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For as long as America has been around, writers have been trying to state what our national identity as Americans is. Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his novel The Scarlet Letter, studies the question of identity through the story of Hester Prynne’s punishment for adultery. He looks at the national identity with regards to politics, science, secular humanism, and individualism, but perhaps most of all he focuses on religious identity, and questions of how to reconcile governmental law with religion. He explores these questions through a repeating cycle of transgression, shame, repentance, and acceptance.

From a religious standpoint, the transgression of Hester is what causes the plot of the story. Hester’s adultery is a serious breach of religious law, being a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. Her sin is dictated by the Bible. It is here where the government comes in. The Puritan town bases all governmental law off Biblical law. The meeting of these two systems, religion and government, creates friction in any sort of society which intertwines them too much. There is no balance of power left, and individuals that do not follow the religion dictating the law are left out. There is no chance of progress. Governor Bellingham exemplifies the collision of church and state in the society when he tells Hester, "The point hath been weightily discussed, whether we, that are of authority and influence, do well discharge our consciences by trusting an immortal soul, such as there is in yonder child, to the guidance of one who hath stumbled and fallen, amid the pitfalls of this world." (Ch. 8, Pg. 99) This lack of separation causes Hester’s religious transgression to become a governmental transgression as well.

The next step in the cycle is shame. The shame for Hester comes when she is forced to stand on the podium, and display her sin for the crowds gathered around. However, this does not lead to forgiveness. In an ideal system, it would be "forgive and forget." It does not work that way for Hester. The crowd takes Hester’s sin as bringing shame upon the entire society. One woman shouts, "This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book." (Ch. 2, Pg. 46) This statement also again shows how religion and government are mashed together.

Hester’s path of repentance is taken by her act of wearing the scarlet letter and staying in Boston, instead in Boston, instead of running away. She stays in the town and does good works, thereby showing her acceptance of the status of sinner and outcast. Hester realizes that she had broken spiritual and political law. But because she has disrupted the normal flow of the town, she is made an outsider. Her sin is forgotten over time by the townspeople, but the law does not forget or forgive. She still has to wear the scarlet letter, even though it’s meaning changes in the eyes of the public. So, as Hester accepts her fate, she is also repenting of her transgression.

The final step of the cycle is acceptance. The society’s acceptance of Hester comes slowly, and she still keeps somewhat of an outsider status. However, she is accepted, as "people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel, as one who had herself gone a mighty trouble." (Conc., Pg. 240) Her persistence in continuing on throughout tribulation allows her to be accepted, with time. The acceptance does not come from escape. Dimmesdale and Hester try to escape the system of intertwined government and religion, but do not. This shows that there must be some place for religion in secular society; the individuals stuck outside the system can’t escape. Acceptance comes only when they stay inside the society.

For Hawthorne, there must be a separation of church and state for a society to function properly, without losing the individuality of the people.