The Scarlet Letter: Blog 1
Sarah Ganzenmuller
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel
Hawthorne, though published in the 1850's, takes place in
seventeenth-century Puritan Massachusetts, and accurately depicts the morals of
New England's society during the time period. It is considered to be one of the
greatest American novels due to Hawthorne's exploration of such a
foreboding subject as Adultery while simultaneously offering a unique
style and language to exploit life during the century. Rather than concerning
himself with describing the actual sin committed by the main character Hester,
he focuses on the aftermath of it, conveying the intense emotions that arise
out of the degrading of Hester and her child born of sin, and exposing the
harsh and rigid views that allowed for such long-term unreasonable punishment.
Chillingworth, the husband Hester cheated on, quickly adapts into becoming the
embodiment of Puritan values. It is these very Puritan values which led the people
of this time to their own digression of morals in acts inhumane, yet supposedly
in the name of god, motivated by their own repressed sins of greed, lust, and
envy.
The setting is quickly established in the very
first sentence of the book. “A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments
and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and
other bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which
was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes” (Hawthorne 41).
This sets the stage for what is going to be a rather heavy and gloomy tale, one
that unforgivingly reveals the ugliest sides of human nature but more
specifically the social conditions and customs of New England in the
seventeenth century. Known as rather dark time in our history, many people
relied on religion to justify their actions. Their extreme beliefs often
hindered their quest for actually doing right by one another, and as the story
unravels this become extremely apparent. In one particular case the author
gives you a snippet of a group of women’s conversation over Hester’s
punishment, one exclaiming, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and
ought to die. Is there no law for it? Truly there is, in both the scripture and
the statue-book” (45). Her belief that Hester should face the death sentence
clearly illustrates the extremity of the culture and its unhealthy relationship
with religion. They sanctioned their harsh actions by the will of god. Upon
arriving to town Chillingworth asks about Hester’s punishment and a commoner
replies, “Truly, friend, and methinks it must gladden your heart, after your
troubles and sojourn in the wilderness to find yourself, at length, in a land
where iniquity is searched out, and punished in the sight of rulers and people:
as here in our godly New England”(53). This makes it clear that they believe
punishing Hester is doing right by god, which is a crucial component to the
readers understanding of the book. It is not necessarily by their own will, but
rather they feel obligated to punish Hester severely under the eyes of the almighty.
Women’s rights were rather nonexistent at this given time, and more often than
not they were forced into marriages they weren’t necessarily happy with.
Understanding this proves vital as occasionally Hester feels a sort of sympathy
from some women she walks by. She senses that it is because they have committed
Adultry themselves, which is very likely given many were not in happy
marriages. Though Hester doesn’t have the excuse of a forced marriage, her
husband did not come see her in town for years, and it is mentioned briefly
that she made it clear to him their marriage wasn’t necessarily out of
love.
The customs and social conditions of the town
also reflect themselves in Pearl, Hester’s child. Even Hester, the mother of
Pearl who had most directly felt the wrongdoings of the townspeople and their
rigid beliefs didn’t go unaffected by religious oppression. She herself feels
guilt and the need to be punished even through her own daughter as she claims, “Pearl
was born a outcast of the infantile world. An imp of evil, emblem, and product
of sin, she had no right among christened infants” (77). It is despicable that
the towns people so vehemently insulted her to a point where she looks upon her
own daughter as a sort of monster incapable of being around other children. Yet
while this close affiliation with God during the time period is what brought
Hester misery, it also manages to help her at one point. The people of the town
once Pearl turned about three began to believe they should separate her and her
mother for both of their own good. Yet for once Hester manages to spin Gods
will in her favor, claiming that it was God who gave her the baby and therefore
the baby shouldn’t be taken from her she sways their mind. The minister upon hearing
her argument agrees saying, “This child of its father’s guilt and its mothers
shame hath come from the hand of God, to work in many ways upon her heart, who
pleads so earnestly, and with such bitterness of spirit, the right to keep her.
It was meant for a blessing; for the one blessing in her life!” (95) And just
like that she managed to use the time periods society which heavy relied on
religion and Gods word to her advantage, where before it hung shame heavily on
her shoulders.
From just the first half of The Scarlet Letter it is clear that setting includes much more than
just a time and place due to the social conditions and customs of Massachusetts
during the seventeenth-century thus far playing a huge role in the actions of
the characters in the story. Having knowledge of the prominence of religion in
civilian life, the lacking women rights, the impending witch trials and
frequent lynching contribute to the overall understanding behind each
characters motives and desires.
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