P5+RMaxwell

Essay #1:

Title: Scarlet Letter - Topic Religion

Begin Text:

Up until approximately five hundred years ago, America was inhabited by Indians, absent of all signs of European life. After its colonization and settlement, people started to view the young budding nation as unique. The colonists themselves were struggling for national identity, most fiercely in the religious aspect. This search is explored in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter. He delves into this using a cycle of thought. Nathaniel Hawthorne discusses America's religious national identity using a cycle of transgression, shame, repentence, and acceptence.

The first section of the cycle Hawthorne explores is transgression. The transgression was the adulterous act commited by Hester and Dimmsdale. This is considered a sin by the Puritanical society in which they live. They are asserting their beliefs in a way which would be unacceptable elsewhere in the world. This is an attempt to create a national identity. They did this by ccreating and enforcing many new religious laws. The strict creation and enforcement is also considered a transgression by Hawthorne. This is shown by how he portrays the punishment too harsh and the sin not that bad.

The second section the author discusses is the area of shame. He discusses two aspects of this. The first is shown by Hester. Her shame is given by her realization of the wrong nature of the sin. She also publicly confesses in front of the town. She is put on a scaffold and admits her wrongdoing. She is given a Scarlet Letter to further mark her as a sinner and prolong her shame. By carrying her shame in this way she is able to move on. The second nature of the shame is represented by Dimmsdale. He keeps it bottled inside and suffers immensely because of it.

The third part of the circle explored by the author is reprentence. Hester repents by bearing the scarlet letter. It marks her as as sinner. This is coupled by the publics attitudes to her. They look down at her and disgrace her because of the letter. Dimmsdale on the other hand, repents a different way. He repents with pain, both mental and physical. He repents when he is tortured while in the care of Chilling worth. You can apply this repentence to America when they resume trade relations with Breitain. This repentence leads to acceptence.

The fourth area of exploration is acceptence. Hester is finally accepted as she grows older. Most people who remember the sin and were responsible for handing down the punishment are aging. There is less animosity toward her as her sin is considered a thing of the past. Society begins to ccept her as a full member. She also speeds up this process by helping people and through charity. Dimmsdale comes to acceptence in a different way. He begings to accept himself. He accepts himself to a level where he is ready to confess on his own. "The law we have broke, " (Ch. 23) he admits to everyone near the boat. After he comes to this peace he is allowed to die. This acceptence is hown when America once again gets involved in foreign affairs after years of Federalist isolationalism.

The author, Hawthorne, uses the cycle of transgression, shame, repentence, and acceptence to show the religious national identity of America. These four areas of the cycle reflect the extent of his ideas on the subject using figurative representation. It takes complex analysis to uncover the mysteries and labyrinthine ideas he included in his work. This is why the novel has been republished throughout the ages and is regarded as a significant literary work.