Examples Of Good And Evil In The Scarlet Letter

Carter Spaulding

Vande Gutche

Honors 10 A

2/8/23

Good and evil are everywhere in our modern world even today, whether you view it as a balance of good and evil, or an imbalance, it has always existed. The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the mid-19th century. This story takes place in a 17th-century Puritan town. Hester Prynne, the protagonist, committed the sin of adultery with the clergyman, Arthur Dimmesdale. As a symbol of this sin, Hester has a baby, named Pearl in addition to having to wear the scarlet letter A to represent her adultery. Roger Chillingworth, the main antagonist, is Hester’s secret husband, who is seeking revenge on Dimmesdale while torturing him for committing adultery with his wife. In his novel,

The rose blossom stands for the happiness in the story, while the thorns on the rose bush stand for the evil, the pain associated with this story. This is evident when he says, “It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom” (46). However, Hawthorne states, “...relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.” (46). While the rosebush has a “sweet moral blossom” there is still sorrow that is attached to the thorn. This serves as a reminder that even with beauty, there is evil. This indicates that there is a balance between good and evil, a “sweet moral blossom” and

Hester means star in Greek. Hawthorne shows this meaning by saying, “...Hester Prynne had no selfish ends, nor lived in any measure for her own profit and enjoyment…” This shows that Hester is a good person, a star in the community, who was selfless and does not live for her own enjoyment. The name Prynne comes from the anti-Puritan William Prynne, who spoke out about the Puritan church. Hawthorne shows a similar theme with Hester Prynne, when he says, “...had little Pearl never come to her…she might have come down to us in history, hand in hand with Ann Hutchinson, as the foundress of a religious sect.” (161) Ann Hutchinson was a Puritan in the 17th century, who was banished from the community for holding secret meetings and speaking out against the church. This connects to the evil in Hester, as this quote means that Hester was having thoughts against the Puritan