The Puritan Community In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne goes against the ideals of the Puritan community by using topics, such as: adultery, hypocrisy, and revenge. Hawthorne uses Hester’s life and the people in her life to showcase each of these subjects and how much they can affect someone’s life. First, Hawthorne goes against the community by using the scandal between Hester and Dimmesdale and their adultery in order to challenge their Puritan way of life. “‘I fear! I fear! It may be, that, when we forgot our God,--when we violated our reverence each for the other's soul,--it was vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting and pure reunion.’”(Hawthorne 222). Dimmesdale, more than Hester, understands the weight of their actions and

“What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him,—yea, compel him, as it were—to add hypocrisy to sin? Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, that thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over the evil within thee, and the sorrow without. Take heed how thou deniest to him—who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself—the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips!” (Hawthorne 63). This is a quote from Dimmesdale towards Hester where he is basically calling himself a hypocrite. He is explaining that, by Hester not admitting to who the father is, she is condemning the father to being a hypocrite and an adulterer. “While thus suffering under bodily disease, and gnawed and tortured by some black trouble of the soul, and given over to the machinations of his deadliest enemy, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale had achieved a brilliant popularity in his sacred office. He won it, indeed, in great part by his sorrows.” (Hawthorne ). This quote is proof that Dimmesdale has brought this pain and suffering upon himself as the result of hypocrisy. Even though he got himself in a position of high esteem, he is still suffering from the pain of his sins and how he has yet to confess these sins. "His form grew emaciated; his voice...had a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it; he was often observed...to put his hand over

“Not the less, he shall be mine.”(Hawthorne 78). Chillingworth tells Hester that he will find out who Pearl’s father is and that he will confront him. “…this learned man was the physician as well as friend of the young minister.”(Hawthorne 109). Here Chillingworth is making a friend out of Dimmesdale, the father of Pearl, in order to torture him. “…Hester had been looking steadily at the old man, and was shocked, as well as wonder-smitten, to discern what a change had been wrought upon him in the last seven years. But the former aspect of an intellectual and studious man, calm and quiet, which was what she best remembered in him, had altogether vanished and had been succeeded by an eager searching, almost fierce, yet carefully guarded look.”(Hawthorne 103). This quote shows that Hester recognises the changes that are occurring to Chillingworth and notices how spiteful he has become. Chillingworth has dedicated his entire life to the downfall of Dimmesdale, and this obsession has taken a huge toll on Chillingworth’s health, just as Dimmesdale’s health had also declined. Finally, at the end of the novel, as the reverend finally decides to reveal his shame, and Chillingworth grabs him violently and screams, “Do not blacken your fame and perish in dishonor. I can yet save you.”(Hawthorne 235). After dedicating the last seven years or his life to torturing the reverend,