Pathway to Purity - Nathaniel Hawthorn's The Scarlet Letter

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Emmett Nicholas

American Studies p1,2

Scarlet Letter Essay

Pathway to Purity

        Human acts of purity and sin seem to continue the ages. This concept is easily shown through comparisons between recent events and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne writes of a church official who has committed a sin. It is difficult for readers not to be reminded of recent cases involving Catholic priests, who also sinfully committed sexual crimes. Nathaniel Hawthorne boldly discusses fascinating issues, many of which society is afraid to explore today. Will these priests ever be forgiven for their sins? Is it not possible for them to ever live a pure life again? In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne compares the lives of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale to show that despite sin’s devastating internal and external consequences, it eventually creates purity.

        Prior to regaining their lives of purity, Hester and Dimmesdale suffered from the demoralizing effects of sin in a puritan society. To illustrate their innermost emotions, Hawthorne begins the novel with a powerful description of a prison. He vividly describes its gloominess and sad colors, as well as its rundown condition. By doing this, Hawthorne sets the tone for the entire novel, where not only prisoners are held captive, but sinners are as well. Throughout the novel, Hester is locked in her own little prison, completely isolated from the rest of society. Likewise, Dimmesdale is imprisoned within himself, constantly engaged in a conflict between preservation of his reputation and what he knows to be the truth. Both Hester and Dimmesdale are trapped in a seemingly never-ending pattern of misery, much in the same way that prisoners are tortured by the notion of what their lives could have been. However, The Scarlet Letter is not only a tale of sadness and imprisonment. There is a bright spot in the first chapter, “a wild rosebush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems” (Hawthorne 56). This provides an uplifting foreshadowing of light at the end of the novel, or purity at the end of the sin.

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The Scarlet Letter details the ways in which sin affects not only the sinners, but all of the people involved. For Hester, sin forced her into complete isolation from society and even herself. At the beginning of the novel, Hawthorne describes her as exhibiting womanly grace, emphasizing her beautiful long hair. Long hair was a symbol of elegance and feminism, much as it still is today. However, by the end of the novel, she is depicted has having her hair concealed by a cap - her true character eclipsed by the scarlet letter “A”. This represents her transformation into an individual ...

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