hought. And the introduction of the words “Boston”,“Cornhill” ,“King’s introduction” also brings to the mind a picture of historic Boston and early American Puritanism. Boston, a staunch Puritanical town, is a moralistic and gloomy place where the citizens dress in drab colors and lack any liveliness. Even on the Election Day holiday, they cannot relax and enjoy themselves. Here the stonehearted Puritans are about to denounce Hester. She is forced to stand on a high platform, called scaffold, in full view of everyone, as a public penance for committing adultery. One of the women said, “At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead.”[6](P43) How stonehearted they are.
Later the official sentenced Hester to stand for three hours on the platform of the pillory and for the rest of her life, to wear The Scarlet Letter “A” on her bosom.The Puritan communities were formed in a theocratic state where the Church and State share authority, and having equal responsibility for keeping law and order in the colony. This is based on the social order pictured in the Old Testament, and scholarly clergymen such as John Wilson and Arthur Dimmesdale, the English university graduates, explain it. Emphasis is placed on the Biblical Covenant, which promised obedience to elect leaders. They were “magistrates” in the Puritan colony. Such social order helps to explain that the different professions represented by the different characters.For example,the Governor,a military man, and the ministers assembled on the balcony overlooking the scaffold. The Scriptures demand death for adultery, and the Puritan laws closely follow the Biblical pattern. Thus, Hester’s crime of adultery is punished to death. Since her husband (Dr. Prynne) is reported to be dead, the magistrates extend to her what they consider to be great mercy.
This scene also shows the weight of values and morals upon society in the 17th century where public punishment was not only used as a punishment but as a way to discourage others from committing the same crime. The community was the key helper in making this punishment because it didn’t helped to alienate Hester but to further her pain. The punishment brought forth of Hester's underlying pain, Hester sent forth a cry then she turned her eyes downward at The Scarlet Letter, and even touched it with her finger to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real. This pain only broke surface once,yet throughout the whole story Hester must deal with the shame and emotional pain of The Scarlet Letter.The stranger summed it up best with the quotation, Thus she would be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone. Near in the end of Chapter XIV;Chillingworth says to Hester that, since her first step in the wrong direction, “it has all been a dark necessity …”[7](P147) He refers to the consequences of her action. Hester’s disobedience to God’s will is her act of adultery, a fearful word on Puritan days, for this act against fidelity in marriage endangers the very basis and strength of the Puritan life.
C.Hester’s rebellion to the Puritanism
Secondly, if we have a glimpse of Hester’s state of mind and her attitude towards her sin during her punishment in scaffold; it is evident that Hester does not feel that she has sinned against God. Partly this is so because God has never been a very real presence in her life. Even her lover, Dimmesdale just remains spiritually in her mind. Hester shows her rebellion against Puritanism to the community. This also can get approved by following stages. One is “her strong protest against her daughter being taken away from her”. Another is “her standing out in helping her lover, the weakened priest Dimmesdale against the leech, Roger Chillingworth. Hester’s bravely, in a large extent, brought much sunlight to the sober Puritanical society.”[8] (85) For one thing, she breaks a law for love of Dimmesdale. For another, she persists in loving him when he is in danger. In fact,one aspect of Puritanism is a Trinity with absolute power, controlling everything. Man has no real decisions to make things which concern the world around him, for God-at His whim-will completely decide for him. There is hope through the sacrifice of the Christ. But not all people are to be saved. The Doctrine of the Elect states that God choose some for heaven and in the same manner, allows others to go to hell. One does not exactly know who is destined for heaven, but hold the generally idea that reverends are sent by God to help people.As in the case of Dimmesdale, the highly reputable Boston minister there is a strong feeling that some sainted individuals are certainly fated to go heavenward. In The Scarlet Letter, part of Dimmesdale’s torture is his knowledge of his own sin, which was not confessed, will keep him from heaven. Faithfulnes
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