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Happiness Examples In Scarlet Letter

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For as long as humans have existed, they have had struggles with happiness. The Scarlet Letter outlines one common human struggle with happiness. This passage from the Scarlet Letter takes place in the forest after Hester has gone to tell Dimmesdale, her former lover, about Chillingworth, her ex-husband. Chillingworth has been torturing Dimmesdale for the past 7 years, in order to punish him for committing adultery with Hester, Chillingworth’s wife. Hester did not tell Dimmesdale about this fact and at first he does not forgive her for not disclosing the truth. After, he does forgive her and Hester takes off the Scarlet Letter. In this passage and at other instances in the novel, Hawthorne raises the question of where is happiness found. …show more content…

Previously to this passage, the sunlight would not shine on Hester when Hester was wearing the Scarlet Letter. As soon as Hester takes off the scarlet letter, a symbol of the Puritan community, her hair is described as “with at once a shadow and a light in its abundance”(186). The light is reclaiming Hester now that she has truly separated from the Puritan community. The last time that the sunlight claimed Hester in this way was when she was on the scaffold and separate from the Puritan community, however, she was not happy then. In the passage, Hester is described with words associated with light, such as “beamed”, “radiant”, and “glowing”(186). Hester is described as being a part of the light, which juxtaposes previous descriptions of the Puritans who are dark, somber, and extremely separated from the light. After Hester takes off the letter, she is not the only thing that changes. In reflective of Hester’s actions, “...forth burst the sunlight, pouring a flood into the obscure forest”(186). The sunlight is illuminating and overcoming the darker forest. Similarly, Hester overcame her struggles against Puritan oppression. The light imagery used by Nathaniel Hawthorne shows that after Hester escapes from Puritan social constructs and is in the wilderness, she is able to find

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Hawthorne writes, “It was only the darkened house that could contain her” (148). Alluding to the fact that Hester feels out of place everywhere but in her darkened home, this reference is one of a dark theme. It shows that the other towns-people did not show emotion towards her which causes her behaviors to change. Soon after you can find “The effect of the symbol—or, rather, of the position in respect to society that was indicated by it—on the mind of Hester Prynne herself, was powerful and peculiar” (Hawthorne 149).

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Guilt Obsession Within the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathanial Hawthorne Reverend Dimmesdale drastically develops throughout the novel, from being a symbol of Puritan religion to displeasing the population of the Puritan expectations through his actions. His appearance as well as his privilege and prominence within the community alters radically. He begins the novel as the town reverend, and later, the shame of Hester accepting the entirety of the blame and the fact that he escaped with no punishment or shame from the town ultimately consumed him. Throughout the novel, it was revealed that he had a red mark on his chest in correlation to the “A” that was displayed on Hester’s chest.

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While her punishment changes her physical appearance, it has a far more profound effect on her character. Hester seems much older and worn down with the scarlet letter on her bosom. To Hester, the scarlet letter is a

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Terence Martin makes an intriguing point in this discussion of Hester in Chapter 18 when he asserts his claim that “seven years of ignominy have left her a resolute priestess of a private cult”. (Martin) This is an intriguing assertion because it shows the dangers of moral ambiguity. Hester “wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest”, (Hawthorne 399) and like the forest that the Puritans so greatly fear, Hester has made a pact with the Black Man in the forests of moral ambivalence. Perhaps Hawthorne would say that Hester has transcended the moral confines of the archaic and hypocritical Puritans, but clearly Hester’s venture into the moral badlands have bestowed upon her a false moral compass fashioned from “seven years of ignominy” (Martin) and guilt.

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We are introduced to Hester by hearing the description of fervor, “A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments, and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and other bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes” (Hawthorne 45). The idea that a character is introduced with such distinction shows the ostracization the character will deal with. The importance of this quote is not only exhibited by its words but also it’s place in the novel, by being the introduction to Hester and the first words of the novel, immense value and deeper meaning is added than it would have if the quote had been later on. Hester is talked among the townspeople as a “... woman [who] has brought shame upon us all, and [she] ought to die.” This is the pinnacle of shame she experiences and as the novel progressed so did the towns folks’ opinions.

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the forest symbolizes privacy, freedom and allows an opportunity for Hester to uncover her true identity. However, in Puritan Boston, the setting of the story, Hester is faced with humiliation and punishment on a daily basis. Hester is shunned for committing adultery, and having a child out of wedlock. In the forest, there is sunshine, and Hester is able to rip off the scarlet letter and literally, and figuratively ‘let her hair down.’ This escape allows Hester to be unconcerned with what the judgemental townspeople will think or say.

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The Scarlet Letter “Suffering is the positive element in this world, indeed it is the only link between this world and the positive.” (Franz Kafka) In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, he uses examples that challenge this thought by portraying the suffrage of Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale and reasoning that suggests that Hester suffers worse. Though both Dimmesdale and Hester suffer in extremely different ways, that somehow relate in ways, Hester suffers more. Through the passionate descriptions in the beginning and impactful imagery, the profound language and juxtaposition of his writing, and the questionable logic as well as the encapsulating parallelism, Hawthorne proves that Hester faces more difficulty due to her

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The townspeople “[began] to look upon the scarlet letter as a token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since.” This quote exemplifies how sin is not a death sentence for Hester. Through hard work and charity it allowed the rigid Puritan society to see her as something different, and as someone who would not let society define who she was. Hester, thus, was not only able to change herself, but also the image in which society viewed her by working hard to benefit the public. Likewise, the scarlet letter which was supposed to represent sin was instead “fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom.”

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Receiving the scarlet letter changed every aspect of Hester’s life. Especially at the start of the story, the letter symbolized the solitude and great suffering Hester faced just because of a letter placed on her bosom. The “A” also depicted how no one viewed Hester the same way as before her peccant actions. “…she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance” (Hawthorne 109). The pejorative community Hester lived in never saw Hester as the beautiful, young woman she was, but now, as a horrible fiend.

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Throughout the novel, Hester is fraught by the Puritan society and her suffering is an effect of how evil society is. Hester continues to believe that the crime she committed was not wrong and she should not be punished for it. Her desire to protect and love Dimmesdale, turn her into a stronger person and become a heroine in the book. Although society still views her as a “naughty baggage” (Hawthorne 73) and is punished for her wrongdoing, Hester never thought to take revenge on them, yet she gives everything she has to the unfortunate and leaves herself with very little. She continues to stay positive no matter what society has for her.

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