An essential part of human behavior is the desire to mold personal identities so that we can differentiate ourselves and develop personal values, morals, and goals. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne, this particular significance of identity is introduced alongside the novel’s characters and protagonist, Hester Prynne. Hester is part of the Puritan, Massachusetts Bay Colony where “religion and law were almost identical” (Hawthorne 71). For her sin, committing adultery, Hester is condemned to carry the Scarlet Letter and its burdens. This overarching conflict involving punishment and sin tests the identities of characters like Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, and Hester—and pushes them to act in certain ways. Chillingworth becomes consumed
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Hart examines the relationship between Hawthorne’s famous work and his mindset and circumstances at the time. Hart explains that a significant period of Hawthorne’s life: “three years’ confinement” in Maine, and “twelve solitary years” in Salem, sparked a feeling of isolation within Hawthorne (381). Harts asserts that “because he wanted to ‘throw off’ this hatred of his Past, he had resolved to become a writer” (395). However, Hawthorne’s initial failure to reach this success led him to a “frustration at having chosen Art as a way of life” (382). Thus, during the start of his career, Hawthorne adopted an identity that valued “imagination and sensibility” (382). Instead of withholding his ideas and Art, Hawthorne used the Scarlet Letter and other works to move past this frustration, while criticizing Puritan society and its hypocrisies. Consequently, the novel’s publication was made possible because of Hawthorne’s self-acceptance of his role as a writer and his beliefs—which parallels Hester’s growth and identity. At the same time, Hawthorne criticized divergent identities through the other characters of the text, and highlighted their narrow-mindedness through their subsequent …show more content…
Throughout the novel, the Letter had shaped Hester’s identity as it became “her passport into regions where other women dared not tread” and strengthened her “by years of hard and solemn trial” (177, 154). However, because of her charitable work and distinct personality, Hester is able to mold the meaning of the Scarlet Letter; at one point it “it meant Able” and became viewed upon “with awe, yet reverence too” (151, 219). As she transformed the meaning of the Letter, Hester also come to accept it. After Dimmesdale’s death and her brief disappearance, Hester returns to her cottage on “her own free will” as she recognizes that “here had been her sin; here, here sorrow and here was yet to be her penitence” (219). After her return, “people brought all their sorrows and perplexities” to Hester and “besought her council” (219). Instead of responding with naivety, hoping she could be the “destined prophetess” to fix Puritan society, she acknowledges that this mission couldn’t be “confided to a woman stained with sin” (220). Overall, this reflects how this identity allowed her to “be true.” In his analysis, Hart asserts that the Scarlet Letter—the sign Hester accepts—symbolizes “artistry” and “fertility”—the ideas Hawthorne comes to accept (390). At the same time, Hart explains that
Hart examines the relationship between Hawthorne’s famous work and his mindset and circumstances at the time. Hart explains that a significant period of Hawthorne’s life: “three years’ confinement” in Maine, and “twelve solitary years” in Salem, sparked a feeling of isolation within Hawthorne (381). Harts asserts that “because he wanted to ‘throw off’ this hatred of his Past, he had resolved to become a writer” (395). However, Hawthorne’s initial failure to reach this success led him to a “frustration at having chosen Art as a way of life” (382). Thus, during the start of his career, Hawthorne adopted an identity that valued “imagination and sensibility” (382). Instead of withholding his ideas and Art, Hawthorne used the Scarlet Letter and other works to move past this frustration, while criticizing Puritan society and its hypocrisies. Consequently, the novel’s publication was made possible because of Hawthorne’s self-acceptance of his role as a writer and his beliefs—which parallels Hester’s growth and identity. At the same time, Hawthorne criticized divergent identities through the other characters of the text, and highlighted their narrow-mindedness through their subsequent …show more content…
Throughout the novel, the Letter had shaped Hester’s identity as it became “her passport into regions where other women dared not tread” and strengthened her “by years of hard and solemn trial” (177, 154). However, because of her charitable work and distinct personality, Hester is able to mold the meaning of the Scarlet Letter; at one point it “it meant Able” and became viewed upon “with awe, yet reverence too” (151, 219). As she transformed the meaning of the Letter, Hester also come to accept it. After Dimmesdale’s death and her brief disappearance, Hester returns to her cottage on “her own free will” as she recognizes that “here had been her sin; here, here sorrow and here was yet to be her penitence” (219). After her return, “people brought all their sorrows and perplexities” to Hester and “besought her council” (219). Instead of responding with naivety, hoping she could be the “destined prophetess” to fix Puritan society, she acknowledges that this mission couldn’t be “confided to a woman stained with sin” (220). Overall, this reflects how this identity allowed her to “be true.” In his analysis, Hart asserts that the Scarlet Letter—the sign Hester accepts—symbolizes “artistry” and “fertility”—the ideas Hawthorne comes to accept (390). At the same time, Hart explains that