Unjust Justice In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

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Unjust Justice: The Efficacy of Secularism and Religion
“Were I an atheist, —a man devoid of conscience,— a wretch with coarse and brutal instinct,— I might have found peace” remarks the most holy and most righteous man, the cherished reverend of the Puritan community, Arthur Dimmesdale in the Scarlet Letter (175). Dimmesdale's devotion ought to be solely to God; yet, he desires to be free from the shackles of religion. Why would the most religious man desire so vehemently to sever his ties to God?
Dimmesdale, as well as Hester, are symbols Hawthorne uses for religion and secularism, respectively. Hawthorne indicates that religion might be a source of comfort, but never justice; furthermore, he criticizes the Puritans’ religious notion of justice …show more content…

At first, the crowd shares a common apathy for Hester: “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die” (46). The community’s opinion starkly shifts from viewing Hester as the guilt-ridden adulterer standing on the scaffold to an exemplary citizen of Boston. After her rehabilitation, “they had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since” (147). Not only do the Puritans see the scarlet differently, the actual significance of the scarlet letter changes from religion to secularism. Hawthorne uses this alteration in the scarlet letter’s symbolism to demonstrate that secular justice has power even over violations of religious code. Women, who suffered tribulations similar to Hester’s, seek comfort and advice from her; they yearn to undergo their own rehabilitation in hopes of one day becoming part of a society in which they are not subject to such cruel condemnation:
Women, more especially, —in the continually recurring trials of wounded, wasted, wronged, misplaced, or erring and sinful passion,— or with the dreary burden of a heart unyielded, because unvalued and unsought,— came to Hester’s cottage, demanding why they were so wretched and what the remedy.

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