Roses and Redemption: Themes from the Scarlet Letter
Roses and Redemption:
Themes from the Scarlet Letter
Eden Preston
November 21, 2017
The first chapter of any book is arguably one of the most important. It sets up some of the themes and sets precedence for the layout of the book, an introduction of sorts. The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne is no exception. One familiar with the storyline would think the first chapter would contain transgression, or accusation at the discovery of sin. However, its first chapter outlines two main subjects: a dreary New England prison and the dingy field situated next to it. This “grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed, apple-pern and such unsightly vegetation” is the great metaphor of this book, along with the delicate rose bush found contained within this gloomy field. The field represents society, and all the many different people in it, but in society, what separates the miracle of the rosebush from the weeds? Both have to survive the harsh environment, but they have different tactics to do so. This is similar to the characters within the book; Chillingworth, Hester, and Dimmesdale all experience conflict, but how they approach it, and ultimately how it shapes them, is vastly different. Although it’s never directly mentioned, this theme of differing approaches to redemption and reconciliation deeply interlaces the book. Whether self-inflicted or otherwise, the way that we respond to challenge in an attempt to seek reconciliation and redemption ultimately shapes the results, and most importantly, who we become.
The Scarlet Letter demonstrates one attempt at redemption through the character Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth was Hester’s husband before he privately disowns her after she commits adultery. This man experiences great conflict: his wife was unfaithful to him, and Hester’s infidelity feels like a personal betrayal. He feels plagued by the unsavory fact that his hopes of a family have been dashed, as he feels like it is necessary to keep his relationship with Hester a secret. He is disfigured, which he internalizes as a reason Hester transgressed. He feels powerless as he’s cast into a new world after surviving a shipwreck and being a captive. How will he support himself? While nursing Hester to health in prison, he exclaims: It was my folly! I have said it. But, up to that epoch of my life, I had lived in vain. The world had been so cheerless! My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire. I longed to kindle one! It seemed not so wild a dream,--old as I was, and sombre as I was, and misshapen as I was,--that the simple bliss, which is scattered far and wide, for all mankind to gather up, might yet be mine. And so, Hester, I drew thee into my heart, into its innermost chamber, and sought to warm thee by the warmth which thy presence made there! (Chapter 4) He desperately desired a family, but now that has been torn from him. Whether or not Chillingworth had a hand in his own initial misery is a topic for another day. It cannot be disputed, however, that this character encountered conflict.
In this time of suffering, Chillingworth has an active choice about his approach to the situation. He acts by obsessing over Hester’s co-transgressor, and once he finds him, he seeks revenge and mentally tortures him (Dimmesdale). Instead of being the physician he claims, he is a parasite. Feeding off the misery, he eggs on in Dimmsdale in an attempt to feel fulfilled. The book compares Chillingworth to a leech, a blood-sucking parasite, used in medicinal purposes during the 1700’s. Chapter 10 is titled “The Leech and His Patient” in allusion to Chillingworth. However, in the metaphor of the field or weeds from the opening of the novel, one can compare him to a burr or sticker. He attaches to some poor victim in an attempt to spread seeds, digging into his flesh. Yet he is only as good as the subject carrying him. Soon enough, he will be cast off, to be trampled or blown asunder by the wind, fulfilling nothing. At the end of the book, he is trampled by the wind after Dimmesdale’s death. He loses his distraction, and not long after succumbs to death himself. In some self-realization, he leaves his money to Hester and Pearl. This may have offered some comfort to him: despite his wife and her child being distanced from him, he could play one part of a father and husband and provide for them.
Chillingworth’s story is one of substitution. He substitutes love with studies and the acquisition of knowledge in his early days. He substitutes peace with revenge, distracting himself from the greater problems at hand, those within himself, in an almost cowardly fashion. In this way, he could be compared to another literary character, that of Javert in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Javert spent his life chasing Jean Valjean, distracting himself from greater problems. He feels conflicted when he recognizes the humanity in his victim, and his mentality traps him. This trap temporarily provides relief from his conflicting ideas, but it also permanently confines him inside his problems. This thought pattern eventually leads to his suicide. The selfish acquisition of running from one’s problems and seeking revenge ultimately destroyed and condemned both Javert and Chillingworth, banishing them from peace, and distancing them from redemption and reconciliation.
If Dimmsdale found any redemption in his actions of revenge it’s not obvious from the text. In the end, he did some right by leaving Hester and Pearl some money. However was it too little too late? Does timing have any effect of the degree of redemption? This is less of a question to be posed to Chillingworth, and one to be more examined through the character of Arthur Dimmesdale.
Arthur Dimmesdale was Hester’s co-transgressor, and the town’s reverend and respected minister. Obviously, those two identities are very conflicting--this is the plight of the minister. Dimmesdale feels guilt and conflict within himself. Should he make his sins known and lose respect, but gain divine repentance? He knows his choices have led him to where he is, and despite feeling that he has done wrong, he refuses to do right and confess. This internal conflict, and the sharp stabs of guilt egged on by Chillingworth, make him sick. Instead of confessing his sins, Dimmesdale almost tries to flee the situation. He attempts to not make a choice, and ironically, he passively makes the choice not to choose. By choosing not to choose, Dimmesdale allows life to happen to him. He attempts to find other methods of repentance: he mentally abuses himself and participates in self-harm. Oftentimes, this puritan protestant divine had plied it on his own shoulders; laughing bitterly at himself the while, and smiting so much more the pitilessly because of that bitter laugh. (Chapter 11)
Dimmesdale demonstrates a dysfunctional, indulgent thought pattern here. Specifically, a thought pattern that involved internalizing and punishing himself for his mistakes. Although this is not an enjoyable mental path to travel, I use the word "indulge" conscientiously. This thought pattern is indulgent in the way that it allows us to escape responsibility for the consequences of the actions we make by punishing ourselves. In this way we lie to ourselves and try to substitute the consequences of our actions with our self- inflicted punishment, so that when the real consequences of our actions roll around, we are undeserving of them: we claim that we've already suffered enough for our infractions. We never fully acknowledge the connection between our mistakes and the consequences. But that is not how the agency of choice works. We don't control the world, or the consequences, merely our approach to the world, and the choices we make that result in consequences. Self-punishment has an element of vanity in it, believing that we can control the consequence of our actions, and how much they really hurt us. But in the end, we are the only ones who suffer. None of these actions allow him the reconciliation and redemption he longs for, and they lead him to become sicker and sicker.
Eventually, in a moment of desperation and internal agony, Dimmesdale confesses in front of the entire town, attempting to repent. He dies shortly after. This leads us to wonder if he did achieve redemption. Redemption is defined as: the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil. In the very end, it could be argued Dimmesdale repented, and was therefore saved from sin and error. He did achieve a measure of redemption, but arguably not all the redemption for which he was eligible. The same perplexing questions arise as with Roger Chillingworth. Was it too little too late? What is the point of a flower if it blooms too late, after the frosts come? Does timing have any effect of the degree of redemption? Does redemption come from God, or from the forgiveness of the people that we have harmed? If it comes from God, it cannot be determined whether Dimmesdale obtained divine redemption. It is possible to know if Dimmesdale thought he achieved divine redemption. And God is merciful! Let me now do the will which he hath made plain before my sight. (Reference) Dimmesdale believed he was a candidate for redemption. And it could be argued that in order for one to achieve redemption, one must simply believe that it has been obtained.
In due course, Dimmesdale found peace, but through much pain and backwardness. His redemption did little more than save him; in fact, it killed him. Whether Dimmesdale encountered redemption is up for debate. However, it can be said with some authority that he did not allow for his challenges to help mold him into the better person he could have been. Who knows? Maybe, in the field of human existence, the little black flowers of guilt and secrets that Dimmesdale was so concerned about populate his grave.
Finally, we come to the main character, Hester. Hester is the bearer of the scarlet letter: beautiful, young, and alone. She struggles to keep and raise Pearl as a single mother. She is an outcast from society, constantly shamed and judged. She battles to repent of her sins, knowing she is imperfect, doing so completely alone and deserted. However, undeterred by these problems, Hester does what neither Dimmesdale nor Chillingworth do she looks beyond her own pain and helps others. She sews garments for the poor, and raises Pearl. Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity, on wretches less miserable than herself, and who not infrequently insulted the hand that fed them(Chapter 5). She looks out for Dimmesdale, even though he did little for her. She attempts to repent, persevering.
Hester achieves her redemption, not through herself, but through her service to others. She allows her trials to make her stronger and wiser. Although the whole book is about her obstacles, she is the most successful at overcoming them. Hester is, by no means, perfect--every rose has its thorns, but, she tries her best to be true to herself and to be kind, achieving it in the end. She continues to have trials throughout the book despite her progress. For example, the government attempts to take away Pearl, and Hester must fight to keep her only companion. Another example of Hester’s trials is Dimmesdale’s death. She, Pearl, and Dimmesdale were going to run away together to England to escape persecution. But Dimmesdale’s death prohibits the last glimpse of hope that Hester had of having a family with him. In defiance of this, Hester perseveres. At the end of the novel, she is someone the society respects because of her advice and service. Although the scarlet letter never leaves her, it becomes almost a token of respect rather than shame, as she has she allowed her challenges to strengthen her.
In the metaphor of the weedy field, Hester is the rosebush. She allows the rough climate to make her stronger, and more beautiful. She comforts the prisoners from the decrepit prison and others suffering from poverty and shame. Hester achieves redemption in many different ways. She obtains it in a spiritual manner by doing God’s work among the poor, attempting to be a good mother, and repenting. She achieves it in her community by being a person that people respect, and by serving. She also obtains redemption from herself by allowing her trials to help her become a better person, with stronger character.
The many characters in The Scarlet Letter take many different approaches toward the goal of redemption. For Chillingworth, it is revenge. For Dimmesdale, it’s escapism and ultimate fatal confession. Nonetheless, the heroine has the most successful contact with redemption. She finds it through helping those in the community, confronting reality, persevering, and allowing the obstacles to mold her for the better, like an early New England frost is to a delicate flower. This is what separates the roses from the weeds--their ability to persevere, and to become stronger in difficult environments. Whether self-inflicted or otherwise, the way one responds to challenge, in an attempt to seek reconciliation and redemption, ultimately shapes the results, most importantly, who one becomes. One can either allow challenge to make one thorny and hard, or allow it to make one blossom, regardless of the stinted plants that surround.