The Scarlet Letter is probably my favorite summer reading book I've read, because I think it had a really interesting plot, and it used a lot of symbolism that could be interpreted in many different ways. Because there was so much symbolism and so many ways to interpret the symbolism, I did have trouble figuring out the theme or message the novel was trying to portray, but when thinking about what the theme may be, I found that two words always popped into my head. "Society" and "morals".
It is clearly stated in the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, The Custom House, that the narrator chooses to not judge Hester on the information he has received about her, but to instead inform us about Hester's story and let us make our own judgements. By doing this I found that had we read The Custom House as its own book and then compared it to The Scarlet Letter, also as its own book, the two books would have completely opposite themes. The Scarlet Letter's theme surrounds the idea of Puritan societies' morals and their need to judge based on those morals, while The Custom House's theme is based on the idea that the narrator isn't going to judge if he has never really been in the position of Hester, which is what I believe the "moral" of the book is: don't judge a person until you've been in their shoes.
Nathaniel Hawthorne does a great job of portraying this theme by showing us different perspectives so it feels like we have been in each character's shoes. We are also able to see how much pain Hester feels from being judged by people who have no idea what they are talking about. The Scarlet Letter is also a symbol of the judgements made on Hester, and these judgements cause her to look much older than she really is. When Hester takes off the Scarlet Letter, when she is running away with Dimmesdale, she becomes much more lively, because she feels as if she is not being judged any longer.
I feel that the theme I received from The Scarlet Letter is not even close to being the only theme of the book but instead one of many themes that each person can view and learn from in their own way.
wow i thought you were amazing at noticing the symbolism as did i. when Hester runs away with Dimmesdale you cant expect him to judge her i mean everything that happened to her was half his fault.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that the Puritan society tries to impose morals and rules that they themselves have created on the world. Do you think Hawthorne is trying to hint that the best morals are found in our own nature, and that we don't need a sort of "man-made happiness' if we simply look within ourselves?
ReplyDeleteI really do not think that the scarlet letter made Hester look older. I believe it made her look younger and foolish instead. She made a bad decision and she had to live with it. Her daughter, Pearl, was a living version of the scarlet letter. I believe when Pearl stayed in Europe and Hester came back to America is when she truly lost the judgement of the A. Pearl was the one thing tying her to that letter, and when she was gone, Hester was no longer tied to that letter. Hester, I believe, was only truly happy when Pearl was no longer with her.
ReplyDeleteThe letter was her shackel to her crime, kind of like an ankle monitor for those on house arrest. While wearing it, the weight of the world and your crime are resting on you; when it comes of, the sweet taste of freedom comes back (not that I have any personal experience with this). I think a sense of being carefree creeps up when the letter is removed, but why then does Hester put it back on? Why torture herself?
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about the theme. Do you think this theme can be seen in the other books we have read? All of the books were written in different time periods but seem to discuss similar social issues. Have you also noticed that all of the books we are reading were written by men? Does that make a difference in what kind of themes appear and what kinds of points of view are offered? Just wondering...
Excellent that you picked up on all of the symbolism, but I would like to hear what you think some of them represented.