A view of how nathaniel hawthorne portrays the

Hypocrisy, The Scarlet Letter

Society Breeds Hypocrisy

The writer of the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is actually a fervent anti-transcendentalist who opposes the naïve ideology of the transcendentalists in which they believe that individuals are always pure and good. Hypocrisy is actually a dominant idea throughout the story, Scarlet Letter, as the majority of the main characters commit actions that go against their morals and benefits. The outcome of those hypocritical actions soon demonstrates to be perilous as many with the characters got negatively influenced. Through the accommodement of Hester’s and Dimmesdale’s hypocritical character with Pearl’s pureness, Hawthorne reveals the real harming effects of the Puritan society on its persons and the benefits associated with unorthodoxy inside the prevailing community.

Hester has caused only further more problem to herself and her friends and neighbors through her hypocritical activities which eventually led to the damnation of Dimmesdale. The purpose of the scarlet letter was going to show the culture that Hester has brought on a great bad thing and should be openly humiliated in front of everybody. Hester, even so undaunted by society’s violence, wore the scarlet page without a a sense of guilt because she assumed that putting it on will ease her of her remorse as she is openly trying all her sins towards the community which is a chance to start anew. Although Hester is definitely proudly wearing the indication of sense of guilt, she tells her other townsmen and even Chillingworth that they can “shalt by no means know” (52) the true personality of her lover and is also unwilling to confess call him by his name. This is an act of hypocrisy as she is omitting in revealing the main component to her desprovisto. Fearing that Chillingworth will seek revenge, Hester refuses to let him know even though this individual has been and so amiable and nice to her. Chillingworth, abruptly enraged coming from Hester’s unwillingness to disclose her suitor’s name, claimed that he’ll “seek this man…see him tremble…feel myself shudder… [and] he or she must needs always be mine! inch (52). The fear of the unidentified and the unpredictability of Chillingworth’s innate savage behavior trigger Hester to use hypocrisy while means to ward off the issue she is facing. Hester’s insistence in certainly not disclosing the name of her lover has brought on Chillingworth to find even more reasons to seek payback on Dimmesdale. This soon resulted in the downfall of Dimmesdale since Chillingworth stalks him and mentally torments him to near death. Hester’s hypocritical actions have only triggered harms to the people around her.

Dimmesdale’s moral turmoil between his role of any minister and a sinner forces him to seek hypocrisy as a way to inform partial truths to his people. Dimmesdale is a god-fearing man who is caught up among an affair with a woman who this individual dearly really loves and his saintly reputation in the society. As Dimmesdale accept start his life freshly after his encounter with Hester and Pearl with the woods, this individual immediately contradicted his ideology after this individual rejects Pearl’s invitation to “stand …with mother and her, to-morrow noontide” (105) on the scaffold. This implies that although this individual really wants to free himself from all the guilty burdens, his care for his reputation helps prevent him coming from doing things like the world regards Dimmesdale as “‘[a] godly children! ‘ [and a] ‘Saint on earth! ‘”(99). Dimmesdale’s hypocritical views are generally not caused by Dimmesdale’s characters, but instead by the Puritan society. The Puritans have a strict spiritual insurance plan in which folks are forced to adhere to oppressive extremist beliefs. Consider that individuals will need to abandon their individual desires and stick to the rules of God. Hawthorne shows that Dimmesdale, who is considered as the most real person in society, can be sinful through his hypocritical views. Dimmesdale suffered from many occasions when he is caught up between moral virtues as well as the responsibility of the minister. Dimmesdale wanted to live a life with Hester but he had a popularity to live up to. Dimmesdale wished to confess his sins, but the strict rules and treatment held pertaining to adultery made Dimmesdale to back down. It is the way the society function, not really cowardness, that made Dimmesdale be a hypocrite.

Pearl’s pureness and holy nature exempts very little from the rest of the society by not being troubled by the spots of the Puritan community. Hawthorne demonstrates the goodness of being oblivious to hypocrisy through Pearl’s character and good mother nature. Her innocence and her ability to stay away from tainted simply by society support relieve her to the publicity of hypocrisy. As seen through her innocence and amateur habit, she “lacked reference and adaptation towards the world…and [is] not responsive to rules” (62). The purity of Pearl’s persona is one which many persons want. The girl lives a carefree globe where flexibility and protections are considerable. In contrast to the oppressive Puritan society, Hawthorne purposely utilizes this antithesis to assess the two planets and their effects. The Puritan society is stuffed with sorrow and hypocrisy although Pearl’s a lot more filled with pleasure and purity and impervious to “the diseases of sadness…inherit from [the society]inch (126). Hawthorne explicitly reveals us that people are not born evil demonstrated through Pearl’s ignorant behavior and activities but rather throughout the influence of the society. Since people grow older, the effects of the Puritan world can be seen in practically everyone’s hypocritical actions just like Hester, Dimmesdale and other associates of the community. The Puritan society inside the story conforms the personas into who they actually are now. Gem, free from vices of the world, lives a total, real life. Hawthorne uses the contrast of Pearl with other characters so as to challenge the audience to choose the lifestyle they want to live.

The juxtaposition of Hester’s and Dimmesdale’s hypocritical actions with Pearl’s saintly character results in the effects of a Puritan society can have upon the individuals because community. Oppressive spiritual vices turn nation into hypocrites as they are required to abide to strong spiritual persuits while living a fraudulous, sinful your life. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses hypocrisy to point out the harms with the prevailing Puritan society can have in each individual plus the effects which can be brought upon to family and friends.