The theme of ‘Crime’ and ‘Punishment’ as Presented in Hawthorne’s Novel ‘The Scarlet Letter’. 

Answer

Comment on the theme of ‘crime’ and ‘punishment’ as presented in Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’. 

The theme deals with the central idea of any literary work. “The Scarlet Letter”(1850), composed by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), is a story of crime, sin and punishment. It speaks of the insult or humiliation of a woman who has violated the classical and statutory law of a community dedicated to maintaining the authority of the law.  The theme of crime and punishment in the novel portrays the consequences of sin, guilt, and societal judgment.

Sin regenerates the characters: “The Scarlet Letter” upholds the theme of crime and punishment throughout the characters of Hester and Dimmesdale.  According to Christian doctrine, regeneration happens to a greater sin like Adam and Eve. They had eaten the forbidden fruit and were banished from the Garden of Eden. Both Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree, but in Christianity, Eve is a more sinner person than Adam. In the novel, the same things have been reoccurred by the characters Hester and Dimmesdale. Hester has endured public humiliation and is imprisoned. The sin has permitted her to do better work for the community. Dimmesdale is a person who is spiritually regenerated by his sin. So, it is clear that crime and punishment have regenerated the characters in the novel.  

The angel and apostle of the coming revelation must be a woman, indeed, but lofty, pure, and beautiful; and wise.

Sin differentiates the social norms: Hester is a young and beautiful person who committed an adultery relationship with the young governor, Dimmesdale. In the case of punishment, sin differentiates the social norms of the Puritan society in the seventeenth century. Both are sinners, but Hester Prynne is the only one who suffers from the crime. Otherwise, Arthur Dimmesdale is free from all the sufferings in his life. Religious law should be equal to both the sinner, but Puritan leaders diversified to establish their religious rules for sinners.

People brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel, as one who had herself gone through a mighty trouble.

Teaches the moral lesson: The novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne has mentioned the universal theme of crime and punishment in his famous novel “The Scarlet Letter”. We know that all literary work has given us the moral lesson through literary delight. The novel has a philosophical, moral lesson: if we commit any heinous crime, we have to suffer punishment, and after the punishment, the sinner person would be rectified.    

Dimmesdale’s mental frustration: Arthur Dimmesdale is the hero of the novel. He is different from the other heroes. He has no heroic power. He is a faint-hearted person. Because of his cowardice, Hester has suffered a lot throughout her entire life. But in the middle of the novel, we find him a person of Self-loathing. At night, he goes to the scaffold and wants to confess his sin, but for fear of public humiliation, he cannot confess his sin. At the climax in the novel, entitled the name of “The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter,” where Dimmesdale can confess his sin to the public gaze.

It is inconceivable, the agony with which this public veneration tortured him!

Criticism of Puritan Law: Nathaniel Hawthorne is a Christian but not a blind believer of Puritanism. He criticizes the Puritan customs and laws of the church. The fundamental doctrine of Christianity is forgiveness, but in the novel, we see that forgiveness is the far cry. Hester does not get any sympathy from society. So, Seventeen-century Puritan society has been bitterly criticized by the novel “The Scarlet Letter.”  

To conclude, it is clear that crime and punishment has a tremendous thematic validity in the novel   “The Scarlet Letter”.   The theme of crime and punishment expresses the complexities of sin, guilt, redemption, and societal judgment. Finally, it conveys the message to the readers that everyone should live a peaceful life away from sin.