Hypocrisy In Scarlet Letter

In the 17th century, women found of committing adultery were punished by being flogged, and sometimes even death. They even punished gossips and slanderers who were basically rendered mute if gagging wasn’t an effective punishment. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s representation of the Puritan’s strict religious ways in the novel, are not just an observation but rather a criticism of their extreme practices. Hawthorne critiques the Puritan’s indirectly through the scarlet letter. The scarlet letter is an interesting symbol because throughout the entire story it changes according to the characters who bear it. Its meaning changes from sin and adultery, to grace and righteousness.
“She repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of …show more content…
The townspeople thought of Dimmesdale as, “a true priest, a true religionist, with the reverential sentiment largely developed, and an order of mind that impelled itself powerfully along the track of creed” (120). To them Dimmesdale can do no wrong and is an inspiration to them all. The sin of hypocrisy that he faces is so embedded within him that it creates a physical mark on his chest, like Hester's. He lives a double life, like a superhero, except that his life is not rewarding or plentiful in any way shape or form, in fact the opposite. He knows what he has done is sinful according to their laws, but he has not the courage nor the strength to come clean with his wrongdoing. “...believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there …show more content…
This is further evidently shown by the way Hester dresses Pearl, “... with fantasies and flourishes of gold thread” (110). Hester outfits pearl the same way she embroiders the scarlet letter on her chest, with gold thread and crimson robes. The first object that Pearl becomes aware of in her mother is the scarlet letter. She sees it in the breastplate at Governor Bellingham’s mansion and she points at it when Hester, Dimmesdale, and herself are in the forest as well. For Pearl, the scarlet letter symbolizes freedom and. “Certainly, there was no physical defect. By its perfect shape, its vigor, and its natural dexterity in the use of all its untried limbs, the infant was worthy to have been brought forth in Eden” (92). Pearl is a very complex character because she is described as the perfect child with no physical defects, but the community sees her as the devil's offspring, even Hester begins to question her daughter's own morality. Hawthorne criticizes the Puritan way of life through Pearl by mocking their strict lifestyle. She is the physical connection between Hester and Dimmesdale, and Pearl is the reason why they both acknowledged their “sin” and made it public to their Puritan