Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, since the 1960s, there has been a significant change in the way men understand right and wrong; and, with this new understanding, readers lost the ability to understand some of the deeper ethical themes in Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter". The author points out that modern criticism of this novel revolves around its depiction of the harshness of Puritan ethics and its hypocrisy. The paper contends that, in the Puritan world, the nature of man is one who struggles with right and wrong, prospers when he does what is right, and suffers when he does what is wrong; but, when the "wrong" man confesses his deeds to himself, his community, and his God, then he is freed.

From the Paper:

"The plight of the hypocritical minister " does Hawthorne painfully create this man in order to encourage castigation of the religious ideals for which he stood" No, Hawthorne's feeble protagonist was not meant to be the downfall of religion, but as an example of how every man suffers with the inability to live up to noble desires. We share a common, incurable pestilence with the reluctant hero. We fail at our desires for good, and while we do, we suffer and sink away from what we could be into a silent and ineffective oblivion. The Puritan ethic of Hawthorn's novel was part of the social order at the time of his writing. If Hawthorne has struck a rebellious attack against the church, and all its members by his tale, he would never have been accepted as the great literalist."

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