FREE ESSAY ON HAWTHORNE'S PORTRAYALS

HAWTHORNE'S PORTRAYALS

Hawthorne's Portryals
In the opening chapters of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne provides a detailed description
of Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale. The reader is able to look
into the souls of these characters and learn of their deepest feelings. Along with this
Hawthorne uses the townspeople's reactions to show how the characters are portrayed
amongst them. Every person has their good qualities and their poor qualities. The
representation of these characters is neither all upright nor all immoral, for everyone
has their faults. 
Hester Prynne was a woman who committed adultery. In Puritan times adultery was not
tolerated. It was often a crime punishable by death. Hester was a different story.
Instead of a death sentence, she was forced to wear upon her breast the letter "A," made
of red cloth. Hester had come over from England, alone. Her husband planned to join her
after tending to business matters. Almost three years passed and he never arrived, it was
thought that he could possibly be dead; therefore her punishment was not as severe as it
could have been. 
The townspeople were appalled by her behavior, especially the older matrons of the town.
They felt as if her punishment was way too lenient for the crime that she had committed.
"This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die." Hester did commit a sin and
she owned up to it. She didn't complain about the fact that she had been caught. Instead
she was "A figure of perfect elegance, on a large scale . . . She was lady-like, too. . .
characterized by a certain state of dignity." Hester was free to leave Boston, but she
decided to live her life there with her daughter Pearl. ". . . kept by no restrictive
clause of her condemnation within the limits of the Puritan settlement . . . free to
return to her birthplace . . . and hide her character and identity under a new exterior."
Not only did she stay there, but she helped out in the town in whatever way she could.
The townspeople looked upon her with awe. Many of them came to her for guidance and
advice. While Hawthorne portrays Hester as a sinner she is also seen as a survivor, and a
person full of knowledge and strength. 
Roger Chillingworth comes across as a frightful man in the first couple of chapters. "A
man well stricken in age . . . with dim eyes . . . with the left shoulder a trifle higher
than the right." Hester appears petrified to see this man. She clutches her baby to her
breast as she recognizes his identity. Roger Chillingworth was Hester's husband, who had
arrived in Boston almost three years after Hester. When he finally sees her, she is
standing on a scaffold in front of him, accused of committing adultery. If Chillingworth
had chosen to identify himself, Hester would have been sentenced to death. The reader may
at first feel sympathy for him, as any person would feel for someone whose spouse had
committed adultery. After learning this information about his wife, Chillingworth still
treats Pearl when she is anguished, even though it is his wife's child by another man.
When Hester fears that Chillingworth may have tried to poison Pearl, he responds "What
should ail me to harm this misbegotten and miserable babe?" 
Chillingworth admits that he was partly at fault for her sin. She was a young woman and
he was an old man, he could never expect her to love him. "I drew thee into my heart,
into its innermost chamber, and sought to warm thee by the warmth which thy presence made
there!" However Chillingworth is not the innocent man that he claims to be. He wishes to
seek revenge on Arthur Dimmesdale. "I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder,
suddenly and unawares. Sooner or later, he must needs be mine." Chillingworth wants his
revenge on this man. He wants to torture him in every possible way. The man that the
reader had felt sympathy for is now filled with hate and anger.
Arthur Dimmesdale is a man who is well respected and looked up to in the community. He is
a modest devoted servant of God. His sermons were eloquent and of a quiet kind, unlike
most of the reverends during Puritan time, who preached Fire and Brimstone sermons.
"There was an air about this young minister,-an apprehensive, a startled half-frightened
look." Dimmesdale was frightened because he knew he was guilty of a terrible sin. He had
committed adultery with Hester, and let her face the punishment alone. "She hath raised a
great scandal, I promise you, in godly Master Dimmesdale's church." Dimmesdale was
involved in the scandal too. He was the one person least likely to be the father of Pearl
. Even though Dimmesdale had committed a sin he was devoted to serving God. He
increasingly inspired his congregation in the years to follow. He could now relate with
all of the sinners. He had made a mistake, by committing adultery, but he was by no means
a terrible person. 
Through Hawthorne's detailed descriptions of the characters and the reactions of others
towards them, the reader can see into their souls and learn their true identity.
Hawthorne displays the characters weaknesses' but he does not let them overshadow the
positive qualities that they possess. Everyone has reasons for their actions, whether it
is selfish or out of compassion towards others.