Sins, simplicity, and Labels: A Reader Reaction to chapters 5-8.

Throughout chapters 5-8 of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne describes the struggles that Hester Prynne must battle in her daily life after she is released from her sentence in prison.   The eloquent descriptions used by the author in the first four chapters do not go away, and, if anything, the imagery and lengthy passages only expand.

The first chapters consists of a description of Hester's primary battles after she is released from prison.  She takes up a cottage on the outskirts of the Puritan settlement and spends her time taking care of her daughter and embroidering garments for wealthy officials who paid her to do so.  This chapter contains many long descriptions of Hester's cottage, embroidery, and her thoughts.  As dull as some of these passages were to read, it think that they clearly depicted what life was like for Hester at this time.  With hardly anyone to talk to without being ridiculed or looked down upon, Hester had very few ways to entertain herself.  I think that the reader can better understand what life is like for her after reading through this chapter.

Something that I want to make note of in this chapter is the embellishment (or lack thereof) that Hester uses on her clothing.  On page 77, Hawthorne writes,

“Hester sought not to acquire any thing beyond a subsistence, of the plainest and most ascetic description, for herself, and a simple abundance for her child. Her own dress was of the coarsest materials and the most sombre hue; with only that one ornament,—the scarlet letter,—which it was her doom to wear.” (Hawthorne 77)

Hester believes in leading a plain and simple life for herself.  She does not embellish her clothing except for the scarlet letter, which she has no choice but to wear.  The passage later describes how she spends time making garments and giving money to the poor.  This makes it clear that Hester has no intention of putting herself before other people, and she certainly know that she is not worthy of an indulgent lifestyle because of the sin that she has committed.  This shows how society's condemnation of her has affected the way in which she views herself everyday.  She does not believe that she is any better than what society thinks of her, and she does not think that her sin can be pardoned.  Her daughter, on the other hand, is dressed elaborately.  As much as Hester does not think that she deserves a very good life, she wants her daughter to have an imagination, and goals for the future.  She wanted her daughter to be a good, and she wants to raise her correctly.  This can be seen in the later chapters in which Pearl is described as she becomes older.

Pearl becomes the only light in Hester's life, the only thing worth living for.  At only three years old, she can be described as witty, feisty and intelligent.  She rejects having a Heavenly Father, and she is very close to Hester, since she feels rejected from society as well.  Pearl was not conditioned by the Puritan Settlement's standards to behave properly and act in ways that are not sinful, so she develops her own somewhat aggressive and independent-thinking behavior that is appalling to the Governor.

When Hester visits the Governor's mansion, she is amazed by the luxuries and intricate design of the interior.  This serves in contrast to her own way of life which is simple and unornamented.  It is strange that in this Puritan settlement, the governor is living this kind of lifestyle.  This is because Puritans believe in living a simple and not sinful life.  For this reason, A sin that is exhibited by the governor (but not by Hester) is gluttony.  He lives in an elaborate mansion and has more than he needs.

In the governor's mansion, they speak about the rumor that Hester's child may be taken away from her.  The governor believes that either Pearl is a “demon child” and needs to be taken away from Hester, or she is a good child, and should be taken away so she is not corrupted by Hester.  As expected, Hester is upset by this, and she will do everything that she can to allow Pearl to remain with her.  It is Dimmesdale who comes to the rescue for Hester's plea.  On pages 104 and 105, Dimmesdale says,

“She recognizes, believe me, the solemn miracle which God hath wrought, in the existence of that child. And may she feel, too,—what, methinks, is the very truth,—that this boon was meant, above all things else, to keep the mother’s soul alive, and to preserve her from blacker depths of sin into which Satan might else have sought to plunge her! Therefore it is good for this poor, sinful woman that she hath an infant immortality, a being capable of eternal joy or sorrow, confided to her care,—to be trained up by her to righteousness,—to remind her, at every moment, of her fall,—but yet to teach her, as it were by the Creator’s sacred pledge, that, if she bring the child to Heaven, the child also will bring its parent thither!” (Hawthorne 104-105)

Dimmesdale is describing Hester's child as both a blessing and a curse.  Hester recognizes that Pearl is a miracle, and she is the only thing that keeps Hester from sinning further.  Pearl serves as a constant reminder of her sin, haunting her every day, but she can also bring her great joy.  She has the opportunity to raise the child correctly and righteously.  Dimmesdale makes a great case for Hester to keep the child, and allows Hester to experience her joy.  He also probably does not want to see his child go into the hands of someone else.  He is keeping a secret with Hester that he is Pearl's father.  He knows that if Pearl leaves Hester's control, he may not be able to see her again and watch her grow up, which, as her father, he desires to be able to do.

The gossamer thread that I tied to these chapters is the used of labels in our society.  Everywhere Hester goes, people know her sin because of the scarlet letter that she wears.  People judge her by her sin without knowing anything about her.  It is very similar in our society when someone is given a label.  Although they do not wear this label, people still know them by it, and they are often judged for something other than themselves.  These labels might be negative, such as something a person did that was wrong, or a negative attribute, or it might seem positive, such as labeling someone as smart, or talented.  Either way it can still have negative effects on people.  When people are labeled, they become one dimensional.  We cannot see past that label, unless we consciously try to do so.  People who are labeled also begin to identify themselves with that attribute.  It can be seen in Hester that when she thinks about herself, she pays a lot of attention to her sin.  She believes that she is a sinful person, and therefore a bad person, because this is what society is telling her.

Everyone has a sin, everyone has things that they are good at and bad at, everyone has a label.  Some wear them more outwardly than others, but whether or not they are visible, they should not define people.  This is one of the messages that Hawthorne is portraying in his novel, and it is very relevant to today.

The following link is a commercial (I believe it was on during the Super Bowl) that expresses the labels that people are given due to mental illnesses.  The thing that stuck out to me about this commercial was when the white t-shirts that symbolized labels faded into a colored shirt at the end. The message is that people should not be defined by their mental illnesses.  In the same way, Hester Prynne outwardly must wear her label, but it should not define who she is and what she thinks of herself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUaXFlANojQ