Spirituality In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter portrays a profoundly psychologically encompassing tale of heartache and struggle in a Puritan society during the mid-nineteenth century. The characters in the novel exhibit an array of emotional and physical responses caused by the guilt, the public and self-condemnation, and the retribution of their sins. The adulterous act committed by Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale became the catalyst for the resulting grief felt by all in the small community in which the events occur. Hawthorne’s novel focuses on the overbearing loneliness found surrounding the characters, each isolated in some form or another. Hester, for example, was socially secluded as a result of the scarlet ‘a’ resting upon her bosom. The sewn letter represents the sin she and Dimmesdale, who remained unnamed as the father for the better part of the story, partook in, which resulted in a child. The ‘a’ serves as the physical embodiment of her transgression and the resulting guilt, a constant reminder of what she had done on display for all to see. Hester goes so far as to physically remove herself from the town, instead settling on the …show more content…
The effects of the characters’ upbringing in a spiritual society directed a particular mindset. This mindset of Puritan followers held extreme beliefs that would often create psychological issues for the people within that society. Failure to adhere to the standards of the strict culture often caused the sinner to be ostracized in order to prevent others from being touched by sin. The guilt and anxiety of being isolated from the community caused severe psychological effects upon the recipient. Attempting to fully comprehend this work of literature without taking into account the psychological consequences would do a great disservice to this classic