Scarlet Letter Wisdom Essay

Set in Puritan Massachusetts during the 17th Century, “The Scarlett Letter” is a tragically powerful book that was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in 1850. Hawthorne, moved and inspired by the transcendentalist movement, wrote this book to criticize the relentless puritan society and tells a tale of sin and punishment and the great wisdom one gains from suffering them, all while narrating the inner conflicts of the human heart. Hawthorne mainly focused on the theme of wisdom through suffering through deep symbolism, allegory, and descriptive emotive language, contrasting how each character’s behavior and thoughts change as the novel progresses signifying the character’s embracing of their sin and dealing with the harsh judgment

In the most tension packed scene in the book (Chapter 23- The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter) Hawthorne shows the epitome of the powerful effect of suffering leading to wisdom when Dimmesdale finally confesses in the climax of the book that he’s Pearl’s father at the scaffold, showing how Dimmesdale gained courage. “I, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie!" Although, Dimmesdale’s actions show great wisdom and self-improvement, his eventual confession was a result of his constant agony and guilt and he came out with the truth only to put an end to the constant torture he couldn’t take anymore. While both Hester and Dimmesdale face suffering as horrifying as his name suggests “Chillingworth’ which is used to describe an inhumane and horrifying figure, Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, is a vile and evil character. All his actions stemmed from fury to take revenge on Dimmesdale because of Hester’s betrayal. Chillingworth’s role in the book was a tormentor who increased the suffering of our main protagonists. "The intellect of Roger Chillingworth had now a sufficiently plain path before it." This quote contrasts Chillingworth's good quality with the cold and evil exploitation of it to torture Dimmesdale. Chillingworth’s obsession with Dimmesdale and his determination to take revenge had caused him to become a malicious caricature, this was evident in this quote which reveals Chillingworth’s true evil intentions "The fiend in his own shape is less hideous than when he rages in the breast of man.". Hawthorne wrote Chillingworth as a personification of the cruel, unforgiving society in the 17th century. Hawthorne also uses color imagery by describing Chillingworth as “the black man” to evoke and express his evilness. Chillingworth did not