The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne

Nathanial Hawthorne and the Transcendentalism Movement

Nathanial Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter during the Transcendentalism movement, a time when authors were rebelling and demonstrating against culture and society. Hester Prynne, the main character in The Scarlet Letter, is found guilty of adultery after her spouse Roger Chillingworth abandons her. She is publicly humiliated and forced to wear the scarlet letter “A” on her dress. She is given the chance to leave the Puritan Boston community after the public reprimand, but she refuses and stays to protect her identity and make amends rather than running away from herself and her errors. (Leverenz, 2013). This paper will critically discuss the concept of conformity, which is compliance with the standards, rules, and laws, and individual identity, which means concepts one develops about oneself that often evolve over the course of one’s life.

Conformity and Individual Identity in the Puritan Society

The Puritan society in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter is built upon strict adherence to the set rules, and every member of the Puritan society is expected to conform to the demands of the law. Those who, by one way or another, find themselves on the wrong side of the law are faced with very harsh punishment which may even include banishment from the society. As a result, nonconformists find it hard to develop negative concepts about themselves leading to conflicts between individuality and conformity, as in the case of nonconformists like Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Generally, one can say that The Scarlet Letter is a novel presenting a conflict between conformity as well as individual identity because of the battle evident in what appears from the characters and the reality. Since the Puritan has a harsh government, the concern of the residents there is to pretend to look like they are conformist by living in a way that they can best fit in the rule of law. It means that their effort revolves around hiding the reality from the human imperfections, sins as well as frailties to stay away from punishment. The results of such a life are secrets embodied from the disconnection of private personal realities and the requirement of maintaining the outward show of public conformity. In reality, keeping of secrets is not a solution to the eminent problem facing the Puritan residents. To avoid punishment, people have to repress their individuality or identity behind and mast their secrets to conform with the ultimate law that at the end destroys an individual’s soul.

Hester Prynne’s Individuality

Hester is a woman demonstrating identifies an conformity in the Scarlet Letter. After being found guilty of adultery is punished by being made to stand on a scaffold for three hours with her shameful baby and to wear the scarlet letter A on her chest as a reminder of her sin (Bercovitch, 2013). The fact that a crowd gathers during Hester’s persecution signify that everybody conforms to the law and stands by the law to punish lawbreakers. It is also notable that the multitudes of people that witness this go back home with a totally different picture or rather view of Hester; even without the scarlet letter.

Hester’s Struggle for Individual Identity

Hester is given an opportunity to run to a place where she will be free from the letter and pointing figures but instead decides to live a lonely life on the outskirts of Boston. This gives her ample opportunity to develop her individual identity and also save herself from the perception that the people, even visitors who can notice the scarlet letter, have about her (Herbert, 2008). She decides to take the lonely path alone and even fail to subject the partner in crime Reverend Dimmesdale to this humiliation by keeping it from the public that he and no one else the father of Pearl. Failing to mention the name of Pearl’s father, she is protecting him from the law and thus not conforming to the set guidelines put in place by the strict Puritan regime (Bercovitch, 2013). She makes it clear that she is determined to develop her new identity and hiding the identity of the fellow criminal was just but the beginning, she does not even give in to the demand of the church officials and keeps the secret still.

Hester’s Community Contributions

Hester’s resolution to rebuild her identity is also evident in the fact that she works so hard, she provides food for the poor and also aids in some community voluntary works. Hester at the end disapproves every aspect of the puritan society as she wears the scarlet letter without fear and instead of suffering emotional turmoil because of the humiliation, she remains strong enough for other women without the scarlet letter to seek refuge from her (Herbert, 2008). She supports other people hence instead of being bad she succeeds in making her bad name appear good by being of help to other people. Besides, she also sets a good example of having survived the public humiliation by the harsh Puritan society.

The Conflict within Reverend Dimmesdale

Reverend Dimmesdale, on the other hand, is not stripped off his individuality by the community; the people are still committed to following his teachings despite the fact that he is responsible for the predicaments that befall Hester, but all doesn’t go well with the Reverend. He is tortured with guilt and fails to reconcile with Hester and the society who believe and depend on him for direction in the holy journey. In an attempt to find his lost self, he isolates himself from people, an act which just worsens the situation as the guilt of having committed a greater sin than his congregation who appear to be really disturbed by somehow smaller sins and depend on him for comfort. He gets himself into a problem every time he preaches as he is forced to condemn himself through his sermons to the people. The matter becomes worse when the case of separating Hester from her only companion, Pearl, is presented to him. He has to use his argumentative prowess to save Hester, something that doesn’t seem okay to the people even though they submit to let Pearl stay with her mother (Herbert, 2008). The reverend is faced with the conflict between conformity to the set rules and his individuality, and because he lacks the strength as that of Hester, he succumbs to psychological turmoil.

The Conflict between “Man’s Law” and Natural Order

When looking at the relationship between “man’s law” versus the more natural order in The Scarlet Letter, it is evident that the “man’s law” which the Puritanism contrasts with natural order. The differences between the two form an indictment to conformity. The “man’s law” is rigid and merciless while the natural order is flexible and forgiving. From the beginning of the book, Hawthorne contrasted between the two using an example of a “black flower” found in the prison and used for the purpose of punishing wrongs with a red rose bush imagined to forgive the individuals who were sentenced to death. In The Scarlet Letter, natural order being flexible and forgiving is compared to forest at the outside of Boston. Hawthorne described that forest located in a non-Christianized and lawless area. In that forest residents of Puritan could escape from the strict rules and oppressive morality as it offers protection and comfort that is not available in the Puritan society. It was only the place where Hester went to reunite with Dimmesdale.

Conflicts between Man-Made Law and Natural Order

The law that is created by the Puritan society is in constant conflict with the natural order. For example, the natural order demands that a child stays with the mother for safety and security as mothers are the best protectors at that tender age. The laws of man as in Nathaniel’s society in The Scarlet Letter, the Puritan society argues that Hester is a bad example to her too and would make her daughter lead a nonspiritual life. As a result, she uses the law to attempt to take Pearl in the name of saving her from her mother (Leverenz, 2010). The other part that natural law conflicts man-made law is the case of Hester herself after breaking the law and being given the burden of carrying the letter along with her everywhere she goes. She doesn’t suffer the consequences as is expected, but instead, this makes her isolated from the society and thus giving her a totally different view of the society. This gives her a reason to stay strong enough to fight for her name and instead of suffering; she becomes a source of admiration to other women not only to the Puritan society but also to an immortal society as her strength is forever a source of inspiration.

The Significance of Hester’s Actions

Historically the inhabitants of the Puritan Boston community were a group of people, feudal class who escaped the atrocities that were being committed by the ruling class. They, therefore, escaped looking for a place where they could practice full devotion to the law of God. Instead of protecting each other, these very people who flee from brutality, the settlers, used harsh laws to judge and punish their fellows (Herbert, 2008). Pearl serves as a symbol both of her mother’s shame and triumphs she becomes her mother’s only companion, and despite what the Puritan society considers as poor upbringing, she ends up marrying an aristocrat which means rising in the social class. This gives hope to the poor settlers in the lower social ladder and gives them a reason to fight against all odds to better their situation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the discussion shows that conformity and identity were two facets of living a good life within the Puritan community. Conformity and identity are demonstrated in the Scarlet Letter y how the community expected its residents to live. They needed to conform to the law and identify with the set and given rules. Hester is adultery and this is an aspect that makes him a law breaker. He is not in conformity with the law and the society expectations. Her love for Dimmesdale, and the devotion to her daughter shows that Hester valued her identity than the law that was not considering the interests of humanity. In fact, one can say that these events in her life defined her empowerment towards resisting and transcending the Puritan conformity that needed enforcement by all. As Hester breaks the law, she receives punishment from the harsh and strict rules of the Puritan society. It shows that those who failed to conform to the law were an example that the society used to teach other who would fall in the same category. Also, a society with strict morals that is inconsiderate like that of the early Puritan society leaves the people with no choice but to hide the reality of their human flaws, frailties, and sins to abscond punishment. The reason is that this provides only a short-term solution strong, courageous people like Hester Prynne to overcome the burden of conformity of the law to remain truthful to their individual identity.

Reference

Bercovitch, S. (2013). The Office of the Scarlet Letter. Transaction Publishers.

Herbert Jr, T. W. (2008). Nathaniel Hawthorne, Una Hawthorne, and The Scarlet Letter: Interactive Selfhoods and the Cultural Construction of Gender. Publications of the Modern Language Association of America.

Leverenz, D. (2010). Mrs. Hawthorne’s Headache: Reading The Scarlet Letter. Nineteenth-Century Fiction.