The Scarlet Letter

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Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne  
Read in: August 2020

The Scarlet Letter takes root in the Puritan community in Massachusetts. The Puritans are reformed Protestants who lay great emphasis on purity and piety. In such a town where everyone censures and is censured by others, Hawthorne places his main character- Hester Prynne. 

Hester's husband has been missing at sea for many years, with no news of his whereabouts. Suddenly, when the townsfolk discover that she is pregnant, the entire town's scorn is heaped on her. Forced to bear the mark of her sin, she wears a capital letter A, made by herself in scarlet, emblazoned with gold. Living with her child, named Pearl, she lives in seclusion and makes a living with her beautiful needlework. Despite the trauma, she refuses to name her child's father. 

During Hester's public trial, she recognises a man in the crowd, who is her husband, back home right at the moment when his wife was being condemned. Disguising himself and taking the name Roger Chillingworth, he vows to take revenge on the guilty man. 

The story is mostly about the husband's vengeance on the lover and Hester's love for her Pearl. Hester's formidable nature is one that inspires, her heart is set against the jeers of people and she strives to help her daughter grow into someone not shackled by the rigours imposed by society. Yet, I wonder why Hester did not break free from her unhappy marriage to her spiteful husband and begin a new life with the man who truly loved her. The man who loves Hester chastises himself every day and even resorts to self-mutilation. To rub salt on an open wound, Roger Chillingworth, who is his physician, harasses him psychologically, making his life miserable. 

Forgiveness is absent, wrath prevails. What consumed Roger Chillingworth? Neither could he love Hester nor could she, then wouldn’t it have been better for them to part? Instead, he lived for revenge and took great pleasure in torturing his victim, so much that he could not bear to see the guilty man confess publicly and hence escape his clutches. Truly, venom sustained Roger Chillingworth and its absence finally killed him. Chillingworth has another parallel in Emily Bronte’s book Wuthering Heights- Heathcliff. They are not entirely the same, but one who has read the latter would find some similarity between these two.

The story described the emotions of the characters in such intense detail, that it becomes etched into the reader’s mind for days. After reading this book, I’m sure you will see for yourself the self- destructive power of hate.

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