P5+CStrawn

Begin Text:
Through life, there is a certain cycle that seems to occur in instances where people have done wrong or sinned. The cycle consists of transgression, shame, repentance, and acceptance. There are also several subjects that can relate to the cycle. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, four of the subjects, or themes, that related to the cycle are religion, government/politics, science and individualism. The one that seemed to stand out the most was religion, being that the main character, Hester Prynne, lives in a Puritan community. This cycle that she goes through is one that some religions follow closely as a way to redeem yourself.

Transgression is the step of the cycle where you wrongfully do an act, or sin, as it I in Hester’s case. Hester commits adultery and is punished for it. In her community religion and government go hand in hand. Because she sins she must do time in the town prison. This was such a big deal to Hester’s community. The whole town congregated upon her leaving the prison. They were all so ashamed o the fact that she has sinned. As the story progresses, though, she needed to become stronger to move on.

The next step in the cycle is shame. As further punishment Hester must always wear a scarlet letter ‘A’ upon her chest. Also, after being released form prison she must stand on a scaffold in front of the town. It is here that we start seeing that government and religion go hand in hand. Above her on the platform are several towns’ people, including Governor Bellingham and the towns reverend. “Here, to witness the scene which we are describing, sat Governor Bellingham himself, with four segants about his chair, bearing halberds, as a guard of honor.”(59)

The third step in the cycle is the one in which we see Hester grow as a person. It is repentance and it is when she accepts he sin. “Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at the length purge her soul, and work at another purity than that which she had lost; more saint like, because the result of martyrdom.”(73) Hester has the chance to leave her community. Nothing is physically holding her back. However, Hester realizes that she has sinned and she accepts her punishment and decided that it’s best for her to stay and just go through with it. As time progresses in the novel, Hester is able to completely accept her sin and live a ‘normal’ life. This is, however, when we begin to see a start of separation of power between religion and government.

Due to the fact that Hester is able to accept her sin and move on, her town is able to. Eventually, over a period of time, they come to accept her back into the community. This is the last part of the cycle: acceptance. Also, after she is fully accepted back into the community the Reverend Dimmesdale finally sees it fit to reveal that he has also sinned, along with Hester. As he stands on the scaffold, where Hester had, he confesses to the community his identity. One of the people that are not there is Governor Bellingham. After Dimmesdale confesses his identity he able to ‘move on’. This is how Hawthorne shows that it is best to have a separation of powers.

Although his book is about a Puritan community, Hawthorne himself did not live in a puritan community. This novel was written in 1850 and took place about 100 years before that. It may appear that he is solely writing about a puritan community, he is in fact writing about the period of time in which he is living. He tells about his beliefs and how he believes the government and religion must be separate in order for this country to work as a religiously free country. This story very much shows how the nation is, not in Hester’s time, bust also in Hawthorns time.