Nejely 1 Josh Nejely Mrs. Myers AEIII Per. 4 12 Apr.

. 2012 Infernal Depths, Eternal Truths Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is, at times, a piece that seems intended to drive one beyond any hope of reasoning. Its occasionally overpowering allegorical symbolism or its seemingly eclectic mythology can certainly seem like a purist allegory designed to imbue in one the fear of eternal sin. However, when one takes the time to read beyond the simple story and to realize the true nature of Hawthorne's verbal artistry, it becomes clear that the piece is, as stated by Richard Chase, a novel with beautifully assimilated allegorical elements (149). With regards to Hawthorne's mythology, Chase's assertion is, perhaps, less accurate but no less reasonable. Throughout the novel one finds a rich mythology supplemented with allegorical aspects of both characters and settings that indeed encompasses all that Chase presents even as it extends beyond his ideas into a deeper, more meaningful work of art. Beginning at the heart of Hawthorne's novel, one might first notice the complex mythology about which Hawthorne has draped his tale of adultery, vengeance and redemption. In Chase's essay, he first quotes one Mrs. Leavis saying that Hawthorne's mythology is 'based on the ritual celebration... of the English folk with its Catholic and ultimately pagan roots' (149). He then goes on to refute this idea, as he suggests that Mrs. Leavis might have seen that there is no central unifying cultural 'myth' in Hawthorne only a clear perception of historical facts and an ability to endow these with beauty and significance (149). While both of these views are, to a point, correct, neither one entirely manages to encompass Hawthorne's

Nejely 2 foundation. Chase states that Hawthorne's myth is nothing more than beautified history. While this is true for a while, (After all, what is myth but embellished history?) Chase fails to understand Hawthorne's depth. When he asserts that Hawthorne's writing is only history, he misses entirely the canvas of Hawthorne's work dismissing it as a statement of several facts. Mrs. Leavis is closer in her argument that Hawthorne's myth is that of English folklore usurped by Puritanism, but she fails to note a distinctly New England culture that is central to The Scarlet Letter. She describes a historic transition, implying that Hawthorne's myth is a reflection of what was and a shadow of what might be rather than the brilliantly complex, though decidedly gray, tapestry of New England culture. It seems that while her description is partially accurate, she robs the mythology of the attention it deserves, while glorifying the old English and the new Puritanism. Hawthorne's myth is, in fact, transcendent of either culture. Hawthorne indeed pays homage to both English and Puritan mythoi. He first mentions witches in chapter two as he writes that perhaps a witch, like old Mistress Hibbins... was to die upon the gallows (57). The idea of witches is centuries old. Sorcerers and soothsayers are found in the pages of the Bible and almost every culture of the world has had some form of magic-worker. The old English witches were more often than not benign unless maligned, although some were said to be servants of the devil as Christianity took stronger hold on England. In Puritan culture these same witches were fantasized into those Hawthorne wrote of in chapter twelve as creatures whose shrieks were often heard to pass over the settlements... as they rode with Satan through the air (144-145). The principal witch of the novel, the aforementioned Mistress Hibbins, is something else altogether. She is solely a creation of the New England mythos. While she is said to have signed her name is the Black Man's book, she is not a creature of the night hell-bent on dragging poor innocents to the abyss. She possesses a power of perception uncommon in others and uses this power to sow seeds of

Nejely 3 doubt. This witch of the New England culture is more a figure of Satan himself than a servant of destruction. She works slyly to promote sin, but unlike old English or Puritan witches, her goal is not to wreak physical havoc across landscapes or to kill poor innocents. With regards to the old English mythology, Hawthorne's focus is mainly upon the fairy folk. Pearl is referred to as an elf-child, and Governor Bellingham asks her if she is one of those naughty elfs or fairies whom we thought to have left behind us... in merry old England? (Hawthorne 109). Bellingham's teasing comparison is as far as the likeness between Hawthorne's fairies and England's fair folk reaches. While English fairies are supremely powerful beings who are cold and cruel at the best of times, the reader finds in Pearl a fairy of a very different sort. She is a product of the New England culture and while she is flighty and capricious, she is possessed of none of the coldness of the fair folk. When she is around Dimmesdale, she is remarkably kind though not necessarily consistent. She is a fairy of the light who is vilified by those who refuse to recognize the splendor of love from which she has come. Altogether, she and the other characters of Hawthorne's New England mythology form a richly intricate fabric on which the allegories of The Scarlet Letter rest. Richard Chase's presentation of allegorical elements in The Scarlet Letter is thorough and well reasoned. Miriam-Webster defines an allegory as the expression of fundamental truths by means of symbolic and fictional characters. As Chase states, If The Scarlet Letter is pure allegory then the symbols must by definition refer to fairly clear-cut and fixed referents (149). All through the novel, the reader can clearly see that this is not the case. In the instance of the letter A, the symbol shifts in meaning multiple times. At first the A stands for adulteress then it means angel then able. Thus Chase's final expression that the novel has beautifully assimilated allegorical elements is sublimely accurate. Throughout the novel, numerous allegories can be found in the form of Hawthorne's characters and even his settings.

Nejely 4 Much like Christian and Mr. Money-love of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Hester, Pearl, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth are, to an extent, allegorical characters. Chase says that critic Yvor Winters has tried to incorporate this with the unconvincing meanings he assigns to the characters Hester representing the repentant sinner, Dimmesdale the half-repentant sinner, and Chillingworth the unrepentant sinner (149). Trying to assign finite meanings to Hawthorne's characters is absolute folly. He did not intend his players to be static symbols trapped in the unbending walls of some religious man's parable. Much akin to how he fictionalized the events of finding the scarlet letter in The Custom House in order to lend a historical essence to his novel, Hawthorne adds human characteristics to his symbolic characters so as to add some small measure of believability to what might otherwise be read as a stern Christian-oriented allegory. All his characters have some measure of both darkness and light within them and have aspects of their lives which are allegorical. For example, Chillingworth is a prime example of the effects of a life spent selfishly. He begins with some level of humanity, but as he progresses through life, instead of growing nearer to the Christian ideal of divinity he becomes the demonic character devoid of humanity the reader finds in the latter chapters of the novel. Also in accord with biblical values, the final wages of his sin is a withering death. On the path of redemption, one finds that Hester changes from an utterly proud woman into the humble woman in gray the reader finds toward the end of the novel. This small facet of her life coincides with Christian values and assimilates Hawthorne's story with a biblical allegory. Beyond the characters of The Scarlet Letter, some of Hawthorne's settings also have allegorical undertones. Even as Christian must journey through various landscapes that symbolize his travel through the phases of life from the City of Destruction to the hellish gate to the gates of Heaven (Bunyan), each of the scenes Hester and the others move through is

Nejely 5 representative of something more than itself. However, as opposed to symbolizing the stages of life, these settings stand for various truths about human mindsets. In chapter one, Hawthorne says of the prisons construction that, the founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue... they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil... as the site of a prison (55). This symbolizes the human tendency to bury unpleasantness deep within a gilded faade as if in the hopes that it will never resurface. Another setting, the forest, also has an allegorical aspect when paired with the village. Together, they show a contrast between in-the-box, conformist thinking of society and the freer thinking outside the box of places where society has no grasp. Hawthorne seems to be weighing the values of being accepted yet trapped or being free to think as one pleases but thought on as an outcast by society. These and other settings add to the elements of allegory that are the finishing details of The Scarlet Letter. In Richard Chase's essay, The Ambiguity of The Scarlet Letter, he states that the myth of The Scarlet Letter is nothing specific or even defined, and that rather than being a pure allegory, the novel is a work of art with touches of allegory. In this he is partly right. Hawthorne's mythology is, however, by no means a mere embellished history. It is instead a portrayal of a New England folk-lore that went beyond Puritanical and old English beliefs. His view is limited by its allegation that Hawthornes myth is somehow the product of a keen mind for detail as opposed to the artifice of one who was enamored with New Englands unique culture. Chase is redeemed in his portrayal of the novel's allegorical elements. He expresses a lack of concrete form and a wealth of detail that is clearly seen in both the characters and the settings of the novel. This painting of allegory upon the canvas of a new mythos creates a fascinatingly rich picture of the depths of human tendency and the New England vista in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

Nejely 6 Works Cited

Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim's Progress. New York: Washington Square Press, 1957. Print. Chase, Richard. The Ambiguity of The Scarlet Letter. Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996. 145-152. Print. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Penguin Books USA Inc.,1850. Print.