How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Create Guilt In The Scarlet Letter

Punishment should not always be associated with creating guilt within oneself. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, set in Puritan New England during the 1600s, is a love story filled with guilt and punishment, while simultaneously exposing the hypocrisy of Puritan beliefs. The Puritan’s rigidity and intolerance, as well as their tendency toward gossip and hypocrisy are made clear through their treatment of protagonist Hester Prynne. As punishment for committing adultery, Prynne is ordered to embroider and wear a scarlet A while on display for all the puritans to see as an example of a dissident. Hawthorne expresses the idea that a society should not be able to guilt a person into becoming someone they’re not through the use of obscure

When Prynne is exhibited on the scaffold, rather than allow her shame to consume her, as was the intended purpose of this punishment, Prynne embraces her flaws and presents a proud, unfazed front to the crowd. Aware of her actions and the repercussions that would come with them, “with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed,” Prynne openly deys Puritan beliefs. Through this act of sedition, Prynne reinforces the idea that she should not succumb to how society wants to make her feel and that if she believes in something so strongly, then that should not be taken away from her. Prynne “made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which” her punishment enveloped her and “the desperate recklessness of her mood, by its wild and picturesque peculiarity” rejected the guilt she was pressured into feeling. The way that Prynne showcases herself, is her way of defying her society and attempting to make a change to the outdated regulations of Puritan

The most obvious symbol of this being the scarlet letter A which dictates the entire premise in which this novel was set. The letter comes to symbolize Prynne’s triumph over the very forces that were meant to punish her. The Puritans expected Prynne’s wearing of the letter “to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud,” while it ended up doing the opposite, all because of how it was “so fantastically embroidered”. Intended to brand and shame Prynne, the scarlet letter comes to represent Prynne prevailing over the overly restrictive and controlling society she was brought up in. “It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself”. This letter represents the extent to which a society will take measures ensuring that their members blindly follow them. However, Prynne is able to surpass these ploys, only demonstrating her strength and willpower, especially when it comes to something she’s passionate