The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorn

The Scarlet Letter

-        Nathaniel Hawthorn

       Nathaniel Hawthorn was an American Novelist, dark romantic and short story writer. His works have moral allegories with puritan inspirations. The themes of his works contain evil and sin of humanity. It also gives moral message and deep psychological complexity.

      “The Scarlet Letter - A Romance” is an 1850 work of fiction. It starts from the custom house. The setting of the novel is 17^th century. It has a deep theme of legalism, sin and guilt. The novel presents the space between materialism to dreaminess. Hester Prynne is the protagonist female character of the novel and Arthur Dimmsdale is the male character. The novel contains theme of sin and its belief. Hester and Arthur commits adulatory and the novel revolve around their sin and guil with repentance. We can compare the situation of Hester with Eve and Puritan society as the place of God who punishes her for disobedience.

           In the novel the main symbol is letter “A” in scarlet colour. It was the letter which was placed on the bosom of Hester and she also considered Pearl (her little daughter) as the sign of her sin. She repeatedly reminds her and Arthur that she was the result of her sin, as Hester said that,

“She is my happiness! She is my torture none the less! She is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved”

Pearl also challenges her father to accept his deed,

“Wilt thou stand here with mother and me. To-morrow noontide?”

       Hawthorne has talked about two kind of guilt. One is of Hester and her repentance and another is Arthur’s guilt, which is not visible and his suffering caused his death. He confesses his suffering by telling Hester that,

“I charge thee to speak out the name of fellow sinner and fellow sufferer”

For detailed explanation of themes – Click here