Guilty Until Proven Innocent

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is one of the first examples of American Literature. Written with a vendetta against his heritage, with his ancestors having played major parts in the Salem Witch Trials, The Scarlet Letter is a criticism of Puritan society and culture. It presents many of the faults, be they hypocrisy, blackmail, or the Christian “Hive-mentality”, through the story of Hester Prynne, an adulteress. Revealed to her community by the child borne through her sin, she suffers the hate of a Puritan society and the isolation of being a pariah. These, though unpleasant, are escapable pains, whereas guilt is not. The guilt driven onto the major characters by the Puritan ideals of the time are shown to ruin people’s lives. Within The Scarlet Letter, guilt is the primary pain that changes and evolves the characters of Rev. Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne through the course of the novel.

From the beginning of the novel, it is apparent that Hester has feelings of guilt. Walking to the scaffold to be presented before the community, she attempts to hide the scarlet “A” on her bodice by holding Pearl, her child, over it, “[…]not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as that she might thereby conceal a certain token, which was wrought or fastened into her dress. In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another […]” (Hawthorne 80). This is the introduction of Hester in the novel, immediately establishing her guilt for what she had done. The guilt of her adultery drove all of her future decisions, leading her to live a life of penance and simplicity. She spends her self-imposed isolation, remaining where the sin occurred, sewing clothes to provide for Pea...

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...y speech, he dies upon the scaffold in Hester and Pearl’s embrace, having confessed his own sins before the community. The novel offers few details on his death, but it can be assumed that even though he has been set free from his own feelings of guilt for his past action, he cannot be redeemed and he dies from the seven years of guilt and pain finally being admitted.

The guilt shown by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter is one of the most apparent themes. The easing of guilt is driving motivation for the actions of the characters and leads to their redemption and their demise. Hester, bearing her sins before the people, becomes a pariah, while Dimmesdale is beloved, but hates himself. Both are changed by their guilt, even consumed by it. They lost their identities and became nothing but the guilt that the world saw in them.

Works Cited

The Scarlet Letter