Ambiguity and Romanticism: The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Recommended: Critical appresiation of the novel the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne

The main objective in a nonfiction piece of writing is to deliver information. To do this, the writer must choose the diction and syntax most representative of what he is trying to convey. But, in a novel this is not the case. The Scarlet Letter, a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells a story of an adulteress living in Puritan society with an “A” embroidered upon her chest as punishment. Part of the difficulty of this novel can be attributed to the narrator; he is never perfectly clear about what is happening. The narrator deliberately includes ambiguities in his prose when commenting on the town of Boston, the scarlet letter, and Hester to display Hawthorne’s romanticized beliefs.
Ambiguities in the actions of the town of Boston exhibit the Romantic belief that the individual should avoid the corrupting influence of society. The novel begins with a description of the town of Boston and the air of gloom that permeates the community. The prison of Boston, a voice of law, was also one of the first structures built when the town was established; this suggests that one of the founding principles of Boston is its strict order. This legacy of uniformity is carried on by the inhabitants of Boston, which causes them to dress in “sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats” (Hawthorne 33) because there is no place for individualism in the rigid structure of puritanical Boston. Additionally, it is this strict order that gives Hester her punishment, and with it, presents the ambiguity. The scarlet letter is meant to bring shame to and ostracize Hester, but she expresses the exact opposite: she gives “a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed,” and is conscious of “a shelter in the presence of these thousand witnesses” (...

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...lifted the scarlet letter’s burden. Hester’s commitment to remaining near the town on her own free will despite both Boston society and the supernatural giving her freedom shows Hawthorne’s extremely Romantic and remarkably progressive ideal that the individual’s own thoughts are the most powerful.
The ambiguities surrounding the town of Boston, the scarlet letter, and Hester all represent Romantic ideologies that Hawthorne believed in. Romantics stressed the importance of the individual and the negative influence of society, and employed vivid imagery to get their message across. They believed that progress could only be achieved by breaking the chains of Classic thought and granting everyone freedom; precursors to the champions of liberty that shape our world today.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Dover Publications, 1994. Print.

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