‘The Romance’ in The Scarlet Letter
Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, explores the romance’s many ideas: chance, fantasy, and elaborate plot. As explained in James Tuttleton’s, The Novel of Manners in America. Hawthorne also uses the more broad indications of the romance: nature, society, and individual self-conflict, all of which are present in The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne, the main character in the novel, is the center of the story, connecting to each part of the romance.
It all started with Hester and her society. Society in the romance plays a huge roll in Hester’s conflict, “‘Come along Madam Hester, and show your scarlet letter in the marketplace!'” (Hawthorne 48). The “red infamy upon her breast” ( Hawthorne 77) is the image of her conflict with the modern society, that is, of the Puritan community. Pearl is also an aspect of Hester’s punishment, “the representation of character often resulted in abstractions or idealizations of social types” (Hawthorne 164). Pearl is the living, breathing scarlet letter, the token of her mother’s adultery. She is the being that made her mother’s sin known. Both Pearl and the scarlet letter ‘A’ Hester has been condemned to wear are never-ending reminders of her sin. Ever since this punishment was put upon her, it has led to “all her intercourse with society; however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it” (Hawthorne 74). In short, Hester was isolated.
Hester’s exclusion-in nature-from her community gives her some relief from “drops of bitterness into her heart” (Hawthorne 75); people in her community would feed into her daily. Her literal and figurative separation from the community allows a change in Hester and little Pearl. This coincides with Tuttleton’s idea of elaborating the plot, “ innovation rather than observation or description was valued.” The years spent apart from her community also reshapes Hawthorne’s elaborate plot by Hester’s revaluation for her morals as well as her own self-worth.
When Hester comes to reality with her everlasting punishment of isolation, her self-confidence becomes more powerful. Her daughter Pearl also brings out her own conflicts within Hester when she questions the meaning of the scarlet letter, as well as the Minister’s hand on his heart, “Hester Prynne had never before been false to the symbol on her bosom” (Hawthorne 163). The reason behind Hester’s false mindset is that she feels responsible for protecting her daughter Pearl from the sinful action Pearl was conceived from. The individual self-conflict ceases to end, but Hester would find her own self-worth in it and eventually pass onto not-so-little Pearl. This is what Tuttleton would describe as “less committed to the realities of ordinary life,” because of Hester’s ability to seek out self-worth from a never-ending punishment.
Throughout the novel, forms of imagery and symbolism are displayed as well. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of words helps the reader create images in their mind and indicate symbols. In this case, nature plays a major role in symbolism and imagery. Certain aspects of a simple object hold lots of meaning. Thomas C. Foster states that geography takes the theme, symbolism, and the plot into account. “Before this ugly edifice, and between it and the wheel-track of the street, was a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pig-weed, apple-Peru, and such unsightly vegetation, which evidently found something congenial in the soil that had so early borne the black flower of civilized society, a prison” (Hawthorne 33). The “black flower of civilized society” symbolizes the prison and black depicts something evil, in this case, all evil goes to prison. In the novel, many symbolic meanings are connected with the forest. Some people portray the forest as a place where evil resides, while others see the forest as a place for freedom and happiness. The evil portrayal of the forest when Hester and Pearl exit the premises of Governor Bellingham’s estate and encounter Mistress Hibbens, who tells that a witch meeting occurs in the forest. She asks, “Wilt thou go with us tonight? There will be a merry company in the forest, and I well-nigh promised the Black Man that comely Hester Prynne should make one” (Hawthorne 80). The forest’s evil portrayal continues there as Hawthorne states, “Would he not suddenly sink into the earth, leaving a barren and blasted spot, where, in due course of time, would be seen deadly nightshade, dogwood, henbane, and whatever else of vegetable wickedness the climate could produce, all flourishing with hideous luxuriance?” (Hawthorne, 120). Hawthorne’s description gives the reader an idea of nature being deadly and dangerous. The forest holds a place for freedom, as natural law only rules the place. To emphasize that the forest holds a place for freedom, Hawthorne says, “That wild, heathen Nature of the forest, never subjugated by human law, nor illumined by higher truth—with the bliss of these two spirits!” (Hawthorne 139). Hawthorne illuminates that the forest places no judgment or punishment for committing sins as well. He continues to illuminate that fact by stating, “She thought of the dim forest, with its little dell of solitude, and love, and anguish, and the mossy tree-trunk, where, […] She hardly knew him now!” (Hawthorne 164). Hawthorne’s quotation justifies his claim that the forest holds a place for freedom as Hester Prynne seeks freedom in the forest. When Hester and Dimmesdale visit the town, the two have different social positions that prevent them from knowing each other due to certain town guidelines, but when they meet up in the forest, it feels as if the two withhold a deep connection. In the novel, Hawthorne exemplifies the fact that the forest represents freedom by stating, “How dreary looked the forest track that led backward to the settlement, where Hester Prynne must take the burden of her ignominy and the minister the hollow mockery of his good name again! So they lingered an instant longer. No golden light had ever been so precious as the gloom of this dark forest” (Hawthorne 134). He shows that the forest holds a confrontation for both Hester and Dimmesdale, but now a place for both Hester and Pearl to meet up.
Conclusion
Hawthorne’s characteristics in his novel, The Scarlet Letter, represent all of Tuttleton’s description of the romance. Filling his writing with society’s idealistic and the conflict that arises in a character that elaborates the plot. As well as including symbolic meanings in characters and objects included. Each chapter of his novel ceases to include some coincidence that progressed to plot into the romance it is.
Works cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter: A Romance. 1898.