The Scarlet Letter — Sin, Shame & Redemption in Puritan Boston
The Scarlet Letter — Sin, Shame & Redemption
The Scarlet Letter tells the story of public shame and punishment endured by a young woman named Hester Prynne. The novel is set in Boston (in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay) in the mid-seventeenth century. When Hester is discovered to be pregnant, everyone assumes she has committed adultery. Her husband had been absent and separated from her for two years, so the child could not be his. The magistrates force her to wear a scarlet letter “A” on the bodice of her dress so that everyone knows of her sin.
Plot Summary
The novel begins when Hester is released briefly from jail to be led in a public procession through the village and to display the scarlet “A” for all to see. She takes her daughter, Pearl, in her arms. Pearl was born in prison. Hester refuses to reveal the name of Pearl’s father so that he cannot be punished.
During the public procession, Hester’s husband arrives in the crowd. He had visited her in jail before the parade and asked her not to reveal his presence to anyone in the town. He intends to conceal his identity in order to discover his wife’s lover and take vengeance.
Hester’s husband presents himself to the townspeople as a doctor and adopts a false name, Roger Chillingworth. Hester keeps her secret. Soon, Chillingworth realizes that the pastor, the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, is probably the father of Hester’s child, and he begins to haunt and torment the minister’s mind and soul day and night for the next seven years.
The pastor is too frightened to confess his sin publicly, but the pangs of conscience consume him. The constant questioning and internal torment make him visibly ill and nervous, and Chillingworth’s probing only increases his suffering. Over seven years, Hester comes to see the evil that her husband has done to the man she loves—the father of her daughter. She reveals the true identity of Chillingworth to Dimmesdale, and the two conceive a plan to leave Boston and go to England, where they can hide from Hester’s husband and begin a new life together.
In the end, the pastor cannot carry out the plan. Dimmesdale confesses his sin publicly—to the same scaffold where Hester had been exposed seven years earlier—and in his last act he opens his shirt to reveal a scarlet “A” on his breast. Through this confession he finds peace.
Chillingworth dies approximately one year after Dimmesdale, leaving all his money and property to Pearl. Hester and Pearl then leave the community where they had been outcasts for so long and return to the old world (England).
However, many years later, Hester returns to New England, the place of her shame, and voluntarily resumes wearing the scarlet letter.
Burial and Emblem
When they die, Hester and the pastor are buried near one another and share a headstone. The stone bears an emblem described as: “On a field, sable, the letter A, gules.” That is, on the stone there is a scarlet “A” upon a black background.
The Nature of Hester’s Suffering
Hester suffers for three reasons: the execution of a penalty imposed by the morality enforced by judges, priests, and the townspeople; the inability to free her daughter from being marked as the offspring of sin; and the self-imposed silence in refusing to disclose the identity of the father and thus the co-author of the sin.
All this leads to a life of solitude, apart from the community and from ordinary human relationships. Over time, even when she returns to live within the colony, her attitude is not very different from when she was ostracized: she remains reserved, silent, and devotes herself to austere work and dedication in everything she does.
Hawthorne’s Moral Vision
Nathaniel Hawthorne creates a moral character in Hester whose courage becomes the measure of the other characters. Through her vital dilemma, the novel represents how sin becomes a social convention, used by the community to suppress individual conscience and freedom. The Puritan village’s attitude undermines personal liberty and becomes the mechanism of public condemnation.
About the Author
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, and established his family roots in New England. His ancestors had taken part in the Salem witch trials and in the persecution of Quakers. Hawthorne decided to become a writer and, for over a decade after his graduation, he studied the Puritans and their history.
There was a mysterious manuscript—a vanished sheet contained in a package—written long ago by a surveyor who knew the tragic story of the scarlet letter and its owner. Hawthorne used such historical materials and further investigation to gather information about the life and suffering of the woman condemned to wear the scarlet letter. The story is set in the Puritan settlement of Boston between 1642 and 1649.
Major Characters
- Hester Prynne — the protagonist forced to wear the scarlet letter
- Pearl — Hester’s daughter, born in prison
- Roger Chillingworth — Hester’s husband, who disguises himself as a doctor
- Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale — the minister and Pearl’s father
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