In this blog post, we will examine the relationship between American literature and the Puritan spirit through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.”
American Literature and the Place of “The Scarlet Letter”
Our journey through world literature began in ancient Greece, passed through China, and traversed medieval and modern Europe, finally arriving at American literature. Broadly speaking, American literature is an extension of Western literature, but upon closer inspection, it possesses a distinct character that clearly sets it apart from the European literature we have examined so far. And *The Scarlet Letter* by Nathaniel Hawthorne, widely recognized as the progenitor of the American novel, exemplifies these characteristics of American literature.
To properly understand these characteristics, we first need to examine the United States itself. It is not easy to answer the question, “What kind of country is the United States?” accurately in a single sentence. Most people know the United States as a military and economic superpower and the birthplace of capitalism, and they are also familiar with its political system and popular culture. I, too, have been familiar with American culture through listening to pop songs, enjoying Hollywood movies, and watching Major League Baseball and NBA broadcasts.
However, let’s shift our perspective slightly and approach the question: “How was the United States founded?” After Columbus, the American continent became a battleground for European powers, and North America emerged as the center of that competition. As a result, the United States was formed as a multiethnic nation, but British settlers who first established themselves on the East Coast largely became the backbone of its founding. Therefore, broadly speaking, the United States can be viewed as an extension of Britain.
That said, the United States was not simply a replica of Britain. While there was a bloodline and cultural continuity, those who founded the United States harbored a strong dream of severing ties with the Old World and creating an entirely new nation. They did not seek to recreate Britain’s splendor in the New World; rather, they sought to reenact a new and sacred exodus in history, much like Moses’ Exodus from the Old Testament. It was not merely a migration; they sought to make the New World a “new heaven and new earth.”
To establish a new land, new institutions and laws were necessary, but above all, what was needed was a new spirit and ethics. That is precisely the Puritan spirit. Puritans are a branch of Christianity often translated as “Protestants,” but the original meaning is closer to “rebel” or “resister.” They completely rejected the glory and splendor of England and attempted a fresh start through rebellion; that spirit of rebellion became their religion, ethics, laws, and institutions.
The Puritan spirit revealed in *The Scarlet Letter* embodies precisely this character. That spirit is sharp, solemn, and strict; in the process of establishing a new order, it cannot help but be harshly strict. In the novel, when Hester leaves prison and heads toward the scaffold, the words of a woman watching the scene vividly demonstrate just how absolute Puritan ethics were at the time.
“What good is a mark or a brand, whether on the chest or the forehead? That woman has brought shame upon us all, so she must die! Is there no such law? Of course there is! It’s in the Bible and in the law books!”
This passage clearly demonstrates that Puritan ethics went beyond mere moral principles to become law, religion, and even a philosophy that governed society. The author himself wrote that, to them, religion and law were virtually one and the same, completely fused into a single entity. While it is usually the case that the law is strict and religion is lenient, the Founding Fathers of the United States combined the two to create a strict new order. As a result, a society where the crime of adultery was punishable by death could actually exist.
In the novel, Reverend Wilson is portrayed as a kind and gentle man in private, but he is stern and unyielding when it comes to public ethics and the law. This was not hypocrisy, but rather an attitude demanded by the historical mission and urgency of the time. The work is permeated by the recognition that without an order grounded in such sternness and extreme morality, the United States as we know it today would not exist.
Meanwhile, Protestant ethics emphasize thrift and diligent labor. Under the principle of “you get what you earn,” capital accumulates through diligent work and frugal consumption. The capital thus accumulated becomes the foundation for the development of capitalism. It is interesting to note that, at least in the case of the United States, the ethic of thrift played a significant role in the early formation of capitalism. Of course, greed is inherent in capital itself, so over time, such “moral purity” is bound to falter; however, understanding this early context broadens one’s perspective when reading the work.
With this background knowledge, many things become clear upon revisiting the novel. The story is set in mid-17th-century Boston, on Massachusetts Bay—a time when British settlers were building a new city. In those days, when Puritan ethics were being strictly established, Hester Prynne, who committed adultery and bore an illegitimate child, was, from the perspective of the time, a criminal who had committed a fatal offense. Although she escaped execution, she was subjected to public punishment, forced to wear the “Scarlet Letter” on her chest for the rest of her life. It was a symbolic declaration that such crimes had no place in that society.
What is interesting is that the court did not completely deprive her of her freedom. Hester could have gone elsewhere if she wished and started a new life without the scarlet letter. This fact suggests that the strictness of Puritan society was not a universal truth, but rather a chosen norm of this particular region and community. They prided themselves on being “the chosen ones,” viewing this land as a new paradise granted by God, and accepted the logic that the fallen could go elsewhere to live.
Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale once even harbored dreams of returning to Europe to start a new life. Yet they did not leave. Dimmesdale confesses his sin and dies at the height of his ministry, while Hester, after briefly leaving with her daughter, returns to this place and is buried beside the minister. Why did they not leave? What does it signify that they remained on this land, even though they could have started a new life elsewhere?
Many readers might focus on debates such as “Is adultery really such a grave sin?” after reading this novel. However, that is a discussion that misses the point. The fundamental question this work poses is whether an individual’s natural desires and instincts can coexist with Puritan ethics, or whether they are inevitably suppressed by those ethics. In other words, the conflict between individual instincts and social ethics—and the tension between them—is the core of the novel.
The author asks whether love between a man and a woman and natural instincts can coexist with God’s will. If all things were created by God, the Creator, isn’t God’s will inherently embedded in those natural instincts themselves? Yet, is it truly justifiable to punish and suppress those instincts in the name of God? The author poses the question to the reader: how can man-made ethics possibly possess absolute authority?
The Conclusion of the Work and Hawthorne’s Life
Interestingly, the author does not use these questions to unilaterally condemn Puritan society as a whole. If Dimmesdale and Hester had left New England for Europe, the land where they sought to realize Puritan ideals might have appeared barren in the author’s eyes. By leaving the two characters in that land and having them live and die there, the author reveals a reality where the Puritan spirit and complex human emotions coexist.
Hester returns to the very land where she committed her sin and suffered, wearing the mark of her atonement herself, and lives a life of devotion, offering words of salvation to women in difficult and sorrowful circumstances. Thus, the scarlet letter transforms from a symbol of ridicule and contempt into a badge of respect. Paradoxically, the author does not completely reject Puritan ethics, but seeks a space within that ethic where human nature is not extinguished but can breathe.
Creating a land where individuals can live and breathe—where natural instincts are not completely eradicated within a system of strict ethics and laws at the national level—was this not precisely what the author envisioned? Hawthorne presents readers with questions they must continually ask whenever law and ethics, the public good and individual happiness, collide. These are questions we must never lose sight of if we are to build a more humane society.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, a writer familiar to many through works such as *The Great Stone Face*, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804. His father was a captain of a merchant ship, and his mother was the daughter of a blacksmith, but his ancestors had made a name for themselves in the region as soldiers and judges. He showed an interest in literature from an early age, and it was during his college years that he decided to become a writer. In a letter sent to his mother at the time, he wrote that he would rather become a writer than a minister, doctor, or lawyer.
After graduating from college, Hawthorne devoted himself to writing while living a reclusive life for many years, and in 1828, he published his first novel, *Phanxho*. In 1837, he published a collection of short stories. Although he did not achieve great fame as a writer, his name became known nationwide after he was unfairly dismissed for political reasons from a job inspecting imported goods at the Salem customs house. Upon losing his job, he devoted himself entirely to writing.
Hawthorne began writing *The Scarlet Letter* in September 1849 and published it the following March. Although the book did not yield significant commercial profits—leaving him with only about $1,500 in royalties—it was hailed by critics as a classic of American literature immediately upon its release. Henry James praised the work as “the finest and most imaginative work ever produced in America,” while D.H. Lawrence remarked, “Rarely has a novel possessed such profound and multilayered meaning.”
Hawthorne went on to write *The House of the Seven Gables* and *The Book of Miracles*, and died on May 19, 1864, while traveling in Plymouth, New Hampshire. His works made a significant contribution to the establishment of an independent tradition in American literature, and *The Scarlet Letter* remains a representative masterpiece that deeply explores the complex issues of humanity, society, ethics, and instinct.
