Individuality/ Isolation
Individuality is a prevalent theme throughout The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne is the person used to teach the reader a lesson. Hawthorne creates a very distinct character that stands out in the Puritan colony. She is so different that she is not accepted and it creates a very hard life for her. After she is found guilty of adultery it becomes even tougher for her to fit in. On the day of her punishment Hawthorne uses the rose bush outside of the prison to symbolize that it is possible to prosper even in poor conditions. Her punishment for adultery is having to stand in the middle of town by herself while everyone watches her. She is also sentenced to wear a scarlet A on her shirt everywhere she went. This really made her stand out in a very uniform Puritan society. However, by personalizing her A with very pretty embroidery she exhibits even more individuality. After a while, the rest of the colony begins to respect her for her work and even buy her embroidered products. Hawthorne uses this sequence of events to show that anyone can contribute to society; even an outcast such as Hester Prynne can overcome their challenges to succeed in a colony that doomed them from the start.
Hypocrisy
All of the major characters in the novel exhibit hypocrisy. Hester Prynne marries a man in England. However, when she comes to the New World Hester breaks her wedding vows and commits adultery with another man. She claims she loves her new lover, but when her husband shows up in the New World she allows him to torture her lover for seven years. In both cases she goes back on what she says and betrays the trust that is put in her by both men. Reverend Dimmesdale is also guilty of being a hypocrite. At the beginning of the book in Chapter Three Dimmesdale says “ What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him- yea, compel him, as it were-to add hypocrisy to sin?” This is hypocritical of him because what he is trying to say is that the guilt will tear the man up inside if he does not confess. However, since he is the man who slept with Hester he knows he will feel the full effect of guilt, yet he refuses to admit his sin. Finally, Chillingworth is also very hypocritical throughout the novel. When he arrives in Boston Chillingworth is free to become what he wants. He decides to become a doctor so that he could help people, but he ends up hurting and tormenting people more than he helps them. He also pretends to be Dimmesdale’s friend so that he can torture him. In Chapter 14 Chillingworth asks Hester “ I have already told thee what I am! A fiend! Who made me so?” Chillingworth blames Hester for who he has become even though it was his own choice to seek revenge instead of starting a new life with her.
Justice/ Judgement
Justice and Judgment is a very important theme in the Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale to point out the flaws in the Puritan society. Hester and Dimmesdale are both on different sides of the townspeople’s views. While all of the townspeople look down upon Hester for committing adultery, Dimmesdale is never brought to justice for his sin. Hester had to spend time in jail and be publicly shames on the scaffold in front of the whole town while Dimmesdale continued working in the church. Hawthorne uses this example to show the flaws of a justice system that bases its laws off of religion. He wants t show that it creates an unfair environment that allows for no error. After Hester is caught committing adultery she is judged by all the townspeople. They all look down on her, mock her, and insult her. Even the poor insult her like in chapter 13 the narrator tells the reader “ She never battled with the public, but submitted uncomplainingly to its worst usage; she made no claim upon it, in requital for what she suffered; she did not weigh upon its sympathies.” The narrator is telling the reader about Hester’s character and how wonderful she is as a person. Somehow though she still faces constant judgment of her character, which is mistakenly believed to be evil by the townspeople. Yet everybody looks up to Arthur Dimmesdale for all of his good deeds. Hawthorne wants to show that basing everything on religion is a bad idea because it leads to people trusting the elites even though they may be corrupt. Hawthorne is calling for a legal based justice system because he knows that it will benefit all communities because it allows for mistakes, which everybody is bound to make.
Revenge
Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses Roger Chillingworth to reap revenge on Arthur Dimmesdale for his affair with his wife, Hester Prynne. Chillingworth becomes so devoted to revenge that is all his life revolves around. Chillingworth then devotes the rest of his life to taking revenge on Dimmesdale.
Revenge is ever present in The Scarlet letter. Once Hester confesses to her husband of the affair he vows to seek revenge. As Chillingworth says in chapter four "I shall seek this man", he devotes the rest of his life in order to corrupt and killl Hester's lover. The lover is unknown throughout the book until the very end, but Chillingworth believes that Dimmesdale is Hester's lover. Chillingworth then devotes his life to torturing Dimmesdale. Hawthorne makes revenge a main theme in the Scarlet Letter because he wants to expose the flaws of the so called perfect societies. Hawthorne shows the true nature of Puritans by making revenge such a prevalent theme. Since Chillingworth is a scholarly Puritan he is supposed to be a good man who lives free of sin. However, once he devotes his life to revenge his morals fly out the window and he becomes a man that does not fit in to the Puritan mold. Hawthorne uses irony well to create this them because without irony he doesn't make his point that Puritans and Puritan societies are not perfect. He uses this theme to show the reader that Puritans are just like all of the other Christians in America and that they make mistakes and they sin just as much as everyone else.
Revenge is ever present in The Scarlet letter. Once Hester confesses to her husband of the affair he vows to seek revenge. As Chillingworth says in chapter four "I shall seek this man", he devotes the rest of his life in order to corrupt and killl Hester's lover. The lover is unknown throughout the book until the very end, but Chillingworth believes that Dimmesdale is Hester's lover. Chillingworth then devotes his life to torturing Dimmesdale. Hawthorne makes revenge a main theme in the Scarlet Letter because he wants to expose the flaws of the so called perfect societies. Hawthorne shows the true nature of Puritans by making revenge such a prevalent theme. Since Chillingworth is a scholarly Puritan he is supposed to be a good man who lives free of sin. However, once he devotes his life to revenge his morals fly out the window and he becomes a man that does not fit in to the Puritan mold. Hawthorne uses irony well to create this them because without irony he doesn't make his point that Puritans and Puritan societies are not perfect. He uses this theme to show the reader that Puritans are just like all of the other Christians in America and that they make mistakes and they sin just as much as everyone else.
Women and Femininity
Femininity is a major theme throughout the novel. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester Prynne to show the flaws in Puritan society. The stereotypical gender roles during the novel were for men to protect women and for women to rely on men. However, Hawthorne uses Hester to show that these gender roles were very wrong. Hester is a strong willed woman who raises her child by herself for 7 years and constantly faces abuse for committing adultery. She is strong enough to keep going through this. The two men in her life are exactly the opposite. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, abandons her and decides to torment her lover and her at the same time. Her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, also abandons her and doesn’t stand by Hester when she is publicly humiliated in front of the whole town. Hawthorne uses these gender roles to show the strength of women and the flaws of a Puritan society in which it is hard for a woman to make it on her own.“She hath good skill at her needle, that’s certain,” remarked one of the female spectators; “but did ever a woman, before this brazen hussy, contrive such a way of showing it! Why, gossips, what is it but to laugh in the faces of our godly magistrates, and make a pride out of what they, worthy gentlemen, meant for a punishment?”