Hester Prynne: The [Red] Letter

Assigned to apply a Marxist criticism to any work of literature, I decided to analyze the consumer fetishism and economic value placed on the characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter."

    In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, a single-mother, Hester Prynne, is transformed from a subjective, rugged individual into the objectification of sin, because she dared to oppose the system for her own interest. Unlike her fellow Puritan plebeians, Hester strives for the “American Dream” she has made for herself instead of the dream that the Puritan superstructure would impose on her. When her disobedience to God and the government is made known to the public, Hester is criticized by her fellow Puritans until her identity deteriorates from her own characterization into the town's characterization of Hester. Due to the disintegration of Hester's individuality caused by her objectification perpetuated by the Puritan superstructure, it is clear that Hester is a representation of capitalism's failure and Marxist succession.
   In The Scarlet Letter, the “American Dream” that the Puritan government has imposed on the people of Salem is the dream to become a saint-like figure, or having confirmation that one is of God's elect. We can see this dream is substantially significant to the members of Salem, by closely examining Dimmesdale and Hester's different public reactions to their scarlet letters, or by their treatment from the townspeople. To explicate, Hester makes it her goal to change the meaning of her letter by making it an advertisement of her business rather than her sin. Though her talent, as exhibited in her work ether and on her chest, allowed her clothes to be displayed in the window, she never is able to eradicate the scarlet letter's association with her adultery. Even the children are taught to “look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast” (Hawthorne 60-61). Contrarily, Dimmesdale never had to suffer public ridicule for having sexual relations with Hester. Though he did suffer silently and branded himself with his own scarlet letter; nonetheless, he was not subject to be being called a w***e, but a saint:
   “Others- those best able to appreciate the minister's peculiar sensibility, and the    wonderful operation of his spirit upon the body,- whispered their belief, that the awful    symbol was the effect of the ever active tooth of remorse, gnawing from the inmost heart    outwardly, and at last manifesting Heaven's last judgement by the visible presence of the    letter” (182).
No matter how explicit he was in telling the crowd below the scaffold that he was the father of Pearl, no one would accept this. The reason there was a difference in reaction to Dimmesdale and Hester's scarlet letters was not only because Dimmesdale was of the ruling class and Hester of the working class, but because Dimmesdale actively pursued the same “American Dream” that the townspeople strove to accomplish. That dream was the dream to be virtuous enough to be considered the saint, not to sin out of temptation and become the harlot of Salem.
   At the beginning of the novel, Hester is illustrated as a rigid, prideful young woman who dreamt of nothing more than to challenge the town's principles. For example, the first moment the audience sees Hester, she is ordered to stand on the scaffold in the town square for three hours, with her child in hand and the scarlet letter on her clothes (50). Hester advertises her sin in a means to challenge the ruling class' superstructure; thus, illustrating Hester's opposition to the Puritanical “American Dream.” Her dream, instead of seeking the saint-like reputation, is to regain her subjectivity by making the scarlet letter's meaning something Hester constructs, and not what the ruling class has told her what it means. The first instance the people see her talent is when Hester is walking to the scaffold, through the marketplace: a Puritan woman observes that “She hath good skill at her needle, that's certain... but did ever a woman, before this brazen hussy, contrive such a way of showing it... what is it but to laugh in the faces of our godly magistrates, and make a pride out of what they... meant for a punishment” (44). Not long after her punishment on the scaffold, Hester is seen working at the tailor shop, doing embroidery and needle work. Everyone, including the governor who sentenced her, either wore her clothes or wanted to; yet, she was not allowed to embroider any wedding items because of her stigma (63). Her ambition in conjunction with her headstrong personality makes Hester the rugged individual that pursues her own aspirations; rather than those that the superstructure dictates that she follows.
   Unfortunately, the loss of her identity causes her to transform from a rugged individual into the exemplification of sin. While Hester is walking through the market place, the day of her first judgement, one character tells her friend that Hester “the pang of [her sin] will always be in her heart” (42). The market place is where Hester loses her subjectivity, yet she does not realize the loss of her identity until her daughter, Pearl, recognizes her mother by the scarlet letter. Hester, who was delivering the Governor's gloves that she finished embroidering, decides to take Pearl on her errands, and while waiting for the Governor, they see his armor; to which, Pearl notices her mother in the reflection. But when Hester sees what Pearl sees, she notices that the “peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance” (79). Indeed, Pearl is portrayed as a heathen child that is playfully cruel; however, when her daughter's perception of Hester's identity matches that of the ruling class, it bruises Hester's ego. Instances like this happen throughout The Scarlet Letter, and because Hester persists, the audience tends to advocate for her success in changing the scarlet letter's meaning. However, Hester is subverting the Puritanical ideology by herself, striving to represent herself as the “romanticized, rugged individual” and it ends in her failure. Her story ends with her hard work in changing the letter's meaning being projected onto ruling class lackey Dimmesdale, leaving her to be cast as the proletariat tramp forever.
   Salem's superstructure is so powerful that the entire town is able to turn Hester into a commodity. Their currency is piety, making whoever is the most righteous is the richest and most beloved in the town, the bourgeoisie. In contrast, those who have sinned are those that must be shunned, or be publicly shamed for not being able to hold the same standard as everyone else, the proletariat. It may be a stretch to associate the two together, but for the bourgeoisie, favorable religious status is not a commodity they need to work for. They already have that. Those in the proletariat can only dream to have the piety that those in the bourgeoisie have: the American dream. This dynamic creates a social ecomony of people's statuses by their religiousness. Hester's sign-exchange value, being that her social status has been devalued due to her scarlet letter or sin, has been dramatically decreased (Tyson 62). This shows that Hester has been commodified because people only refer to her by her sin or letter (62). By Puritan declaration, because Hester exhibits poor piety, those rich in religion freely objectify her as the epitome of sin, and alienate or scorn her; thus making Hester and her letter the fetishized commodity in the town of Salem.
   Hester's transgression was she subverted the Puritan American dream by focusing on herself instead of the community (60). The Puritan community of Salem depended on its base inhabitants to blindly follow their superstructure; and when Hester was found impure in their pure community, it was the ruling class' duty to alienate her to make an example of what happens to those who defy the bourgeoisie. After Hester's judgement, the town of Salem reduced her to an object of sin by calling her a s**t, benefiting from her hard work, and keeping her in the lower class. To illustrate, the scene where Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale are in the forest, Hester constructs an idea of how they can live as a normal family would: “It brought thee hither. If thou so choose, it will bear thee back again. In our native land... And what hast thou to do with all these iron men, and their opinions? They have kept thy better part in bondage too long already” (142). Dimmesdale could have agreed to escape with Hester and Pearl to London, but his status prohibits him from going: “I dare not quit my post, though an unfaithful sentinel, whose sure reward is death and dishonor, when his dreary watch shall come to an end” (142). Out of all the instances where she has been oppressed by the ruling class, this one is the most defeating. Hester has finally come up with a plan for her family to overcome their stigmatized life, and Dimmesdale rejects the plan because he would rather fraudulently be apart ruling class in Salem, instead of giving his family the chance to live a better life.
   Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter portrays Hester to be a romanticized, moral capitalist. She works diligently to change the scarlet letter's meaning from Adultery to anything but, only for her work to be absorbed into Dimmesdale's scarlet letter. The Scarlet Letter demonstrates the ruthless oppression of the ruling class by Dimmesdale's betrayal, the Governor's encouragement to berate Hester, and their projection of sin onto Hester. Even though Dimmesdale is just as guilty of adultery as Hester is, he is able to die with his precious status unscathed. In fact, he dies an Angel; whereas, Hester dies the Adulteress. Because of these themes, the audience can see that Hester is the failed representation of capitalism; thus, making The Scarlet Letter a Marxist piece.
            Works Cited
   Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter: An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources Criticism. 2nd ed. New York; WW Norton & Co, 1961. Print.
   Tyson, Lois. "Marxist Critiscism." Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2009. 53-81. Print.