Contrast in The Scarlet Letter
Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t: Contrast in the Scarlet Letter
The Puritan society was known for it’s strict morals and religious piety. But despite these supposedly virtuous qualities, in the Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, we are shown how twisted this model of society is. The people torment Hester, but refuse to see that their beloved minister carries the same sin in his heart; in fact, they revere him all the more for it. In his chapters, “Hester at Her Needle,” and “The Interior of a Heart,” Hawthorne creates an ironic contrast between Hester’s public torment and Dimmesdale’s inner agony. While there are many parallels between the two chapters, the contrasts in the character’s ways of dealing with their crime reveal how sinfulness leads to a development of oneself, as well as development of a sense of empathy for others. Paradoxically, these traits are shown to be incompatible with living the true Puritan lifestyle. This is why what goes on outside Hester and Dimmesdale is so vital to their inner narrative, Hester’s public torment eventually sets her free, while Dimmesdale’s public reverence slowly kills him. Both chapters cover a variety of insights into both Hester’s and Dimmesdale innermost decisions and thoughts. The purpose of “Hester at Her Needle” is to give readers an understanding of why Hester stays at the scene of her crime, as well as how she ostracized in society as a result. In “The Interior of a Heart,” Hawthorne also delves into the minster’s inner anguish, and his quest to find an alternate route to absolution, even as he is raised up by society for doing so. In “Hester at Her Needle,” Hawthorne reveals why she stays at the scene of her crime, “But there is a fatality…which almost invariably compels human beings to linger around and haunt, ghost-like, the spot where some great marked even has given color to their lifetime” (72). Hester’s sin has given her life color, in the form of the scarlet letter. But were
Cited: Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Scarlet Letter". Harlow: Penguin, 2008. Print.