter even though she does not know what it means.
The relationship between Pearl and Dimmesdale is also examined in the novel. Because of comments her mother makes and the way Dimmesdale behaves toward her, she somehow understands that she is related to him in some way. She resents Dimmesdale, however, because she is jealous over her mother and, for whatever reason, she doesn't like all the mystery surrounding him. However, the author seems to point out that the lack of a father figure is a problem in Pearl's life. When Pearl finally kisses Dimmesdale at the end of the novel, it represents a turning point for Pearl and seems to say that she is starting to grow up and will go on to lead a normal life. Theme Sin or human weakness, and the pain that stems from it, is probably the most important theme in the novel.
Dimmesdale of course is the main representative of this concept. He is intended to be a case study in the nature of guilt. Dimmesdale appears to feel deeply sorry for what he has done however, given the chance, he is willing to avoid taking responsibility for his actions and run off with Hester. Than again, even though running away with her would be avoiding the responsibility he has to the town it would also be an acceptance of the responsibility he has towards Hester. Dimmesdale really is repentant of his sin but he is more ashamed of his sin than he is desperate to make up for it. The intensity of his guilt only makes him all the more afraid of what the town would think of him if they found out.
Hester, on the other hand, has already suffered humiliation, and therefore her goal is to somehow gain forgiveness for her sins. to this end she chooses to inflict pain on herself by continuing to endure the pain and loneliness she feels in Boston even though she could easily leave town at any time. She also attempts to atone for her sins by doing good works and more closely following puritan customs. Even after Hester has finally escaped Boston with her daughter, she cannot help but return and continue to pay off the debt she still feels she owes. Another main theme is conflict between the individual and society. Hester stands up against society from the very beginning in everything from her beliefs to her bearing.
She is a kind and considerate person who, nonetheless, finds it very difficult to trade the carefree life she had in England for the strict rules and regulations of puritan society. The reason, however, that Hester is such a rebel may have less to do with a rebellious nature and more to do with the nature of Puritan society. When most people think of rebellion against the government they imagine laws being broken that were established to protect the rights of other people. Most of these laws have little with a person's everyday life and are not of a very personal nature normally. The puritans, on the other hand, established strict laws and harsh punishments for every aspect of life.
Combined with a small close-knit community, the atmosphere would probably be smothering for almost anyone. Since Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, lived during the 19 th century, this particular 17 th century setting was chosen for a reason. I believe it was a way for him to show a person who is being crushed by the pressures of society but one who by most standards is still a good person. His everyday characters made it easier to see the different forms of rebellion against society in a realistic light. Even though I thought Scarlet Letter was very well written, I still didn't like this book. First of all, it had unrealistic dialogue, which for me is a pet peeve.
Hawthorne relies on the realism of the content of their conversation rather than the individual way they would express themselves if they were real people. The dialogue reveals just enough about the characters to give you an idea of what role theyre suppose to fill. It doesn't give them much individual personality. Another problem with the book is the plot, which, to me, seemed very predictable and boring. This novel, instead of focusing on the plot to the detriment of the characters, like most novels do, focuses almost purely on character development which, when it is based on anything other than dialogue can be difficult to understand. All in all, the characters serve mainly as symbols created for the sake of illustrating a point, the theme of the novel.
In most stories the theme is sort of a side effect of the writing. The intent of a fiction author is usually to build up on a plot or character idea rather than taking an interesting theme and creating a story to illustrate it. Hawthorne, however is unusually aware of his theme and created the story line to best display, piece by piece, every aspect of the subject matter. In this case the focus is on sin and its effects, which at first doesnt seem very interesting. Luckily, Hawthorne's views on the subject are enough to carry the novel on their own. The Scarlet Letter is unique and beautiful in that it basically just serves as an allegory representing Hawthorne's deep insights into humanity, which, by themselves, are what make the novel a grat piece of literature.
Without the brilliant character of a writer like Hawthorne reflected in the text, the exact same plot, characters, and dialogue would probably have not come together to form a novel which was able to become one of the best known classics.
Free research essays on topics related to: puritan society, dimmesdale, scarlet, scarlet letter, hester
Research essay sample on Scarlet Letter Puritan Society
