Scarlet Letter Personal Views

My personal views of this novel are:

1. It is indeed a classic that deals with many types of issues, from religion hypocrisy to “matured” issues such as adultery.
2. Religion hypocrisy is a central issue in this novel. It is being portrayed by the Puritans, especially through the character named Dimmesdale who is a minister that is highly respected by the Puritans but also commits adultery together with Hester. He escapes the punishment that has only been given to Hester and even though he confesses his sin at the end of the story, the Puritans (community) do not shun him. They are now having different perspective that “everyone is born sinner.”
3. Gender biasness can also be found in this novel. Hester, the female protagonist, is the only who had been punished regarding her sin in adultery but not the male adulterer. Even throughout this novel, people around her do not really care who the male adulterer is and she bears the shame all alone. (As if being pregnant does only involve women, hmm.)
4. The Puritans hypocrisy comes to worse when they treat Pearl, a child that bears no sin, differently when they know that Pearl is Hester’s daughter. It can be seen in the novel that they treat Pearl with kindness when Pearl enters the governor’s house but their treatment towards her turns cold when they see Hester.
5. Lengthy, for sure. Nathaniel Hawthorne knew his way with words since he was really good in describing matters meticulously. I remembered reading chapter 11 which is quite a long chapter that wants to tell the discovery of Dimmesdale as Pearl’s father by Chillingworth.