The Scarlet Letter as the story of Sin, Crime and Punishmnent.

The Scarlet Letter as 

the story of Sin, Crime and Punishmnent.

Paper              American Literature

Name              Avani N. Dave

Roll No.           2

Class               M.A. Sem. 3

Submitted to   Dr. Dilip Barad

                      Department of  English

                      MK. Bhavnagar

                      University

                                  

                              

                       

                       

                         ‘ The Scarlet Letter ’ is a book which deals with the consequences of the sin of adultery in the lives of three people most affected by it. The pair of illicit lovers and the aggrieved husband. It is an outrage of one individual against another and against the social code of ethics. In the Bible it has been written ;

            

              “ Thou shalt not commit adultery ”.

                      

                       It is God’s seventh commandment and those who violate it are sinners. ‘The Scarlet Letter’ is a story of sin also. This is why Hester and0 Dimmesdale who have committed adultery cannot be forgiven. ‘ The Scarlet Letter ’ takes us to the early days of puritan settlement at Massachusetts. The book derives the title from the custom strictly practiced by the puritan settlers, that a woman caught in adultery was to wear the letter ‘A’ embroidered in Scarlet on her dress.

 

                              The novel begins with a scene in a summer morning n Boston a young woman, Hester Prynne, stands at the scaffold in the market place of Boston. She stands in disgrace and tries to hide the Scarlet letter ‘A’ on her gown by holding her child close. Hester, a gentle woman, is made to endure this shame as she has borne a child, while her husband has been lost at sea for a long time. Hester watches the crowd that stares at her with scornful eyes. That is why it is mentioned about Hester, by Hawthorne, 

              “ ‘The Scarlet Letter’ was her passport into regions where other women dare not tread. Shame, despair, solitude ! these had been her teachers – Stern had wild once and they had made her strong, but, taught her much amiss.”
                        

                         Thus, people see Hester as a morally degraded woman and expressed hatred her. The chief minister and Dimmesdale urge her to confess the name of her lover who should be sharing her but Hester remains silent. Seeing his wife on the scaffold, he decides to conceal his identity and hastily puts his finger to his lips to warn Hester against betraying the slightest sign of recognition.

                         

                                          After the time fixed for the public disgrace, Hester is taken back to the prison. A doctor is called not attend her and it turns out to be none other than her husband who has assumed the name of Chillingworth. He tries to get the name of Hester’s lover, but when she refuses to tell him, swears that he will stay in town practicing medicine, and will sooner or later find out the guilty one. He befriends the clergyman Dimmesdale and while treating the minister, the physician warned out the hidden secret from him, namely that he is the father of Hester’s child Pearl. The soul of dimmesdale in shame and agony tries to find relief in vague confession of guilt which his congregation takes to the further evidence of his righteousness and humility. One night the tortured young man walks to the scaffold where Hester had stood alone, with her child. This significant gesture is observed by Chillingworth and its meaning is certainly not lost upon him.

                           

                          Hester seeing what soul-destroying effect Chillingworth has on Dimmesdale, pleads with her husband to be merciful to the young man BUT Chillingworth knows no mercy. Together Hester and Dimmesdale make a desperate plan to flee to the old world. They decide to leave on Election Day after the sermon preached by Dimmesdale. The church being full, Hester and Pearl stand at the scaffold hearing the young ministers sermon. After the sermon the procession moves out of the church and Dimmesdale walks like a man in a dream. He sees Hester and Pearl and taking them by the hand, climbs the steps to the pillory. In  a deep and impressive voice he proclaims, his guilt to the astounded congregation tearing open his ministrial band he exposes his chest to the gaze of the people. There is seen the Scarlet letter ‘A’ imprinted on the flesh. Dimmesdale falls dead on the platform.

                        Chillingworth’s pursuit of revenge is thus over. Frustrated by this open confession of the minister which Chlingworth tried hard to prevent, the physician dies within the year leaving his wealth to Pearl. Hester leaves the colony for a while, but returns later to become a ministering angel to those in distress. ‘The Scarlet Letter’ on her gown is transfigured into an object of reverence, because of her goodness and kindness, when she dies, her wish is that her tomb should be inscribed only with the latter  ‘A’ which she no longer takes to be a token of her sin.

                       

                                 Dimmesdale is a greater sinner than Hester. First he goes against the purity of his profession; secondly he tries to conceal his crime from the public. He adds hypocrisy to his sin. His conscience allows him no rest; he gets constant trouble from his soul. As for him, the “burden “ of his sin gives 

   “  sympathise so intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind, so that his heart vibrates in unison with theirs. ”

                             He is restless and peace less, he cannot sleep soundly: he can not sit or study peacefully in his rooms; he burns midnight oil over writing sermons, he keeps fast and vigils; he scourges himself when he is all alone. Dimmesdale, tormented by his awareness of his own sin is another remarkable study in psychology. The secret of his sin burns within him, prompting him to confess yet he is afraid to reveal himself for what he is. Thus, he goes deeper and deeper into the pit of sin for he violets the puritan belief that  ‘ a man must be true confessor. ’

                               Chillingworth is the greatest sinner. He is made to represent Hawthorne’s ideas of the unpardonable sinner. Arthur Dimmesdale tells Hester about Chillingworth in the forest, 

            “May God forgive us both ! we are not, Hester the worst sinner in the world. There is one worse than ever the polluted priest ! that old man’s revenge has been blacken than my sin. He has been violeted in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester never did so !"

                    

                            He is cut out admirably for the role of a man who commits this sin. The way in which he broods over revenge and marks down his victim, and drives him steadily to self-destruction is made very creditable when he learns of Hester’s shame, he denies his very identity and pursues revenge. The character of Chillingworth is made all the more sinister by making him an expert in black magic. He is shown also as one devoted to cold science.

                       

                              The shadow of the parents’ sin can be seen hovering over the child of Hester that is Pearl. She is a born misfit of the infantile world. She is to become a problem child. Pearl tells Hester in the forest, 

       “  Mother, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bossom .. It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bossom yet. ”

                          

                         She constantly reminds her mother about her sin or crime, done in past, so Hester speaks for Pearl.

          “ Oh, Father in heaven if thou art still my father. What is this being that I have brought into the world. ’’

                            Thus, ‘The Scarlet Letter’ is a tragic story of Sin, Crime and Punishment. Hawthorne’s concept of evil and sin was a puritan heritage, it was the constant theme in ‘The Scarlet Letter’ , the consequences of guilt are primarily psychological in nature. A sense of guilt generates a feeling of loneliness and the author shows how painful is Hester’s loneliness.

Conclusion :

                        

                                Thus, from the deeds of all the characters in ‘The Scarlet Letter’, the novel can be seen as Crime committed by them,  and the situations they are facing that is like their punishment . The Scarlet Letter is an exemplification of the theme of Crime and Punishment  It is mainly the story of Crime, say sexual crime , and the consequences arising therefrom. The act of adultery is certainly a crime against the individual, be that individual, the wronged wife or a husband  Similarly it is also a crime against society, for it involves that violation of a moral code formulated and honored by that society. Adultery has been branded as immoral in all civilized communities of the world. So we can say that the life Hester lived, Dimmesdale also face inner guilt all these shows it as the novel of Sin Crime and Punishment.