Scarlet Letter
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The Puritan era in American society was one in which the individual and his or her actions were often pitted against a social order determined to stamp out behaviors it considered immoral. In The Scarlet Letter, we see that Hester Prynne is persecuted by a Massachusetts society whose leaders believed that religious authority overrides civil authority. The officious, hypocritical, and prosecutorial nature of men like Roger Chillingworth are very much akin to people like Cotton Mather, men of faith who refused to tolerate any beliefs or practices in civil society that conflict with the idea of religious superiority. Such attitudes enabled men like Mather and Chillingworth to rationalize and validate social control that included the persecution and prosecution of those who transgressed their beliefs. According to Becker, such a justification and validation stemmed from “the vain and pathetic effort of single-minded men to identify the temporal and the spiritual commonwealths,” (97). It was in such a society that Hawthorne lived and in which the events of The Scarlet Letter take place. Men like Mather and Chillingworth believe they and members of the community who believed as they did maintained a monopoly and virtue on goodness. Hawthorne, in contrast, believed that all humans are imperfect and such ideals, beliefs, values and attitudes stemmed from intolerance and evil when used to persecute others merely because
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ior, the imaginative outlook inherent in their orthodox symbolism. At the same time the A is a badge for individuals, a token of their act of adultery and the passions that have led to that act, and a mark as well of the complex system of guilt and responsibility that ensues from that act.
While Brodhead does hit the nail on the head when it comes to highlighting the conflict and duality the “A” symbolizes, his reading is not broad enough because he does not mention that it, too, symbolizes a rejection of the community will and values by Hester and Dimmesdale, even if it is a temporary rejection and one for which they will come to know remorse and regret. At the same time, it is a rejection also of the values of God and religion. Brodhead only comments on the negative symbols the A represents for Hester and Dimmesdale, but he fails, much like the Puritans, to understand the strong love that made them risk such negative aspects. The conflict between religion and romance goes even deeper in the story. In the character of Hester, we have a woman who is constantly depicted as one who is humane, tender, understanding, sympathetic, and artistic. This is certainly in contrast to many Puritan characters in the novel who seem to l
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Hester Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, Bradley Beatty, Porte Gross, Foster Gross, Puritanism Hester, Chillingworth Puritan, Mather Chillingworth, Dimmesdales Hesters, Chillingworth Pearl, scarlet letter, communal values, hester dimmesdale, hester prynne, et al, human love, divine truth, gross et, gross et al, mather chillingworth, conflict romanticism religion, community values, transgression communal values, rejection community values, symbolizes rejection community,
Approximate Word count = 2348
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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