Aidan O’ Connor
Use Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter to examine religion.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s setting of The Scarlet Letter in 17th century America coincides
with a time when religion was a more prominent influence in human society.
Devout Protestants, having escaped religious persecution in Europe, settled in North
America as Puritans, where they could preach their values without incurring the hostility hey
experienced in their native land.
The recurring theme of sin that Nathaniel Hawthorne applies in The Scarlet Letter
adds an equally prominent religious element to the novel, recognises the social context of the
time. Intolerance and suppression exhibited by the Puritans of Boston at the expense of
Hester, the novel’s protagonist, reflect the uncompromising values of Puritanism towards sin
and individualism. This was echoed by Ross C. Murfin who used George Bailey Loring’s
work to claim the The Scarlet Letter was “a ‘vehicle of religion and ethics’ because it
properly exposed the inhumanity of Puritanism, which repressed the sensuous element in
human nature’”1.
Meanwhile, Hawthorne’s background in Transcendentalism, a movement centred on
an intimate, individualistic relationship with God as opposed to a social structure such as
Puritanism, suggests a motive behind the novel’s portrayal of Puritans as antagonists for their
immoral values and social application.
Ross C. Murfin, Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism – The Scarlet Letter, (Bedford
Books, 1991; 1st Edition): 207
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Combined, these observations inspire the main thesis of this essay: Puritanism, as
portrayed in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was a means of suppressing
individualism and maintaining authority over the community.
The influence of religion among Boston’s inhabitants in the novel indicates a
theocratic society, where the Church is recognised as the epicentre of town activity and its
law system; similar to the reality of seventeenth century Boston. Hawthorne acknowledges
the importance of Puritanism in the community of Boston in his novel:
“…in that early severity of the Puritan character… religion and law were almost
identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and
severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful”2.
The extract conveys how the town’s collective mentality was shaped by the fear of
God. In particular, Hawthorne’s use of the verb phrase ‘thoroughly interfused’ stresses
Puritanism’s contribution towards the shaping of the human character in sevententh century
America. Not only was authority maintained through the fear of God and the repercussions of
sin, but individualism was eradicated in the process by a suppressive theocracy.
.
The presence of theocracy in Boston is conveyed in several instances throughout The
Scarlet Letter including the climax where Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale confesses to his sins.
2
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, (Penguin Popular Classics, 1994): 42
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“"With God's help, I shall escape thee now!"… "in the name of Him, so terrible and
so merciful, who gives me grace…come hither now, and twine thy strength about me!...let it
be guided by the will which God hath granted me!””3.
When Dimmesdale declares his role in the illegal conception of Pearl on the scaffold,
sinning and breaking the social conventions that Puritanism bound him to, the reverend
credits his newfound bravery to God: “… [strength] be guided by the will which God hath
granted me!””. In doing so, Dimmesdale demonstrates the degree to which religious devotion
has become ingrained into his mentality, accepting God as the authority figure which has
granted him the right to offload his guilt, as opposed to embracing his own mental strength
and morality. Puritanism’s attitude towards sin amplified the suppressive guilt which
burdened Dimmesdale’s physical and mental character prior to his confession, shaping the
manner in which it was communicated.
Hawthorne also uses symbolism in The Scarlet Letter to convey the brutality with
which Puritan elders in the community maintained law and order, protected their authority
and preserved the interests of the Church. In the context of Hawthorne’s life as a
Transcendentalist writer, symbolism also provides a vehicle to subtly convey Hawthorne’s
own his own displeasure against Puritanism and elicit an emotionally charged response from
his reading audience.
The suppressive nature of Puritanism in The Scarlet Letter is notably embodied by the
image of a scaffold:
3
Ibid.: 217
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“[the scaffold] stood nearly beneath the eaves of Boston’s earliest church…this
scaffold constituted a portion of a penal machine…the proneness [of the scaffold] to which
was the most devilish characteristic of this ugly engine”4.
This object, a means of punishing those who sinned against the church and the
community, became an instrument for publicising authority across the community through its
exhibition of punishment against those who expressed radical ideas that jeopardised the
welfare of the Puritan church. Hawthorne’s choice of the adjectival pre-modifiers ‘devilish’
and ‘ugly’ when referring to the scaffold conveys a perceived element of hypocrisy to this
Puritan vehicle, which relegates social conduct to ‘devilish’ and sinful means. This outlook
also complements Hawthorne’s notable allegiance to Transcendentalism, a religious and
philosophical movement that did not condone capital punishment. The nouns ‘machine’,
‘engine’ and ‘characteristic’ also inject a sense of animation into the static scaffold,
subscribing to Larzer Ziff’s claim that the scaffold’s ominous presence condemns the cruel
aspects of Puritan practice in Hawthorne’s novel: “The strong Puritan sense of evil as an
active principle was more serviceable when personified.”5
Hawthorne also uses the forest in The Scarlet Letter as a setting where Prynne and
Dimmesdale can seek refuge from the supervision of the Puritan urban community of Boston
and physically replicate their emotions for each other: “They sat again, side by side, and hand
clasped in hand, on the mossy trunk of the fallen tree.”6
4
Ibid.: 47
Larzer Ziff, Hawthorne Centenary Essays, ‘The Artist and Puritanism’, (Ohio State
University Press, 1964; 1st Edition): 254
6
Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, (Penguin Popular Classics, 1994): 166
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In Puritanism, nature carries various symbols of evil, with Puritan preachers alluding
to the snake in the Garden of Eden and the condemnation of polygamy, a trait prominent in
the wild. Hawthorne’s placement of the forest outside of town verifies total Puritan theocracy
in the ‘urban,’ while cementing nature as an escape and establishing Prynne and Dimmesdale
as figures on the peripheral of social interaction, a consequence of their sins. Jamie Barlowe
acknowledges this element of Puritan supervision over Boston in The Scarlet Letter, Puritan
justifying Hester’s need to escape the town if she is to enjoy any semblance of liberty or to
escape hostility:
“Hawthorne represents his Puritan fathers as desiring Hester Prynne’s punishment,
which of course she is seen as deserving. Prynne has been fearfully transgressive, and the
combination of fear and desire that this generates in the male Puritan community, along with
their need to punish and instruct her, create a space in which a focussed gaze on her is seen as
both legitimate and necessary…”7
The power of public opinion in The Scarlet Letter also suppresses the individualist in
the Puritan community of Boston. The communal judgment of Hester Prynne following her
affair sees the protagonist endure exclusion from the city for seven years. The inhabitants are
loyal to the Church and its authority, adopting a Puritan lifestyle centred on strict Protestant
values and no amount of familiarity with an individual in their community will prompt the
population to deviate from the status quo. When unified, the townspeople make up an
antagonistic force to establish the conflict of Puritanism and Transcendentalist-esque
7
Jamie Barlowe, The Scarlet Mob of Scribblers: Rereading Hester Prynne, (Southern Illinois
University, 2000; 1st Edition): 55
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individualism in The Scarlet Letter: “…the rude market place of the Puritan settlement, with
all the townspeople assembled and levelling their stern regards at Hester Prynne.”8
Theocratic rule and suppression of those who act against social convention in The
Scarlet Letter are also represented through the marketplace setting. As the heart of the town
and its economic vibrancy, the marketplace becomes the focal point of public condemnation
against those who have sinned and compromised the efficiency of Boston. Dynamic verbs
including ‘assembled’ and ‘levelled’ convey the active antagonism of the united townspeople
in their maintenance of Puritan church authority. Ziff also acknowledges Hawthorne’s
intended effect of the townspeople in the novel:
“The Puritan community…serves as a metaphor of the corruption of
man…consistently revealed as an unduly, severe and undesirable residence, one
which…exaggerated the sinful part until it dominates the whole.”9
Ziff’s claim suggests Hawthorne is purposefully critical of Puritanism, which
Hawthorne associates with a negative impact on the public to support the thesis of this essay.
Hawthorne’s portrayal of the Boston community’s children further conveys
established theocracy under a God with Puritan values in seventeenth century Boston society:
8
Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, (Penguin Popular Classics, 1994): 50
Larzer Ziff, Hawthorne Centenary Essays, ‘The Artist and Puritanism’, (Ohio State
University Press, 1964; 1st Edition): 261
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“…disporting themselves in such grim fashions as the Puritanic nurture would
permit…scourging Quakers…the little Puritans, being of the most intolerant brood that ever
lived, had got a vague idea of something outlandish”10.
The disruptive adjectives ‘grim’ and ‘intolerant’ address the Puritan upbringing and
attitude towards “Quakers” of the Religious Society of Friends movement, transmitting he
prejudiced and suppressive approach of Puritans towards other movements that preached
more lenient values of Christianity, such as Universalism.
Hester’s persecution for extra-marital relations that contrast the values of the Puritan
church is evident. However, ambiguity surrounding the identity of her lover, a key element in
the narrative’s progression, creates a degree of leniency for her sin, which was punishable by
execution in 17th century Western society. To compensate, Hawthorne glorifies Hester’s
victimisation using figurative language to exaggerate her negative treatment by the
community, making it appear more heinous to establish Puritanism in Boston as both
influential and brutal in The Scarlet Letter. Notably, Hawthorne amplifies the effect of the
community’s judgement on Hester by figuratively depitcing her mental and emotional
anguish into physical suffering through metaphor: “… back it all rushed again, with a still
deeper throb of pain; for, in that brief interval, she had sinned anew”11.
By relating the act of sin with the dynamic verb ‘throb’, the gravity of sin’s effect on
Hester’s psyche as a Puritan is conveyed. The description also demonstrates the power
Puritan elders wield, able to inflict such diverse trauma on Hester.
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11
Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, (Penguin Popular Classics, 1994): 79
Ibid.: 73
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Through the use of setting, interaction, characterisation and figurative language,
Nathaniel Hawthorne communicates Puritanism’s suppressive effect on Boston’s population
in The Scarlet Letter and the inhumane lengths to which they retained control of society,
ironically in the name of Christianity, a religion famous for its compassion and forgiveness.
Bibliography:
Barlowe, Jamie, The Scarlet Mob of Scribblers: Rereading Hester Prynne, (Southern Illinois
University, 2000; 1st Edition)
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, The Scarlet Letter, (Penguin Popular Classics, 1994)
Murfin, Ross C., Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism – The Scarlet Letter, (Bedford
Books, 1991; 1st Edition)
Ziff, Larzer, Hawthorne Centenary Essays, ‘The Artist and Puritanism’, (Ohio State
University Press, 1964; 1st Edition)
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