Lack Of Communication In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there is a lack of communication between Hester and her family, which causes weak relationships. Lacking communication is when people do not speak together yearly, clearly or publicly. Hester’s weak relationships from the absence of communication are shown when she fears her husband, her daughter acts questionably, and her partner becomes ill. Hester is cautious to communicate and meet her husband, Roger Chillingworth, because they have not met in years, he conceals secrets and seeks revenge. Pearl becomes questionable as a child due to Hester’s lack of communication with her about social conduct, the scarlet letter and her father, Dimmesdale. Hester’s adultery partner, Reverend Dimmesdale, …show more content…
Hence, communication is necessary to strengthen relationships, but a lack of communication destroys them. To begin with, Hester fears Chillingworth because of their mistrusted relationship from nonexistent communication. Hester and her husband have this awkward status due to not seeing each other in years, hiding secrets and planning revenge. Chillingworth and Hester have a ruined relationship because Hester committed adultery while they did not speak to each other in a decade. Their first conversation in years occurs when Chillingworth, the doctor, treats Hester in prison after her punishment for not following monogamy. As a result of this lack of communication, Hester is fearful of her husband because he gives her haunting memories of her past life and the wrongs that she has done since then. This is shown …show more content…
This lack of communication drastically affects relationships in a negative way by not working through the problems and troubles from the relationship. The effect of Hester’s destroyed relationships are shown when she speaks to Chillingworth about Dimmesdale and asserts, “‘There is no good for him, --no good for me--, ---no good for thee! There is no good for little Pearl’” (118)! Hester is frightened to communicate in her broken relationship with Chillingworth because of not speaking to each other in years, concealing secrets, and arranging revenge. Hester avoiding communication with Pearl causes her to think that Pearl is unusual when she is eager to learn about their social status, scarlet letter and minister, Dimmesdale. Hester’s lack of discussion with Dimmesdale about his secret causes a weak relationship between them when he becomes ill by punishing himself, having a vigil, and dying. Hester realizes that her errors in communication cause consequences with her family when the narrator states, “Hester could not but ask herself, whether there had not originally been a defect of truth, courage, and loyalty, on her own part, in allowing the minister to be thrown into a position where so much evil was to be foreboded” (114)... An examination of communication between relationships in