The Scarlet Letter: Only God Should Judge

By moahmed nadi, Student

Only God Should Judge in the scarlet letter

An essay hosted at LiteratureClassics.com

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel The Scarlet Letter many moral issues come to mind. For one, the book is about an adulteress trying to live her life in an old Puritan town. This is especially hard since the man who has committed this sin with her, known as Arthur Dimmesdale, refuses to confess his part in her crime. The town has many convictions of whom or what Hester is which makes it impossible for Hester to live a happy normal life.

The thoughts on adultery were not very good at the time of the puritans. Many people were banished from society or even killed as a result of it. Hester’s punishment is relatively light because of her age and beauty. She is forced to wear a scarlet “A” on her breast for the rest of her life so that all can see her shame. But for Hester, Death would have been a much more welcomed punishment. As a result of her action and punishment she ends up a sad and shameful old woman that is never released from her shame. Seeing her bravery, Dimmesdale confesses to having committed adultery also and then dies of faintness of heart. Hester dies years later and not even in death is she released for on her grave only a dark gloom surrounds, never any light.

The Scarlet Letter is a book that involves the perception of adultery, thoughts about it, and the result from it. To begin, the perceptions on Hester as shown throughout the novel are not at all good ones. Some people think she is a witch, this is shown when a true witch asked her if she will be joining them later that night in the forest for a witches gathering: “Hist, Hist Wilt thou go with us to-night?...”(pg.80). Other people think that Hester is somehow involved with Satan by directly relating the scarlet letter with evil or supernatural: “ the scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the passageway of the interior.”(pg.48) The women of the town also highly frown upon her action and when she is standing atop the scaffold they mock her by saying such things as “…before this brazen hussy…”(pg.26) The town believes what she did is wrong and immoral, which it is, but what they don’t realize is that it isn’t because she is a witch or a demon of Satan and certainly not shameless. In fact Hester is very ashamed of what she did and actually very far from evil. The truth is that Hester chose to have relations with Dimmesdale and because of the immoral nature of her choice she is persecuted and sent to live in shame for the rest of her life. This is an unfair punishment because it is known that the true nature of Hester is not for evil or immorality but to do good. This is what the town should have considered when she was punished.

Secondly, At the time that Hester was persecuted the sin of adultery was considered to be a great one. The shame and evil tied into this sin is unimaginable. And because of this she is unable to attend special town functions. She is an excellent seamstress and is greatly involved in providing special items for the town’s people but never was she asked to make the veil for a bride; “But it is not recorded that, in a single instance, her skill was called in aid to embroider the white veil which was to cover the pure blushes of a bride. The exception indicated the ever relentless vigor with which society frowns upon her sin.”(pg.57) Even the neighborhood children have had their chance in tormenting Hester. Even thought they knew not of what was occurring they slung mud at her. As a result of a sin that she mortally regrets, Hester is tormented day by day with an unrelenting town. This is not right since all her good deeds far outweigh the bad mistake but according to the town this should be the other way around.

Lastly, the result of Hester’s sin and torment end in both happiness and tragedy, with her live being in ruins, Hester decides to start over with her life by tearing the scarlet “A” from off her chest. When she accomplishes this she feels a great moment of relief and for the first time in several years the sun shone in her presence: “All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine…”(pg.189) But because of Hester’s shame she chooses to continue to wear the scarlet letter. Seeing her torment, Arthur decides to confess his sin and then dies of a heart attack because of the fear that he had of what the town might do to him. Hester dies some years later and is never actually redeemed by her peers for what she had done.

In conclusion, the book The Scarlet Letter shows how inconsiderate and unforgiving humans can be. This book shows the perception, the thoughts, and result of adultery, a largely immoral sin. This book also shows the inability for humans to see past that and understand who someone is and not just what they had done. If humans think that adultery is immoral how moral is it to think that these people should never be forgiven. Humans do not have the right to judge only the judgement of God really counts in the end.