It combines the strength and substance of an oak with the subtle organization of a rose, and is great, not of malice aforethought, but inevitably.
It has the charm of unconsciousness the author did not realize while he worked, that this “most prolix among the tales” was alive with the miraculous vitality of genius. The Scarlet Letter was the first, and the tendency of criticism is to pronounce it the most impressive, also, of these ampler productions. The material is so wrought as to become incidental to something loftier and greater, for which our previous analysis of the contents of the egg had not prepared us. The shorter pieces have a lyrical quality, but the longer romances express more than a mere combination of lyrics they have a rich, multifarious life of their own. Rappaccini's Daughter, Young Goodman Brown, Peter Goldthwaite's Treasure, and The Artist of the Beautiful, on the one side, are the promise which is fulfilled in The Scarlet Letter and the House of The Seven Gables, on the other though we should hardly have understood the promise had not the fulfillment explained it. She uses her wisdom to comfort the discouraged individuals struggling against the system.Between Hawthorne's earlier and his later productions there is no solution of literary continuity, but only increased growth and grasp.
#Scarlet letter free#
Her self-realization allows Hester to break free of the cultural norms and focus on impacting society for the good. Hester rejects predestination and becomes her own savior, eventually advising other society members. Dimmesdale attempts but fails to break free of the Puritan belief in predestination. Hester’s overcoming society’s stipulations placed upon her indicates Hawthorne’s Romantic assertion that the individual determines her course.Īlso, while the Puritans believed in predestination, Hawthorne claims that redemption consists of self-realization and empowerment. He agrees with the Puritans that sin was a result of wickedness, but disagrees that sin damned a person forever. But using a historical approach, I examine the Puritan background to accentuate Hawthorne’s nuanced fusion of Puritanical conceptions with Romantic perceptions of sin and redemption.įor instance, while the Puritans viewed sin as evil and believed in the weight of collective guilt, Hawthorne accepts that there was “an educative effect” in sin (Mills 97). At initial glance, it appears that Hawthorne does one of two things: he either disconnects entirely or adheres strictly to Puritan doctrines and culture. Insufficient attention has been given to Hawthorne’s precise changing of historical Puritan beliefs in order to depict his Romantic notions.
I call attention to how Hawthorne takes his knowledge of the New England Puritans and alters the historical context to emphasize his Romantic views of sin and redemption.
He also outlines the physical demise and spiritual indecision of the minister as Dimmesdale struggles to live two opposing lives. He demonstrates Hester’s refusal to publically accept her sin as such.
Dimmesdale, whose adultery has resulted in the birth of Pearl and Hester’s scarlet A. He addresses sin and redemption through his primary characters Hester Prynne and the Reverend Mr. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter portrays his understanding of Puritan doctrines and culture.
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