Puritan Hypocrisy Exposed in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Hester is a character portrayed in both the light and the dark as she walks out of prison. She is free of sin, but is reminded everyday by the letter she wears. Hester struggled with the Puritan’s intolerance to Pearl and her. Hester “like a black shadow emerging out into the sunshine like she was free of sin” depicts the contrast between light and dark. (Hawthorne 49). When she walked into the sunshine she felt like something was lifted off of her chest. As a seamstress she had “sewn on her chest in bright red…an A” (Hawthorne 50). This mark symbolized the acceptance of her sin.

Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the ideology of Puritan society in the novel the Scarlet Letter; however reader also get to witness his characters being an illustration of hypocrisy and victims to their own guilt. In the Scarlet Letter, as in many of Hawthorne’s shorter works, he makes profuse use of the Puritan past: its odd exclusionary belief, its harsh code of ruling, its concern with sex and witchcraft. The Scarlet Letter is a story that is embellished but yet simple. Many readers may view this novel as a soap opera due to the way Hawthorne conveys this Puritan society’s sense of strictness and inability to express true emotion along with the secrecy and how deceiving the characters are being. As the story unfolds the main character Hester Prynne is bounded in marriage at an early age. She engages in an adulterous affair with an unknown member of their small village. Hester soon becomes pregnant and with her husband’s absence the chances of this child belonging to her husband are slim. The towns’ people know that she has committed a sin and imprisons her for her crime.

People have been stereotyping outcasts since the beginning of time. This behavior is a crucial component of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter. The main character of the story, Hester Prynne, resides in a community of Puritans; who are notorious hypocrites. Their harsh rules are basically impossible to follow, therefore setting their citizens up for failure and punishment. Hawthorne tells the story of Hester Prynne with the elements of sin, judgement, and revenge.

During the Puritan era, sin was the epitome of evil. Sinners were immoral and criminal creatures who were resented by the other Puritans and were forced to live a life of shame and guilt. Hester Prynne, the main character in The Scarlet Letter, is a sinner in Puritan-era Boston. She is unfaithful to her husband and has a child out of wedlock with another man- a sin worthy of death. Hawthorne depicts Hester as a morally ambiguous character by contrasting her sin and her character through the different meanings of the letter A.

Because of Hester’s incrimination and her treatment, we can see the morals of the colony. When we see the women waiting for Hester outside the prison, they gather in a group and think up horrible and cruel punishments for Hester’s sin saying, “they should have put the brand of a hot iron” or her forehead (Hawthorne 30). They remark that the letter was stitched well but it is meant to “laugh in the faces” of the noblemen (Hawthorne 32). Their view on the letter and rejection of Hester based on it is ironic when she was later requested to make clothes for many in the town, including these women (Hawthorne 47-137). The clothing Hester stitched was elaborate, much like the letter, and their willingness to wear it shows that there is sin in everyone, and the Puritans way of dealing with theirs was to demonize Hester in order to feel as if they were holy (Hawthorne 47). We also notice that in some minds, there is no way to recover from sin. Hester goes out of her way to provide care to those around her by nursing them when they were sick, but was sometimes met with “a gibe in requital of food brought regularly to his door,” (Hawthorne 90). One might think that Hester has escaped the shame of the letter when it takes on the meaning “Able,” reflecting her good deeds (Hawthorne 91). However, even toward the ending of her time in the colony, she is met with a

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book the Scarlet Letter he gives the readers a view into the life of the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay colony. Though the reader would most likely see this story of two adulterers, Hawthorne gives the audience the underlying tone that he is exposing the hypocrisy of the Puritans. He shows the hypocrisy of character in Reverend Dimmsdale and how he was perceived to be holy to the community, and he also displays a community and how they are supposed to live holy lives devoted to God but they blatantly ignore some of their own teachings. Hypocrisy is the practice of virtues one does not believe in. Hawthorne makes examples of hypocrisy in Hester Prynne and her sin, Reverend Dimmesdale and his denial of what he did, and the townspeople how they gossiped about and condemned Hester which are some of the antitheses of their beliefs.

Hawthorne uses certain words to create a negative connotation upon the Puritans. Hawthorne introduces this concept by having a woman speak out against Hester and say, “I’ll tell ye a piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. What ye think gossips? If the hussy stood up for judgement before us five, that are now here in a knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not!” (Hawthorne 48). Hawthorne’s word choice creates a prudish and snotty image of the women. He uses frightening terms such as hussy and malefactresses to show the degrading of Hester. All of the women agree with the one Puritan lady Hawthorne describes as, “a hard featured dame of fifty,” (Hawthorne 48). Just by that introduction alone, a reader can sense the tension towards the Puritans. Some critics may state that Hawthorne dramatizes the Puritan community, but he is lenient by having one woman almost defend Hester. Nonetheless, his negative diction picks right back up after her statement. Hawthorne has an ability to use a great amount of words to specifically indicate his points. Another time Hawthorne uses diction when again talking about the Puritan children. Hawthorne is seen again speaking against the children by stating, “As the two wayfarers came within the precincts of the town, the children of the Puritans looked up from their play,-or what passed for play with those somber little urchins,- and spake gravely one to another:-…” (Hawthorne 91). Hawthorne shows no mercy in his word choice for the youth of the society. Innocence with these folk did not exist in his mindset when it comes down to it. Out of the few times he uses children as an unfavorable group, this quote

Puritan tradition is full of shaming the “wrong” in a very cruel and brute like manner. The shaming of Hester seems to bring the town joy or solace, because they can put all of the guilt that comes with sin on her, while concealing theirs. As God fearers, the Puritans know that sin is within everyone, yet they continue to condemn and shame one person, even though it is universal. Hawthorne is demonstrating and shaming the hypocritical aspects seen in Puritan citizens at the time in the early days of America. The first example of this is in the market place. “…they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead…”, “This woman has brought shame upon us all and ought to die. Is there not a law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statue book…” (43). The author shows the reader the twisted mindset of the Puritans using diction to make the women sound as harsh as possible. The fact they are considered “Goodwives” is ironic, because even the sophisticated and “pure” ladies in the town are

In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses the lives of Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth to emphasize the themes of hypocrisy and sin within the Puritan society by stressing the relevance of forgiveness, the negative outcome of not returning to righteousness, and the austere need for compassion in the Bostonian community. Through Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth’s habitation among the Puritans, Hawthorne demonstrates themes of hypocrisy embedded in his story in order to portray a lasting moral concerning the need for clemency. First of all, Hawthorne intricately constructs Hester by narrating about the insincere behavior of the townspeople—accentuating the impact of pretentiousness in society. He writes through the eyes of the “ugliest

With Hester Prynne’s first appearance in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne describes the reactions of “Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped” (480). In this sentence Hawthorne describes Hester’s ability to conquer the unfavorable situation she is in while coming out stronger and showing her unique character that shines bright in contrast to the Puritans. By looking at this quote in the context of The Scarlet Letter it is quite apparent that Hawthorne has developed Hester’s character in contrast to the Puritans to show not only the flaws in the

Nathaniel Hawthorne brings to The Scarlet Letter a notion of sin and guilt that seems to stem from his experience and knowledge of Puritan theology and religious practice. In "The Custom House" Hawthorne communicates his apprehension for the persecutory impulses of his ancestors who "have mingled their earthly substance with the soil, until no small portion of it must necessarily be akin to the moral frame wherewith, for a little while, I walk the streets" (1309). It is evident that his attempt to distance himself from those figures of his past suggests that he criticizes the cold and inflexible Calvinistic theology of the Puritans, which was cruelly carried out by his

Not only did many judge Hester, but the disparages she endured were exceedingly cruel and destroyed any self-confidence she still assumed. Although many others, like the woman in the crowd, have committed sins of their own, they still take it upon themselves to call out others for their mistakes in order to better themselves by enhancing the virtue they believe they hold. Hawthorne is warning us through his romance to avoid the desire for judgment as best we can. Judgment only hurts, no good can come out of it, and through The Scarlet Letter and Hester’s story, judgment takes a huge toll for the

In the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, supernatural instances and references symbolize the frail logic of Puritans at the time and the effects that supernatural suspicions have had on Pearl’s mental state. Even before Pearl is born, she is been a symbol for sin. Sin is directly linked to the Devil, leaving Pearl highly susceptible to accusations of being associated with such beings. She is often named an “imp of evil, [an] emblem and product of sin, [of which have] no right among christened infants” (Hawthorne 100). The rumors spread about Pearl makes for her to it difficult establish relationships, eventually isolating her from society like her mother. Hester also questions Pearl’s behavior, believing “an evil spirit [has

Puritanism is the strictness and austerity especially in matters of religion or conduct. The setting for the novel is set in In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne depicts Puritan society as a drab, confining, very judgmental, and unforgiving. The Scarlet Letter was a way for Hawthorne to show how unforgiving and judgement Puritans really are when it comes to religion and how they are to be scorn of if to break those rules. This novel is based on a young woman Hester Prynne who is led to the town prison with her infant daughter Pearl where Hester will therefore where the scarlet letter “A” for adultery for her sin and secrecy. The Scarlet Letter, is not only based on Hester’s sin but also the unfair, strict, and harsh nature of the Puritan

The eyes of the unmerciful Puritan crowd burn into Hester’s skin as they judge her for her act of adultery. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter”, the Puritan townspeople are pitiless. The book explores themes including hypocrisy, jealousy, anger, and hate that stem from the Puritan beliefs and standards. The Puritan society works very efficiently in order to survive as a collective town but this comes at a high price as individualism and creativity lose importance in the society, thus causing a gloomy presence among the Puritan multitude.