The Deeper Value of The Scarlet Letter

In The Scarlet Letter, the character of Hester Prynne is used as a precise tool to carve into the reader's minds a representation of the internal human struggles of nature versus law, public versus private self and individual versus society. The struggles Hester goes through during the novel, her overbearing husband, an authoritarian society and a burning passion that must be concealed all set up one of the most captivating albeit symbolic and image ridden novels unveiling the burning struggles of the human spirit.

Nature vs. Law Theme

Hawthorne first uses Hester in a struggle to win her freedom from her husband. When the two converse in the novel, Chillingworth (her husband) tells Hester that he knew that she did not truly love him while they were married. Hester, in a manner of speaking, finds her freedom from the demonically portrayed Chillingworth by sailing the ocean and indulging in adultery in the New World. With her lover (Dimmesdale) Hester is able to lucidly explore what true love is. She says in the novel that her most affectionate memory was her undying love for Dimmesdale.

This struggle is used by Hawthorne to reveal to his readers the theme of nature versus law. In this case the “old world” marriage to Chillingworth represents the abuses incurred by human law on individuality. Hester most likely had no say in her marriage and thus was being abused because she had no way out due to the frail laws of humanity. By escaping to the “new world” and being able to indulge in an act of true love, Hester represents the true nature of humanity, the fact that natural desires will always clash with man-made law.

Public vs. Private Self Theme

The next struggle Hester undergoes is with the sin that she has committed, adultery. Hester is forced to wear a scarlet “A” that stands for adulterer as a punishment. Her daughter Pearl, the scarlet letter incarnate, enhances the struggle. While undergoing this struggle to be redeemed, Hester is actually given a new view on life and begins pondering the institutions on which her colony has been founded on. Hester remains very isolated and is allowed to flower these thoughts within her mind. With this inner struggle with sin, Hawthorne is able to present to the reader two new themes: individual versus society and public versus private self.

While wearing the letter, Hester remains permanently ostracized from the community. This seclusion represents Hester’s inner desires going against the strict law of Puritan society. Her struggle represents the theme that private desires will almost always at some point clash with the ideals of society. Additionally, Hester’s struggle to free herself from sin allows her to contemplate things that she would never dare contemplate in public. Thus, Hawthorne uses Hester once again to articulate the theme of private thoughts often times being much different than actions done in public.

Individual vs. Society Theme

The third and final struggle Hester has is her struggle to conceal her feelings and love that are rekindled when she reunites with Dimmesdale in the forest. Up until this point Hester has conformed to the wants of the community. But once her passions for her love are rekindled she is so energized that she even removes the scarlet “A” that she had not since been without for seven years. By being able to drop her conformity with society and allow her passion to overtake her, Hester once again reveals the theme of both law versus nature and individual versus society. Hester now struggles with the question of how she will be able to keep this glorious feeling.

In this struggle, Puritan law has forced Hester to become a dull conformist, but her natural passion inevitably overtakes her and allows her to drop what she had thought to be repentance of sin. This shows that true passion can very easily overtake conformist habits instilled by human laws. Additionally, Hester is once again rekindled with the individuality that the Puritan society had taken from her. She in fact becomes physically more beautiful in the book, which effectively illustrates the theme of society hampering the individuality of its people.

From cover to cover, The Scarlet Letter is completely bloated with figurative language and symbols. A good author can incorporate these items into his or her work, but it takes a great author like Hawthorne to focus his use of figurative language and symbols via the struggles of Hester Prynne to beautifully support his central ideas about the nature of the human spirit. A spirit in which natural desires are hampered by law, public and private self are vastly different and individuality is hampered by society.

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