Bird 1

Brooke Bird

Ms. Jorgensen

English 10 Honors P4

12 March 2019

Biological analysis of the Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, ​The Scarlet Letter​, portrays characters that show biographical

and sociological issues. Hawthorne’s personal life hardships and his plunge in society relates to

Hester in a way that they went through similar things. Dimmsdale’s issues with himself also

relate to Hester.

Before the first chapter of ​The Scarlet Letter​, Hawthorne gives some background to his

life. He talks about his job at the Custom House and describes all of the different employees and

their personalities. Unfortunately, later throughout the introduction, Hawthorne loses his job at

the Custom House. When this happened, it seemed like his career was plunging. His income

dropped and he lost a sense of himself. But then, losing his job gave him the opportunity to

thrive in the literary world. Hawthorne’s creativity for writing was finally released from the jail

that was his job. In a way, Hawthorne’s plunge in society corresponds to Hester Prynne’s

isolation from society. Hester was judged and blamed for what she did. She was forced to wear

an ‘A’ for adultery to represent her shame. But Hester did not give into the restrictions that the

Puritans gave her. So, Hawthorne and Hester relate to which they both rose up from their falls.

Arthur Dimmesdale was a Puritan minister who seemed to be well known and liked in the

community. Dimmesdale had a high standing in the Puritan world. He was never seen as

someone who would sin or go against the strict Puritan ways. So Dimmesdale seemed like he
 Bird 2

was doing alright on the outside, but in reality his conscience was eating him up on the inside.

Dimmesdale knew he was the father of Pearl, Hester’s daughter, and he knew that Hester Prynne

was taking all of the blame and judgment for something they both did. So, this effected

Dimmesdale in a way that he couldn’t imagine . He was feeling so much guilt and “agony with

which this public veneration tortured him” to the extent where he started torturing himself

(Hawthorne 80). Hawthorne explains how the Puritan society is so misguided. Where Hester is

the only one blamed and Dimmesdale has to live with his guilt because of what the other people

would think.

Hester Prynne was married to an older man named Roger Chillingworth. She was doing

fine until she and Arthur Dimmesdale committed adultery. This caused her a massive amount of

public shame. She was forced to live in isolation from society because her and Pearl were judged

everywhere they went. Hester was also forced to wear the letter ‘A’ on her dress which

represented that “one token of her shame” (Hawthorne 31). But despite all of that, Hester became

and independent woman and mother for Pearl. Like Hawthorne, Hester went through some tough

times, but overcame the social standards.

The characters in ​The Scarlet Letter ​can relate to Nathaniel Hawthorne because they all

went through something in order to get to their success. Like Hawthorne, Hester and

Dimmesdale were both trying to live up to the social standards of Puritan society and eventually

learned to be independent.
 Bird 3

Work Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. ​The Scarlet Letter. Ticknor & Fields; Millennium​, 1850.