The Scarlet Letter Literary Analysis

Zechariah Jones

Professor Caskey

Literature 251

16 September 2015

Analysis of “The Scarlet Letter”

“A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes” (Hawthorne 476). This is the opening sentence of Nathanial Hawthorne’s 1850 gothic romance The Scarlet Letter in which Hester Prynne, an adulteress, is awaiting trial in the “prison-house” and will soon walk out on to the scaffolding in front of the entire Massachusetts Bay Colony while she “clasps” the three month old evidence of her sin and shame in her arms. The seventeenth

In chapter two Hawthorne writes, “It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself” (Hawthorne 480). The scarlet letter “A” is like magic and it takes Hester out of this world and places her in her own world where she is alone. From R.V. Young’s “Individual and Community” he writes “Hester's story shows that the longings of the heart will inevitably conflict with the order of society—even a society established to resolve such conflicts” (Young 39). Hester is set apart from the rest of society and has her own longings and wants such as a family with Dimmesdale and Pearl. Hester’s longings go against the colony and their morals. Young goes on to say “that tension between the individual and the community can never be resolved, nor should it be” (Young 39). Young is conveying his thoughts that there will always be individuals in communities, because it is those individuals that set themselves apart from the norm of society. Hester is the individual in this novel who sets herself apart from the rest of the characters in the novel. Hawthorn writes it this way because Hester’s life reflects his own personal life. During the preface of the novel Hawthorne discusses his time at the custom house in which he later loses his job. Hoffman analyzes this and argues that “[t]he publicly punished Hester plays out this aspect of the author's life”

The adulteress Hester Prynne endures these punishments and hardships throughout the novel. Hester shows bravery and a strong will to rise above the puritan law. Hester’s punishment is different than other woman who commit the same sexual offenses during this era. Hawthorn did this for a reason and that is to use Hester as a symbol of what can happen to law breakers during this puritan era. Hawthorn also did this to ensure that Hester will be set apart from everyone else in the novel. Hester’s sense of individualism is born from Hawthorne’s past. Even though most writers were writing about new American life, Hawthorne was a transcendentalist in which he wrote less about the puitan religion itself but instead more about the relationships. He wrote the setting of his novel in the same time period as when his ancestors lived during the Salem witch trials. Hawthorne describes Hester’s life so that readers will gain a better understanding of how certain people were treated during the puritan era, and to show his own personal transcendentalist views. This contrasts with today’s culture in that Hawthorns idea that society needs individuals who are strong and who stand out from the rest just as Hester Prynne