Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Scarlet Letter is a work of historical fiction written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that was published in 150. Like his other works this novel is also of the genre of Dark Romance and the full title of the novel is The Scarlett Letter: A Romance. Before beginning the main story of the novel, Hawthorne wrote an essay titled The Custom House in which he outlines autobiographical information about the author, describes the conflict between the artistic impulse and the commercial environment, and defines the romance novel that he is writing. Hawthorne says that when he was working at the Salem Custom House as a clerk in the tax collection department, he discovered in the attic a manuscript accompanied by a beautiful scarlet letter "A." After the narrator lost his job, he decided to develop the story told in the manuscript into a novel. The Scarlet Letter is that novel. The plot of this novel contains a lot of Puritan Christian allegory and the story is based on Sin, Guilt, Humiliation, and Legalism.
Characters of The Scarlet Letter:
The narrator of the novel remains nameless, it is alleged that Hawthorne himself is the author. He works at Salem Custom House in Massachusetts. Jonathan Pue is a surveyor of ancient manuscripts at the Custom-house. The narrator claims that he found a package, containing the story of the novel, with Jonathan Pue’s name on it. Arthur Dimmesdale is a respected minister in Boston. He is the father of Pearl. Hester Prynne is the protagonist of the novel. She was married to Roger Chillingworth, a man from the Netherlands. Chillngworth and Prynne were scheduled to arrive in Boston and settle there. But while Hester arrived at Boston, Chillingworth had to stay in Amsterdam for some business. Hester waited for her husband for two years but there was no news from him as he was lost at the sea. She believed Chillingworth is dead. At Boston, she met Dimmesdale and engaged in an adulterous affair, which led to Pearl's birth while she was considered a widow. As a result, she was blamed for adultery but she never felt any guilt because she was in true love with Dimmesdale. To protect Dimmesdale against ignominy, she never revealed the name of Pearl’s father and suffered the whole punishment herself.
Roger Chillingworth didn’t die and he reached Boston the very day when Hester was being punished for adultery. He vowed to find out the father of Pearl to take revenge. Governor Bellingham is the former governor of Boston who punishes Hester Prynne and believes that she must not be allowed to raise Pearl as it will cause the child’s spiritual demise. However, Dimmesdale pleads in support of Hester and she is allowed to raise Pearl as her daughter. John Wilson is the eldest clergyman of Boston who supports Dimmesdale for letting Hester raise Pearl.
Summary of The Scarlet Letter:
The novel begins with a prelude in which the narrator informs that he used to work at Salem Custom House where he found an old manuscript covered in a cloth with the letter A in scarlet color beautifully embroidered over it. The manuscript was addressed to Jonathan Pue who used to be a surveyor of ancient goods at the Customs Office. The narrator was not interested in his job at the Customs Office as he always dreamed of becoming an author. Because of his disinterest in his job and laziness, he is fired from the Customs House. After losing his job, he notices the manuscript covered in the cloth with Scarlet letter A embroidered over it and starts reading the manuscript. He finds the manuscript is about a real incident that happened some 200 years ago. He finds the story very impressive and decides to write a novel on it. Thus begins the story of the Scarlet Letter.
The story is set in Puritan Boston, Massachusetts during the 17th century. A woman prisoner is led out of the prison towards the scaffold. She is carrying an infant child with her. She is living alone in Boston for the last two years as her husband was lost when he was scheduled to come to Boston. Now she is accused of adultery because though her husband is missing, she got pregnant and gave birth to a child. Adultery is a major crime in Puritan Massachusetts. Hester is forced to wear the letter A on her gown at all times. She has stitched a large scarlet A onto her dress with gold thread, giving the letter an air of elegance. It also shows that she doesn’t consider herself a sinner and in fact, she is feeling a sense of pride as the mother of her daughter.
Hester Prynne is a beautiful woman and as she moves towards the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd feel jealous of her beauty and abuse her. They demand the harshest punishment for this adulterous woman. However, Hester maintains her dignity. As she reaches the scaffold, The Reverend John Wilson and the minister of Hester's church, Arthur Dimmesdale, question her about the father of the child, but she refuses to name her lover. The crowd jeers at her and as she sees towards the crowd, she notices a small misshapen man and realizes that he is Roger Chillingworth, her husband who was presumed to be lost at the sea. Roger reached Boston on the same day. He asks a man from the crowd about the woman with the scarlet letter A. The man informs him that she has been accused of adultery. This fills Roger with anger. He has no sympathy towards Hester but he believes that the man who is the father of Hester’s child is equally culpable and he must also be punished.
Governor Bellingham suggests that Hester’s child should be raised at the foster house because Hester will ruin her future. However, Arthur Dimmesdale passionately takes the side of Hester and pleads that she must be allowed to raise her daughter. Dimmesdale is a respected minister and John Wilson too supports him thus, Hester is allowed to keep her child but is sentenced to remain away from the main colony. Chillingworth notices the passionate support of Dimmesdale for Hester and doubts that he must be Hester’s lover.
After the announcement of the sentence, she is returned back to the prison where Roger Chillingworth visits her. Hester and Chillingworth discuss their situations at length. Their married life was not very peaceful in the past yet, she claims that she loyally waited for him for two years but when she became hopeless of her return, she assumed that he died at the sea. Both agree that they were wrong at their own ends. Chillingworth asks about the father of her daughter to which Hester refuses to answer. Chillingworth accepts her refusal but says that he will find out who the man was, and he will read the truth in the man's heart. Chillingworth then forces her to promise never to reveal his true identity as her cuckolded husband.
After he releases from prison, she settles at a cottage on the outskirts of the colony bordering the woods. She names her daughter Pearl and earns a living by stitching clothes for local dignitaries and rich people. However, she continues to help poor and sick people and would often stitch their cloth free of cost. Despite her punishment and the fact that she has been ostracized, she continues to get praise from the common poor, sick, and needy people while most of the rich women of Boston are jealous of her beauty and dignity. She continues to wear the scarlet letter A on her gown at all times.
Meanwhile, Roger Chillingworth earns a good reputation as a physician and soon he gets a job at the Church where Dimmesdale is a minister. Dimmesdale is continuously losing his health and he remains pensive at all times. Chillingworth is appointed as his physician and he decides to live with Dimmesdale in the same quarter. As Chillingworth queries more about the psychological trauma of Dimmesdale, he confirmed that Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl. Since then he starts psychologically tormenting Dimmesdale.
One dark night, Dimmesdale decides to go to the scaffold where he imagines himself being punished and publically humiliated for the crime of adultery along with Hester. At the same time, Hester and Pearl visit the scaffold and Dimmesdale asks them to stand with him and he holds the hands of Hester and Pearl. Pearl comes to know that Dimmesdale is her father. She then asks him to stand with her the next day at noon. A meteor passes through the sky at the same time while illuminating the area. Hester sees Chillingworth watching them from the trees. She realizes that Chillingworth is tormenting Dimmesdale. She tries to warn Dimmesdale but doesn’t break her promise.
After some days, Hester meets Chillingworth while he was picking some herbs in the woods. She confronts him and asks him to leave Dimmesdale alone otherwise she will reveal his true identity to him. Chillngworth says that Providence is now in charge of their fates, and she may do as she sees fit. Meanwhile, Hester decides that he cannot take it anymore. She plans to run away with Pearl and Dimmesdale to England where they will start their life again. Hester takes Pearl with her to the woods where they wait for Dimmesdale to come. When Dimmesdale arrives, Hester tells her that she has arranged for a ship that will take them to Europe. Dimmesdale is ready to go with them but he says that he has a friend who knows his secret. Hester understands that the person whom Dimmesdale is calling his friend is Chillingworth who is actually trying everything to punish Dimmesdale. She informs him that Roger Chillingworth is her husband who forced her to hide his identity so that he may find out who is the father of Pearl. This angers Dimmesdale too much. He realizes how Chillingworth continued to push him and make him feel much more guilty than he actually is. Anyhow he agrees to go to Europe but says that they must wait till his final election sermon to which Hester agrees as the ship is scheduled to sail the day after Dimmesdale gives his Election Sermon. However, Chillingworth comes to know about Hester’s plan and he persuades the ship captain to take him onboard too.
On election day, Dimmesdale offers his sermon with much more energy than he ever showed. Everybody praises his sermon and while all are cheering for him, he decides to go to the scaffold and stands there as a culprit. He openly calls Hester and Pearl to come and stand with him while the whole crowd is watching him. Chillingworth tries to stop Dimmesdale but Dimmesdale rebuffs him and shouts that he can never win against his innocence.
Hester and Pearl go to the scaffold and Dimmesdale picks their hands in his. He then announces that he is a sinner just like Hester and that he should have assumed his rightful place by her side over seven years earlier. He then rips open his shirt to reveal a scarlet letter on his flesh. Dimmesdale falls to his knees and dies on the scaffold as Pearl kisses him for the first time.
Hester and Pearl leave Boston. Chillingworth dies a year after Dimmesdale, leaving Pearl a small fortune as an inheritance. Many years later, Hester returns to her cabin on the outskirts of town. She still wears her letter "A."No one hears from Pearl again, but it is assumed that she has gotten married and has had children in Europe. After some years, Hester passes away she is buried in the site of King's Chapel and there is a letter A carved on her gravestone.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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