The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne acts as a societal critique of the Puritans. Hawthorne shows them as demonic hypocrites, especially high ranking members of the town. In addition to this, he uses language that recognizes, the sin-committing, Hester Prynne as the protagonist, while Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, a pious man, is viewed as weak and afraid of the society that reveres him. The communal condemnation of Hester shows the Puritans as a singular character, rather than a society or culture, enabling the Puritans to act as a driving force; specifically, the pain and tormentation that Dimmesdale and Hester face are derived from their narrow-mindedness, hypocrisy, and conformity.
The Puritanical belief of communal conformity is made …show more content…
While confessing, Dimmesdale states: “The law we broke I—the sin here awfully revealed!—let these alone be in thy thoughts! I fear! I fear! It may be, that, when we forgot our God—when we violated our reverence each for the other’s soul—it was thenceforth vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting and pure reunion. God knows; and He is merciful!” (383). By publicly confessing, Dimmesdale is relieving himself from his pain, and finding forgiveness. He has found forgiveness in this narrow-minded, sin punishing society, and thus showing the puritans that there is no need to be react like this toward sin. Lying and upholding the facade of the Puritan society is a sin, unlike Hester who has told the truth all along. Hester is not afraid of the Scarlet Letter, and knows that by covering it, she is hiding a portion of her life, thereby lying. The Puritan veneration of Dimmesdale illustrates their hypocrisy, as they are esteeming a sinner. The guiltier Dimmesdale feels, the more the Puritans appreciate his sermons. They believed that no “man spoken in so wise, so high, and so holy a spirit, as he that spake this day; nor had inspiration ever breathed through mortal lips more evidently than it did through his” (361). This critique of Puritan society allows the reader understand the narrator 's view of their culture. Their hero is a sinner, rather than Hester Prynne, the “self-enlisted Sister of Charity,” revealing their utopian facade (321). As Dimmesdale’s sermons become more powerful, the more he is forced to wear his “face to himself”
The Puritanical belief of communal conformity is made …show more content…
While confessing, Dimmesdale states: “The law we broke I—the sin here awfully revealed!—let these alone be in thy thoughts! I fear! I fear! It may be, that, when we forgot our God—when we violated our reverence each for the other’s soul—it was thenceforth vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting and pure reunion. God knows; and He is merciful!” (383). By publicly confessing, Dimmesdale is relieving himself from his pain, and finding forgiveness. He has found forgiveness in this narrow-minded, sin punishing society, and thus showing the puritans that there is no need to be react like this toward sin. Lying and upholding the facade of the Puritan society is a sin, unlike Hester who has told the truth all along. Hester is not afraid of the Scarlet Letter, and knows that by covering it, she is hiding a portion of her life, thereby lying. The Puritan veneration of Dimmesdale illustrates their hypocrisy, as they are esteeming a sinner. The guiltier Dimmesdale feels, the more the Puritans appreciate his sermons. They believed that no “man spoken in so wise, so high, and so holy a spirit, as he that spake this day; nor had inspiration ever breathed through mortal lips more evidently than it did through his” (361). This critique of Puritan society allows the reader understand the narrator 's view of their culture. Their hero is a sinner, rather than Hester Prynne, the “self-enlisted Sister of Charity,” revealing their utopian facade (321). As Dimmesdale’s sermons become more powerful, the more he is forced to wear his “face to himself”