Critically Examine Hawthorne’s Puritanic Attitude in the Novel “The Scarlet Letter.”

Answer

Critically examine Hawthorne’s Puritanic attitude in the novel “The Scarlet Letter.”   

“The Scarlet Letter” (1850) is a criticism of Puritan society. In this novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) criticizes the Puritanism of the seventeen centuries in America. In this novel, he mentions the strictness, stereotyping, and hypocritical attitude of Puritan society. He strongly criticized the doctrine of Puritan society towards sinners and the poor.

The sternness of the Puritans: Hester, The protagonist of the novel, becomes the victim of the Puritans’ sternness. The book “The Scarlet Letter” is strong evidence of the sternness of Puritan society. According to the society of Boston, the novel’s heroine, Hester, is a great sinner. So they can not show any sympathy towards Hester, even her only three-month-old infant, Pearl. Hester has to be compelled to wear the scarlet letter “A” as a symbol of her adultery. According to the law of the Puritan church, she should be imprisoned for seven years. Yet her imprisonment had not filled up after seven years. So, she has been ostracized by Puritan society. So, it is clear that the Puritan society has shown their harshness towards Hester.

Hold thy peace, dear little Pearl!” whispered her mother. “We must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us in the forest.

Conservative view of the Puritan: The novel “The Scarlet Letter” focuses on the narrow mentality of the Puritan society. The Puritan society was formed based on the Bible’s law, which states that forgiveness is humanity’s fundamental law. But Hester has become the victim of the harsh cruelty of the Puritan society. Rather, she has been an outcast from society. But by the grace of God, she has been able to overcome all her shortcomings. The novel “The Scarlet Letter” has criticised such a notion of Puritan society.

Mother,” said little Pearl, “the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself because it is afraid of something on your bosom. . . .

The baseless dogma of Puritanism: Puritans are among the followers of the Bible. But they forget a famous saying of Jesus, “He that is without sin among you, let him first a stone at her.” The same happened with Hester. Hester is punished according to the Puritan religious, social, and governmental beliefs of the Puritan society. They believe that sinners are not forgiven and must be punished. This belief proves the follyness of Puritan doctrine.

Charlatanism or Hypocrisy of the Puritans: The novel “The Scarlet Letter” is a fine example of Puritan charlatanism (false claims of special knowledge or expertise). Mistress Hibbins and the Black Man represent the hypocrisy of the Puritan community. Hibbins is a widow. She is known as a witch. She goes into the woods in the dark at night to have sex with Black Man. Mistress Hibbins says:

Wilt thou go with us tonight? There will be a merry company in the forest; and I well-nigh promised the Black Man that comely Hester Prynne should make one.

The above quotes remind the reader of the hypocrisy of the Puritan society. 

Stereotype attitude of the Puritan: The dogma of the Bible in which it is mentioned that forgiveness is the fundamental law of Christianity. But after going through the novel, we got that the Puritan church has made their society with a strong and more complicated law of Puritanism. There is no pure law and true principle of Christianity. In the novel, Hester has silently endured all the stereotypical rules of the Puritan church.

The scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, and yet with reverence, too.

We may conclude that Nathaniel Hawthorne critically represents the hypocrisy, sternness, and narrow mentality of Puritan society. He depicts the psychological and baseless dogma of the Puritan society and culture in the novel “The Scarlet Letter.”