The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter
Death, deceit, beauty, and love: These are some of the many themes of Hawthorns
The Scarlet Letter. The most visible theme in this novel of the four is love. They say that
love can last forever, and this book is written proof.
The protagonist, Hester Prynne, is a lovely lady who has committed one of the
worst crimes a woman can, adultery. Her husband had sent her over to the new world
from Europe. He had asked her to wait for him there until he finished some business. She
had waited for two years. When it seemed that he would never come, she gave into
temptation. After resurfacing incognito, her husband discovers the identity of the unnamed
man that she had relations with. After all of her husband’s attempts to destroy their love,
they decided on leaving the country. That way they would not have to bear the shame that
the town had grown to pay unto them. Even after her newly found love, Arthur
Dimmesdale, had passed away her love for him still thrived.
The punishment for her crime was she must wear a scarlet A on her bosom for
the remainder of her life. Her daughter, Pearl, had stared at it, wondering what it was
many times. She had grown accustomed to seeing her mother wearing it. The townspeople
had all ridiculed her for her crime, but still commended her on her sewing skills. These
skills displayed every day in plain site on Her chest.
One event that truly explains the theme of this book is the part in the forest when
Pearl sees her mother for the first time as her true self. She saw her as she used to be
without the scarlet letter on her chest. Pearl’s reaction was that of non-recognition. She
would not even approach her mother because she did not recognize her. It was not until
her mother put her hair up and the letter back on that she would come back. Though she
loved her mother she had grown accustomed to seeing the letter everyday. If you grow up
seeing something everyday and then all of a sudden it is gone it can be very traumatizing.
Though at first Pearl was afraid of Arthur, she grew to love him in the end.
The best part of this book is the theme of everlasting love. The rest of it is actually
quite boring. If you like love stories this is a good one to read. There love and hardships
end in tragedy just like real life.
