It's a time-tested American classic. It has graced the most prized of shelves time and time again. It was even the first novel that made American literature (in the eyes of the Europeans) worth reading. Most people in the recent age who have gone to high school in America have read it (or bullshitted it on Sparknotes and called it "reading"), and many hate it with a fiery passion. And no wonder, having first been published in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne's dense, ornate style of narration has long gone out of fashion, and the miserable work is unfortunately accompanied by multiple essays in high school settings.
I am liable to be shot by high school students (and my friends) for admitting this, but I actually kind of like the book. I was capable of appreciating it the first time I read it, but this time around, after having learned how to work in the literary craft with ideas beyond the characters and the plot, Hawthorne's prose seems much easier, and I can appreciate the work all the more.
The Scarlet Letter is a story about sin, guilt, passion, and suffering. It's a story literally about the scarlet letter "A", the emblem of shame that our protagonist, Hester Prynne, is doomed to wear for the rest of her life by the Puritan society in which she lives. In the book alone, Hester is painted as the sole sufferer of the letter, but in history there have been other letter-bearers, as it was a common punishment employed by the Puritans.
In the case of Hester, the letter "A" stands for "Adulterer", for Adulterer is what she is. As if banging one innocent young blonde minister after two years of not hearing from her missing husband was really such a harmful thing, but to the pious Puritans, it was a horrible sin indeed.
The real sin committed in this work is not that of Hester and her ministerly mister, but of Roger Chillingworth, the creepy physician who used to be her husband. Chillingworth may be considered an early form of the "mad scientist", for he has an unhealthy fascination with the workings of the human mind. The victim of his studies is none other than poor Arthur Dimmesdale, who resides within the very same house as his patient.
Arthur Dimmesdale has turned to fasting and self-torture to deal with his inward suffering. He envies Hester because she can wear her shame for the whole world to see, for being a minister (and kind of a pussy) he cannot. The suffering of his soul manifests itself in the form of a chronic illness (of course, because an illness is hardly just an illness in fiction), giving Chillingworth, being the no doubt best physician in the town, an opening to perform his studies.
It is unclear exactly what Chillingworth does to Dimmesdale, aside from concocting medicines to treat his illness, but appears to be sort of molesting and violating his soul. Whatever it is he's doing, he's obviously aware that Dimmesdale's Hester's alleged mister, and it's not good for Dimmesdale's emotional health.
I can't help but notice a certain similarity between Chillingworth and Pearl, Hester and Arthur's illegitimate child. Pearl is repeatedly described as elfish, a precociously intelligent girl, and ever since her infancy she's had a fascination with the scarlet letter. It's not Hester's voice or face that identifies her as her mother, but the letter. This is clearly evident when Hester at last helps Arthur grow a pair and takes off the scarlet letter, and Pearl gets really upset and refuses to recognise Hester as her mother until she puts it back on. Anyways, the apparent similarity between her and Chillingworth, in her constant investigations of the scarlet letter. Pearl doesn't know what it means because Hester refuses to tell her, but she's quick to notice a relation between Arthur's habit of touching his heart and the scarlet letter. She will not let the matter rest which hurts him (and Hester) emotionally.
It is also interesting to note the change in the public understanding of Hester. Formerly, the letter stood for Adulter. Now, it stands for Able. Hester has put forth a lot of selflessness in clothing and feeding the poor, working for nothing but food to feed herself and Pearl. People regard her no longer as a walking sin, but as their pride and joy. This is only evidence that eternal punishment is unnatural, and human beings are made to love, not hate.
~*~
So, the Scarlet Letter. Great book. I recommend it.
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