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As we come to a close in our class’s unit on The Scarlet Letter, I must address my last thoughts on the novel. Overall, I thought that it was a complex piece to analyze, however it had an easy plot to follow. To add on, the book’s language gave me time constraints since I had to search them up and it gave me a feel for what it was like back then compared to now. Moving on I want to discuss what stood out to me the most.
The theme of the novel, I believe, is morality. It’s a strikingly, recurring matter that is contained in the novel. For example, the protagonist, Hester Prynne, was punished for her wrongdoing by being branded with a mark of an “A” representing the adultery she committed which she must wear for the rest of her life. Did she know that this one bad moral act with Dimmesdale was going to cost her seclusion throughout her life? Well, that leads on to the society and how they view morals. The Puritans in this town has strict rules that govern their people. It seems as if they feel extremely stern about people doing good and bad. We can see this with Hester and Pearl. The town felt like Hester was doing bad by not confessing who she did wrong with, so they shunned her upon the scaffold with Pearl. This shows how the Puritans wanted to condemn all bad acts that was present in their town. However, if Hester and Pearl are the only ones viewed as immoral people, are all the Puritans in the town good?
It is more likely than not that this is true. As we progressed in the novel, we found out that Dimmesdale was suppressing his sin from the public. That he was the co-conspirator of the adultery Hester committed. Despite his deterioration from self punishments, his church never suspected that he had done something that’s truly wrong. We can also look at Chillingworth who kept his bad intentions away from the public about getting revenge on Dimmesdale. Even though these two characters only attributed to the conflict Hester and Pearl are in, they demonstrate that it is possible that other Puritans also hide their immoralities from the governing society.
Now let’s look at the light in this novel that truly dimmers in this society of strict control. Hester’s acts after being punished can be viewed as from someone with good morals ,contrary to her husband and ex lover. She helps make clothes for the people of Boston and even when she is treated badly by them, she responds to them with kindness. In addition, she puts her daughter before herself. Hester decides that she has to raise her daughter first before concentrating on fixing her life. Thus, we can see how phenomenal of a change Hester went through by doing the right thing instead of doing the wrong actions like Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, who ultimately declined.
- Rain Taganas