The Scarlet Letter Analysis and Why it is so Pervasive
The Scarlet Letter: Destined to torture high school students for time immemorial
“A text is not a text unless it hides from the first comer, from the first glance, the law of its composition and the rules of its game,” writes Jacques Derrida. “A text remains, moreover, forever imperceptible. . . . [It] can never be booked, in the present, into anything that could rigorously be called a perception.” At first glance, a piece of literature is bound to the time in which it is written – the peculiarities of the language of the period, as well as the sensibilities and prejudices of the author’s culture, create the text’s external impression. However, the truths that the author weaves beneath the surface of the text can transcend time; indeed, they gain meaning as the text is interpreted and reinterpreted by readers outside of the text’s original time period. Thus, though Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter is marked with the indulgently verbose language of its time, its comments on human strength, morality, and identity render it pertinent to a modern audience. As Derrida notes, this modern re-reading takes Hawthorne’s original themes and develops them in an expanded context.
Just as Hawthorne adds new importance to 17th century Puritan life through his 19th century interpretation, 21st century readers can add a modern significance to the themes of Hawthorne’s novel. The Scarlet Letter deals heavily with the concept of human strength, a theme that is applicable throughout the ages. The novel’s protagonist, Hester Prynne, has an adulterous affair with Arthur Dimmesdale after her husband has been absent many years and presumed dead. Prynne’s one moment of weakness actually leads her to a life of deep personal strength. Though she is forced to carry the burden of her sin plainly on her breast, Prynne manages to work and raise a child on her own, and maintain strict moral integrity throughout the novel. She never blames Dimmesdale for abandoning her and her daughter, and even keeps her husband’s identity a secret at his request. Dimmesdale, however, proves an extraordinarily weak character, as his moment of sin leads him to self-destruction instead of self-fulfillment. While Prynne builds a new life for herself out of her sin, Dimmesdale not only shirks his duties as a father, he literally devastates himself in his guilt. Dimmesdale...