Individualism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Though use of categorical labeling is meant to simplify the complex environments humans are exposed to, it has ironically furthered complexity by contributing to many modern issues. For example, racial categorization has no biological basis but yet may determine the social and economic status of people in certain groups. People may be categorized based on their devotion to social norms, no matter how outdated. With the idea of individualism as expressed during the Romantic Movement, people began to regard said social norms as forces opposing the discovery and expression of one's true nature. As such, many protagonists of romantic literature challenged moral and social conventions of the 19th century. In the romantic text The Scarlet Letter,

Hester embraces Pearl as her daughter despite being a product of sin. Also against the will of the meaning of the scarlet letter, Hester starts helping the very Puritans that condemned her. Hawthorne describes that “Such helpfulness was found in her… that many people refuse to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able;” (69). Hester chooses to help those in need as her alienation gave her empathy for outcasts after seeing from their point of view, and spending time on her own led her into becoming a freethinker. Though the purpose of the scarlet letter is to label Hester as an adulterer, it rather becomes a badge of honor as people begin to judge Hester on how she helps people, instead of judge her based on what she is labelled as. Hester expresses her newfound pride for her daughter Pearl when governor Bellingham threatens to separate the two. In response, Hester says “[God] gave [Pearl], in requital of all things else, which ye had taken from me. She is my happiness!” (69). Similarly to on the scaffold, Hester displays pride not because Pearl is a product of and therefore represents Hester’s committed sin, but rather because she also represents Hester’s individualist passion of not conforming to the established Puritan norm forbidding adultery. Hester now having been isolated from society gives more of a reason for her to be appreciative of Pearl, as with everything else taken away from her, Pearl gives Hester a reason to live. Though both the scarlet letter and Pearl are physical reminders of Hester’s sin, the letter is ultimately is insignificant as Pearl has been sent from God, while the letter is just a method of judgement defined by