“This had been a sin of passion, not of principle, nor even purpose.” But in 17th century Boston, Massachusetts, a sin of any type had no excuse, especially not adultery. In The Scarlet Letter, Each chapter reveals something new about the protagonist. To me, the story almost feels like a puzzle. Whoever he is, he is very good at hiding his identity. After so many years, no one has found out yet. It makes sense in the context of how the story is written because Hawthrone uses A LOT of juxtaposition in this book. Every element, every scene, every character has contrasting traits and descriptions.
When I first started reading this book, the language was very difficult to understand. But as I read further, it became more normal and I was able to understand or at least make out what the meaning of a word was. Now, I memorized most of the archaic terms and many times I find myself translating them into modern English as I read.
I absolutely love Hawtrone’s style of writing. The constant contrast makes the book so interesting. It is unique from all the books I have ever read and it works perfectly in this context. It really highlights the theme of imperfection in every single line of the book. Hawthorne, in my opinion, does a nice job tying together the protagonist’s thoughts and beliefs along with the thoughts and beliefs of the rest of society. It shows how Hester is a contrast to society. Throughout the book, there are lots of scenes in which standards of society and the judgment of society create a barrier between a character and something they have the right to have. For example, because of society, Dimmesdale was never able to spend time with his child that he sacrificed so much for.
After reading this book, I think to myself, to what degree should these standards of society be maintained and to what point does the standard judgment of society become injustice? This is very relevant in our society even today. Society completely agrees and so do many people in our society today that both Hester and Dimmesdale committed a major sin and both deserve to be punished at high levels. If the consequence of the punishment hadn’t occurred, it would be injustice to society as people would think that sins like this are completely okay, leading a society downhill away from the path of harmony and righteousness. However, when the punishment or social standard comes to a point where basic human rights are taken away from them, then that is injustice on the person. In this book, we can see this happening in two cases. One is when the minister and the townspeople attempt to take Pearl away from her mother. Every mother has the right to raise her child until proven that she is doing harm to them. The minister’s order to take away Pearl was complete injustice to both Hester and Pearl. Another time this is seen in the book is through Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale sacrificed everything he has for Pearl, yet, he wasn’t able to spend a single day with Pearl and Hester. That is doing injustice to Dimmesdale. A father has all the rights to be with their child and it is their responsibility to look after the child, not only the mothers. Though Dimmesdale and Hester committed adultery, these actions were inhumane. Afterall, they are still human beings with emotions.
This can be seen still in our society today, especially in less developed countries. Though less prevalent than what it used to be, there are still cases in South Asia where women are treated as property and an object belonging to their father or husband. Women are thought to have no rights and their only job is to please the male of the family. This standard in society is completely injustice and is inhumane for the women. She was born with a life, a soul, and feelings like every other man in the world. However, she is treated like she is an inanimate object and a piece of property thrown around. She is deprived from all natural rights of a human being. Though this is a standard in society that is practice, it is one that should not be there. There is no justification for such actions and these actions do no good in any shape or form