Puritan Hypocrisy In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Puritan Hypocrisy in The Scarlet Letter

As the 18th century philosopher William Hazlitt once said, “the only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy”. Perhaps Nathaniel Hawthorne shared this same principle when he wrote his classic novel The Scarlet Letter, as it contains many acts of dishonesty, hypocrisy, and deceit. His book tells the tale of Hester Prynne, a young woman charged with adultery, and her struggle in dealing with the judgment of the Puritan society she lives in. The Puritans take their religion very seriously, and condemn anyone for even the slightest sin. This leads to a culture of intolerance and judgment, which contrasts with Hawthorne’s strongly Transcendental views. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses irony

to reveal the hypocrisy of the Puritan society.
Even in just the first few chapters, Hawthorne’s inclusion of irony helps convey that the Puritans neglect their most sacred object: the Bible. The Bible preaches the acceptance of all people, and that those who confess their wrongdoings should be absolved of their sins. Though the teachings of the Bible encourage tolerance and acceptance, upon founding their colony the Puritans “invariably recognised it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil… as the site of a prison” (41). Hawthorne emphasizes this point to show just how twisted the Puritans’ interpretation of the Bible was. They punish and abuse sinners instead of helping them come to terms with their sins and redeem themselves, ironically pushing the persecuted sinners further into the darkness of sin. If the Puritans truly wanted to bring people closer to God, their first priority would have been a church, not a prison. The Puritans’ obsession with punishment further reveals itself through the way they discipline Hester. Even though Hester was forced to wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life, the gossips of the town thought the magistrates were “merciful overmuch” when deciding Hester’s sentence, and they wanted “the pang of [her sin] [to] be always in her heart” (44-45). The Puritans’ religion, which they value above all else, was founded on the principles of redemption and tolerance, yet the Puritans ironically neglect these principles completely, further proving the Puritans’ hypocrisy .
Through the ironic results of Dimmesdale’s attempted confession, Hawthorne shows readers that the Puritans fail to treat everyone equally, even though their religion affirms the spiritual equality of everyone.

Because of Dimmesdale’s burden of guilt, he had “sympathies so intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind”, and “they deemed the young clergyman a miracle of holiness” even though he was hiding a dark secret (113). Many times, the reverend told his people that he was “utterly a pollution and a lie”, yet they remain too enamored by his facade of holiness to realize what he was truly saying (114). This irony shows that the Puritans couldn’t even fathom the idea that perhaps Dimmesdale was not holy because he was a revered member of the community in high social standing. However, when they discover Hester’s sin, they immediately sentence her to the “torture of ...daily shame” and make sure she was “shut out from the sphere of human charities” because of her poor social status (67). Even after Dimmesdale’s explicit confession of his sin the Puritans claim that he simply meant to teach the congregation that “in the view of Infinite Purity, we are sinners all alike” (202). Ironically, Dimmesdale’s confession helps the Puritans realize that all sinners should be treated equally, but then they continue to punish lower class citizens more harshly, confirming their

hypocrisy.
The Puritans’ ironic reinterpretation of the Scarlet Letter showcases the inherent selfishness of their culture, which yet again disregards the teachings of their religion. After years of constantly serving the community and answering “every real demand” from the townspeople, “such helpfulness was found in [Hester]... that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification” (126-127). The Puritans now “said that it meant able”, because of the many services she was able to perform for them (127). They exploit her guilt for personal gain. The true irony lies in the fact that Hester, the one that was practically banished from the Puritan society, most readily embodies the selflessness that their religion encourages. She gave “her little substance to every demand of poverty” and became a Christ-like figure in a society where each individual strives to emulate Jesus by exiling herself from the toxic values of the Puritans (126). Hawthorne implies that simply living in the Puritan society plants the seed of hypocrisy, and that one must denounce the selfish culture of the Puritans to truly follow in the footsteps of Christ.
H.L. Mencken expresses ideas similar to Hawthorne’s when he professes that “Puritanism [is] the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy”. In the Puritan society, individualism is discouraged. Anyone who doesn’t conform to their values is denounced as a sinner, a demon-worshipper, or a witch. Anyone who does conform is a hypocrite, because they abandon their values in order to be accepted. Hawthorne’s use of irony proves that in a harsh society with impossible standards, such as the Puritans’, individuality becomes impossible.When his Transcendentalist views are taken into account, his message becomes clear: One must always stay true to oneself to avoid the disease that is hypocrisy.