Scarlet Letter Analysis Essay, Research Paper

The book The Scarlet Letter is all about symbolism. People and objects are

symbolic of events and thoughts. Throughout the course of the book, Nathaniel

Hawthorne uses Hester, Pearl, and Arthur Dimmesdale to signify Puritanic and

Romantic philosophies. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an

extreme sinner; she has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery. For

this irrevocably harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her

life. However, the Romantic philosophies of Hawthorne put down the Puritanic

beliefs. She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven.

Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity" and she can do no

wrong. Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a Puritanical sign of

disownment, is shown through the author’s tone and diction as a beautiful, gold

and colorful piece. Pearl, Hester’s child, is portrayed Puritanically, as a

child of sin who should be treated as such, ugly, evil, and shamed. The reader

more evidently notices that Hawthorne carefully, and sometimes not subtly at

all, places Pearl above the rest. She wears colorful clothes, is extremely

smart, pretty, and nice. More often than not, she shows her intelligence and

free thought, a trait of the Romantics. One of Pearl’s favorite activities is

playing with flowers and trees. (The reader will recall that anything affiliated

with the forest was evil to Puritans. To Hawthorne, however, the forest was

beautiful and natural.) "And she was gentler here [the forest] than in the

grassy- margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother’s cottage. The

flowers appeared to know it" (194) Pearl fit in with natural things. Also,

Pearl is always effervescent and joyous, which is definitely a negative to the

Puritans. Pearl is a virtual shouting match between the Puritanical views and

the Romantic ways. To most, but especially the Puritans, one of the most

important members of a community is the religious leader; Arthur Dimmesdale is

no exception. He was held above the rest, and this is proven in one of the first

scenes of the book. As Hester is above the townspeople on a scaffold, Dimmesdale,

Governor Wilson, and others are still above her. But, as the reader soon

discovers, Arthur Dimmesdale is his own worst enemy. He hates himself and must

physically inflict pain upon himself. "He thus typified the constant

introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself" to

never forget what he has done (141). To Dimmesdale, it is bad that Hester is

shown publicly as a sinner, but people forget that. What is far worse than

public shame is Dimmesdale’s own cruel inner shame. Knowing what only he and

Hester know, the secret eats away at every fiber of Dimmesdale’s being. As the

Puritans hold up Dimmesdale, the Romantics level him as a human. The Scarlet

Letter is a myriad of allegorical theories and philosophies. Ranging from

Puritanic to Romantic, Nathaniel Hawthorne embodies his ideas to stress his

Romantic philosophies through Pearl, Hester, and Dimmesdale throughout all of

this.