Ambiguity & Admonition : An Analysis of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

This position paper, based on Richard Chase's commentary on The Scarlet Letter, is meant for my educational value only. Not to be quoted by any outside source.

The Scarlet Letter is written to serve several different purposes. Richard Chase argues in “The Ambiguity of the Scarlet Letter” that these previously discussed motives of Nathaniel Hawthorne to write the novel can be classified into three distinct categories. Most importantly Chase sees these three points as intertwining views that compile into what he calls “an art-view of Puritan Society.” Chase begins his argument by presenting discussions that are popular among scholars that for all practical purposes can be identified as Ocular Duality, Societal Commentary, and Literary Device. These three discussions and how Hawthorne not only incorporates them into his novel, but introduces these thoughts into American Literature, are up for interpretation.

            Chase introduces the discussion of Ocular Duality as “Pictures, Mirrors, and Morals.” It is stated that, “[mirroring or complementary images] give us a static and pictorial version of reality” (146). Scenes of sinners by the scaffold, marks on character’s breasts, and floral symbolism are all examples of duality that have great meaning in the story and each reveal a pivotal image of the characters most dynamic character, Arthur Dimmesdale.

            In the beginning chapters of the book, the scaffold had been associated with confessions and expiation by public admittance. Throughout the novel, Hester is quick to revert to the scaffold and openly admit her sin. However, Dimmesdale is being subject to his own inner guilt and is only able to visit the scaffold in the secret of night. Pearl, with the innocent voice of a child, reveals this when she comments to Hester, “‘What a strange, sad man is he!. . . In the dark nighttime he calls us to him, and holds thy hand and mine, as when we stood with him on the scaffold yonder!’”(Hawthorne 2859-3). Chase comments that these matching scenes display to the reader that “no tragic sense of life could exist without knowledge of evil” and that the book has mirroring images as the surface tale of sin and repentance and the underlying psychology of the damage of sin (146-7). Hawthorne uses these corresponding scenes to connect their sin’s effect on Hester and Dimmesdale. In later American Literature such as Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, similar elements of duality are used to connect characters, thoughts, and motifs.

            Chase’s heading “Feminism and Politics”, which can be summarized as Societal Commentary, goes into discussions about Hester, Puritanism, and what Hawthorne meant in commenting on the time the story was set in. In the article, the author highlights Hester’s freedom of speculation due to the life of renunciation and service she lived with passion, feeling, and thought (147). While the grace by which Hawthorne sculpted the character of Hester Prynne is a beautiful testament to the strength and ability of women, the Scarlet Letter is far from a feminist themed book. This is an interesting topic to discuss and Chase mentions how diverse the argument on feminism in the novel is. Chase agrees that Hawthorne uses feministic thought to uphold the art-view of Puritan society based on the belief that Hester is the most dynamic, important protagonist. Although the way she handles guilt brings a new look on the power of women, she is still the object of the society around her. She cannot leave, she cannot make everyone forget, and she can certainly not emerge alone on her own will to make a difference. If she could, there would not have been a reason to get Dimmesdale to confess his sin. When Pearl, the depiction of their sin, and the two main characters are seen together, “Hester turned again towards Pearl with a crimson blush upon her cheek, a conscious glance aside [the] clergyman, and then a heavy sigh” (Hawthorne 2361-4). In this exchange the reader sees Hester surrounded by reminders of her sin. If she was able to obtain absolution on her feminism alone there would be no images of shame and admitting her guilt would have been enough to avoid feeling subject to her mistakes.

            The strongest debate that the article presents is Hawthorne’s use of Literary Device through what Chase calls “Allegory and Myth for Hawthorne’s Purpose.” The “Scarlet Letter is not pure allegory but a novel with beautifully assimilated allegorical elements” (Chase 149). Hawthorne uses the three main characters to display the three paths of dealing with sin. This is how The Scarlet Letter channels the destructiveness of sin. “Hester representing the repentant sinner, Dimmesdale the half-repentant sinner, and Chillingworth the unrepentant sinner” show the reader the possibilities when one chooses how to handle sin (Chase 149). Hester admits all her wrong-doings and by this she obtains closure even though she continued to suffer from her sin and was never able to be with the man she loved all due to the nature of her sin. Dimmesdale does not admit what he has done, for the majority of the book, and suffers as a result. He is worn down, loses the woman he loves, and dies because he tried to obtain absolution without repentance. Finally, Chillingworth never shows any acknowledgment for his moral crime. He let jealousy, lust, and hate consume his soul and as a result he is left with a, “blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to have departed” (Hawthorne 3194-5). These three characters are involved in a deep philosophical message, therefore, the Scarlet Letter qualifies as something more than an allegory, that uses allegorical elements as literary devices.

            Furthermore, each character represents a type of thought or way of thinking. This may be inferred from their representation of the acceptance of sin, however Chase generalizes their meanings to archetypal personas. Chillingworth is Hawthorne’s character of pure impulse, he does not think of consequences or feel any empathy at all. Dimmesdale represents thought without will, he bottles every conflict up for the sake of his reputation and becomes trapped by his lack of courage. Pearl and Hester connect the rivaling characters of Chillingworth and Dimmesdale; they represent natural innocence and human fallibility respectively (151). One could argue that Pearl and Hester are just as opposite as Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, but their bond as mother and daughter, along with their relationship to the conflicting men, tie the allegorical symbols into the one “art-view of Puritan society” that Chase refers to.

            Whether the Scarlet Letter is debated for its double meanings, its sense of the changing Puritan society or its similarities to an allegory, its presentation of Puritan New England is comparable to a Renaissance painting. All elements in the novel are perfectly balanced between light and darkness, weeds and flowers, love and hate, and salvation and damnation. These ordinary conflicts create a story of love, pain, and absolution that opens the readers mind to the new age of modern America and started the literary movements that would grow into contemporary literature.

 

WORKS CITED

Chase, Richard. "The Ambiguity of The Scarlet Letter." Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne. By Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven, 1996. 145-52. Print.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. S.l.: Public Domain, 2006. Print.

 

Author's Note

Open to any commentary that could help pinpoint my literary inadequacies.