The Scarlet Letter and the Garden of Eden

Though Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his introduction to The Scarlet Letter, “The Custom-House” declares that he leaves the interpretation of his novel open to his readers, it is hard to deny that religion has a grand importance in the understanding of the novel. Hawthorne’s choice of diction and imagery—mostly in relation to nature—brings forth an importance of the choice in characters’ characteristics. Through the use of very specific diction and description the characters and symbolic imagery of the novel are shown to be very similar to those of the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the overall consequences of their deeds. In his very specific use of biblical allusions to the story of the fall of Adam and Eve, Hawthorne also breaks away from the religious aspect of world view of the time period and creates an importance on seeing everything as a whole, away from religious perspectives.

In the most basic sense, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne represent the primary characters in the biblical story of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve. The beginning of the novel shows Hester on the scaffold, which the community uses for executions and public punishments of crimes and/or sins that citizens commit. Hester is seen standing on the scaffold with a scarlet letter A embroidered on her clothing and a baby in her arm. The A, a punishment given by the community, represents the sin of adultery in the story. Hawthorne starting in this very scene plays on the interpretations of the bible during the time of the story through the dialog of the crowd watching Hester. One man from the crowd says: “’is there no virtue in women, save what springs from a wholesome fear of the gallows?’” (Hawthorne 479). The man’s choice in wording easily shows how he feels about women and that he believes that they have a sinful nature, and in this specific scene, the man speaks for the community as a whole in this belief. The shared belief is represented in the presentation of the punishment that Hester is given for her adulterous act.

 The first scaffold scene, where Hester stands alone with her baby in her arms, in terms of similarities between the story and the biblical one of Adam and Eve, plays on the biblical fact that Eve is said to have eaten the fruit first and then convinced Adam to eat it afterward. Genesis 3:6 states that “[w]hen the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (New International Version, Gen. 3.6). The community’s belief that women are, by nature, sinful, is backed up by the interpretation of the biblical story and therefore shown in their acts of ridicule to Hester alone. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, in the allusion to the biblical story, takes on the role as Adam. While Hester is punished publically for their shared sin, Dimmesdale fears to speak up and come clean to the community and therefore spends the next seven years concealing this sin. His concealing of his sin alludes to the story of Adam and Eve in the fact that in the bible, it is said that after having eaten from the forbidden tree, “the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” (New International Version, Gen. 3.8-9). Just like Adam is found by God and his sin is revealed, Dimmesdale at the end of the novel is revealed as having been the other part of the adulterous act that Hester had been publically outcast from the community for seven years.

            Dimmesdale, like Adam in the Garden of Eden, hides from the sin that he has committed. Adam is found by God after trying to hide that he had eaten from the forbidden tree, but he does come clean to God and does not try to lie, he tells that Satan had told Eve and himself to eat the fruit. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, reveals himself and comes clean to a different sort of “God”. After seven years, Dimmesdale, in what is known as the third scaffolding scene, stands next to Hester Prynne and Pearl and calls himself “the one sinner of the world” (589).  The purpose of the diction in Dimmesdale’s last speech is to both tell the community what they wished to hear, and to also refute the political and law-based idea that the community in some way could represent God. Literary critic Denis Donoghue, in his article “Hawthorne and Sin” argues that  “[t]o Hawthorne, it appears that a sin is an act, a condition, a state of consciousness, such that I will not reveal it to my community--or indeed to anyone” (Donoghue 221). In the article, Donoghue claims that because Hawthorne uses no biblical or religious definition of sin and that “[w]hen he referred to sin, he seemed to assume a force of evil so pervasive that it did not need to be embodied in anyone or in any particular action[,]” that the community therefore took the place of God in The Scarlet Letter (Donoghue 217).

            The part of God that the community replaces is judgmental, and much more harsh, unforgiving, and merciless than the God that Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale speaks of in his many half-attempts to confess his sin. The bible has many verses that talk about the forgiveness of God; one of these verses is Matthew 6:14-15 which states “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (New International Version, Mat. 6.14-15). Corinthians 2:5-11 is specifically about the forgiveness of an offender and specifically states “you ought to forgive and comfort him [the offender], so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” (New International Version, Corinthians 2.7). These bible verses directly state that offenders of sins should be forgiven by their community, and the community in The Scarlet Letter does not forgive the sins committed by Dimmesdale and Hester either in the position of God or in the position of merely the community. Their harsh, unforgiving nature can be shown in the fact that even after seven years of wearing the scarlet letter, the community still reacts to Hester Prynne and her child in ways that make them outcasts, and believe them almost to be the image of living, breathing sin. Hawthorne has a pattern of writing in the novel where he switches from internal to external parts of the story in order to give the reader the standpoint of all characters in the novel. When the narrator does not express some sort of inside insight of Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, Hester, or, on occasion, Pearl, it is usually expressing the general observations and judgments that the community as a whole has on the story as it unfolds.

            Rodger Chillingworth and Pearl are not characters that have to deal with the adulterous act as directly as Hester and Dimmesdale. However, these two characters are bigger connectors to the allusion to the biblical story of Adam and Eve than the very characters that symbolize Adam and Eve. Through their dialog, actions, and characteristics, Pearl and Chillingworth allude more to the bible than the simple sin that is the core of both stories.  

The character Rodger Chillingworth, through Hawthorne’s choice in description, diction, and Chillingworth’s interaction with other characters, becomes a symbol for Satan in The Scarlet Letter. In critic Dan Vogel’s article “Rodger Chillingworth: The Satanic Paradox in The Scarlet Letter,” he talks about the many different interpretations that other critics have of Chillingworth and how they undermine the book. Vogel lists many of the critic’s interpretations of Chillingworth at the beginning of the article: “Darrel Abel sees him as a symbol of ‘goodness perverted’; William Stein condemns him as ‘an unrepentant sinner’; and F. O. Matthiessen asserts that his evil is so great as to render him ‘divorced from God.’” (Vogel 272).  Instead, Vogel explains that “Chillingworth is, after all, not an Instigator of evil, he is merely ‘Satan’s emissary’” (Vogel 275). Vogel argues that Chillingworth is not any of these things that critics say he is, rather he is not the cause of all of the evil, but he uses the situation to his advantage.

One of the main ways in which Hawthorne creates Chillingworth as the symbol of Satan in the novel is through subtle descriptions of his features and characteristics. Hawthorne alludes to Chillingworth symbolizing Satan/the serpent in the Garden of Eden biblical story in his description of when he first sees Hester on the scaffold with Pearl in her arms. Hawthorne describes: “[a] writhing horror twisted across [Chillingworth’s] features, like a snake gliding over them,” (Hawthorne 484). When Hawthorne describes that the emotion that goes across Chillingworth’s face twisted like a ‘snake’, it is almost as if it is Hawthorne’s way of showing the exact moment where Chillingworth becomes a symbol of Satan. Chillingworth is also explained as embodying this mentality of something ‘evil’ when Hawthorne explains him as having “a remarkable intelligence in his features, as of a person who had so cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mould the physical to itself” (Hawthorne 484). Chillingworth, in physicality is further explained as having one shoulder that is higher than the other and is described as smiling after another character feels pain. Chillingworth, in chapter four of the novel, touches the scarlet letter on Hester’s clothing, and smiles when it appears that she felt some sort of burning feeling due to his touch of the letter. The subtle details Hawthorne uses to describe Chillingworth makes him a symbol of the serpent/Satan in the biblical story of Adam and Eve.

The feelings of characters Pearl and Dimmesdale about Chillingworth helps strengthen his character as a symbol of Satan in the story. In the scene in which Pearl and Hester are seen in the graveyard by Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, Pearl calls out to her mother and names Chillingworth as Satan. Pearl says: “’Come away, mother! Come away, or yonder Black Man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already…’” (Hawthorne 524). In the novel, ‘Black Man’ is another phrase for the devil or Satan. Since Chillingworth is the only person who is typically shown to be directly with Dimmesdale, he is of course the person that Pearl is referring to as being the devil. Dimmesdale also had his own suspicions of Chillingworth, though he mostly dismissed these suspicions. Hawthorne writes: “[Dimmesdale] had constantly a dim perception of some evil influence watching over him, [but] could never gain a knowledge of its actual nature” (Hawthorne 527). The chapter also says that Dimmesdale “looked doubtfully, fearfully,—even at times, with horror and the bitterness of hatred,—at the deformed figure of the old physician” (Hawthorne 527). Though Dimmesdale did not do anything about his feelings toward Chillingworth till the end of the story, the statement of his feelings that he pushed aside strengthens the sense of ‘evil’ that is associated with Chillingworth’s character which directly related to him symbolizing the serpent from the fall of Adam and Eve.

The ending chapters of the novel further strengthen the argument that Chillingworth is a symbol for Satan in his actions of trying “to snatch back his victim” when Dimmesdale ascends the scaffold and prepares to tell the community of his sins (Hawthorne 587). Chillingworth, in his last attempts to keep Dimmesdale under his control, calls out to Dimmesdale and says: “’Wave back that woman! Cast off this child! All shall be well! Do not blacken your fame, and perish in dishonor! I can yet save you! Would you bring infamy on your sacred profession?’” (Hawthorne 587). The diction in this quote is especially interesting, as Chillingworth stresses the importance of fame that he sees that Dimmesdale is about to ruin. In the beginning of the novel, Chillingworth tells Hester to tell no one that they were once husband and wife because he does not want his reputation to be soiled by hers. Chillingworth says: “…I will not encounter the dishonor that besmirches the husband of a faithless woman”, which further shows how highly Chillingworth thought of a man’s fame (Hawthorne 493). The importance that Chillingworth’s character places on fame among the community can be brought into relation to the biblical story of Adam and Eve in how the serpent convinces them to eat the apple. The serpent explains to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:3-5 that if they eat the apple they will know what God knows, that they will be more like him and in a way, they will then have the same stature as God. He says to Eve “‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (New International Version, Gen. 3.3-5). Therefore, both the serpent and Chillingworth entrap their victims with the idea of fame, making Chillingworth the symbol of Satan in the novel.

The character Pearl in the novel is a very controversial topic among critics of The Scarlet Letter. Barbara Garlitz’s article “Pearl: 1850-1955” explains many of the different conclusions that critics have main concerning the importance of Pearl and what she might symbolize when looked at by critics from different time periods and with the use of different literary perspectives. She explains that not long after publication, “Pearl was called both ‘an imbodied angel from the skies’ and ‘a void little demon’” (Garlitz 689). Garlitz also explains that some critics argued that Pearl is a symbol of nature, and later on in the article she says: “[b]ut most critics have not considered its complexities; rather, they have isolated one thing Hawthorne says about Pearl or taken one aspect of her personality for the whole” (Garlitz 690).  In accordance to the story of Adam and Eve, Pearl represents the apple that Adam and Eve ate from in the biblical story that was the result of their being forced from the Garden of Eden. Pearl, as the apple, possesses the knowledge of both good and evil in The Scarlet Letter and all characteristics given to her by Hawthorne can be successfully explained by this analysis, unlike the points that the critics in Garlitz’s article argue.

In the novel, Pearl is called a multitude of different names such as “witch-baby”, by the shipmaster in the chapter “The Procession” and is also told that she is “the lineage of the Prince of Air” by Mistress Hibbens in the same chapter (Hawthorne 582). Hawthorne describes Pearl in a mixed fashion when she is chasing the children of the community in anger after they throw mud at Pearl and Hester. He writes: “[s]he resembled, in her fierce pursuit of them, an infant pestilence,—the scarlet fever, or some such half-fledged angel of judgment” (Hawthorne 506). By calling her both an “infant pestilence” and a “half-fledged angel of judgment”, Hawthorne gives Pearl aspects of powerful beings associated with both Heaven and Hell in religion. The mix of names that is given to Pearl by the community with Hawthorne’s own descriptions of Pearl help to solidify that she is not simply an evil or a good being, but something much more, like the symbol of the apple in the story of Adam and Eve.

Hawthorne uses his word choice to better clarify to his readers that Pearl cannot be simplified as just a creature of evil or good. Though the phrases that he uses in the narrative when taken out of the story do not seem so subtle, the way in which he places the phrases of what Pearl is and what she represents is subtle among all the other details that are given. Outright, in chapter seven, Hawthorne describes Pearl as “the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!” (Hawthorne 506). The description of Pearl as a living scarlet letter does not just mean that she is only a symbol of the sin that her parents committed, and Hawthorne hints that to his readers by describing all of the things that she could symbolize in the narrative, but also saying that she is much more than that symbol. For example, in the brook scene in chapter sixteen, “A Forest Walk”, Hawthorne writes:

Pearl resembled the brook, inasmuch as the current of her life gushed from a well-

spring as mysterious, and had flowed through scenes shadowed as heavily with

gloom. But, unlike the little stream, she danced and sparkled, and prattled airily

along her course (Hawthorne 552).

Hawthorne’s play on what he already knows critics would judge Pearl to symbolize creates a more complex concept of Pearl’s character, which as argued by Garlitz, is overlooked still by a lot of critics. The quote above where Hawthorne almost calls Pearl a symbol of nature, but also explains that she was much different than the natural brook proves against all of the critic’s claims that she is a symbol of nature, and it is only one example of Hawthorne proving critics wrong before the articles about The Scarlet Letter were even written.

Hawthorne’s careful creation of Pearl is further shown in more of his choice in imagery and integration of history into the overall point of his book that he often clarifies to help readers understand. In the chapter “The Leech and his Patient”, Chillingworth is described as attempting to get into the mind of Dimmesdale and learn of the “treasure” that he keeps hidden from everyone. Hawthorne uses the phrase “the apple of his eye” to describe the “treasure” that Dimmesdale is keeping from Chillingworth and the community (Hawthorne 522). The use of the particular saying “apple of his eye” alludes to Pearl, the secret that he is keeping, and also hints that she represents the apple in the story of Adam and Eve. The idea is further backed up with historical evidence of beliefs in the time that the novel was published. Garlitz explains in her article that “[i]n the 1850's, when people did not think children innately good, they thought their evil traits proof of the inheritance of the sin of Adam, or…of the evil of their parents” (Garlitz 695). In the case of Pearl being the child, and Dimmesdale symbolizing Adam from the bible, Hawthorne uses his knowledge of the belief and creates Pearl as the apple, the symbol and inevitable inheritance of sin from her parent, the symbol of Adam.

Pearl’s representation of the symbol of the apple in the biblical story of Adam and Eve and her overall possession of the knowledge of good and evil can be shown through the characteristics and actions that she is described of having. One very interesting and subtle action that Pearl is shown doing is winking when she was a baby on the scaffold with Hester. What makes her wink interesting is that the only other character in the book that is described as winking is Rodger Chillingworth. Hawthorne directly points out the similar action in Pearl and Chillingworth in his description of Chillingworth at the scaffold: “[t]here [Chillingworth] stood, with a border of grizzled locks beneath his skull-cap; while his grey eyes, accustomed to the shade light of his study, were winking, like those of Hester’s infant, in the unadulterated sunshine” (Hawthorne 486). At this point in the novel, Chillingworth has already been described as being similar to Satan as his features shifted “like a snake gliding over them” in the exact moment in which he sees Hester on the scaffold (Hawthorne 484). The common action of winking between Pearl and Chillingworth is only one of many interesting characteristics that Hawthorne gives Pearl that causes controversy over what her character symbolizes and what her importance is in the novel.

With just physical characteristics alone, Pearl is described both as being extremely beautiful and also being “elf-like”. In chapter six, “Pearl”, Pearl is described as having “wild, bright, deeply black eyes” which can easily be associated in religions with demon possession or evil (Hawthorne 501). However, in over nine instances in the novel, Pearl is described as having bird-like characteristics such as a “bird-like voice” (Hawthorne 501). Her motions are also written as being birdlike, for instance, when Dimmesdale calls her to stand with him on the scaffold her way in approaching him is described as: “…with the bird-like motion which was one of her characteristics, flew to him…” (Hawthorne 587). Her bird-like characteristics that Hawthorne purposely gives her and says so when the quote above is written, can symbolize a type of angel in the flight that she is often described with. The descriptions of Pearl as being bird-like also gives a more transcendentalist identification with nature, which can hint at both nature being chaotic, with Pearl being seen both as good and evil, and can also aid the viewpoint of Pearl as symbolizing an angel in the more religious perspective of transcendentalism.

Pearl is also constantly referred to as an elf-child, said type of elf is given mischievous characteristics through the community’s beliefs. These beliefs of a mischievous elf as what Pearl is in the eyes of the community is seen in the chapter “The Elf-Child and the Minister”, where Mr. Wilson asks Pearl: “’…Or art thou one of those naughty elfs or fairies…?’” (Hawthorne 510). Pearl is further described as being mischievous like an elf when she is described as “dancing up and down like an elf, whenever she hit the scarlet letter” (Hawthorne 504). Despite her mischievous side, Hawthorne evens out her ‘good’ and ‘evil’ characteristics in the novel, making it difficult for one to argue that she is purely one or the other. Pearl may have odd reactions to a lot of things, such as her mother’s crying when she was a baby, where in certain instances she could either laugh at her mother or give her a stern face or cry with Hester (Hawthorne 501). In the brook scene in chapter sixteen of the novel, a greater goodness is given to Pearl in comparison to her mother. The sunshine in the forest is shown as being approachable by Pearl but not Hester, and Hawthorne describes that “[t]he light lingered about the lonely child, as if glad of such a playmate” (Hawthorne 551). The fact that Hester cannot approach the sunshine without it disappearing but Pearl can stand in the sunlight with no issues is another hint by Hawthorne that Pearl is neither fully good nor evil.

Critic Anne Marie McNamara in her article “The Character of Flame: The Function of Pearl in The Scarlet Letter, she argues that “[Pearl] is the efficient cause of [Dimmesdale’s confession] and thus provides motivation for Dimmesdale’s final act” (McNamara 537). She further argues that The Scarlet Letter is a story about Dimmesdale and how he is redeemed. However, her critics do not fit in with Hawthorne’s political belief that religion and law should be separate, which is arguable one of the many reasons for the creation of the story. Rather than the novel being a story about Dimmesdale and how Pearl helps him redeem himself, Dimmesdale more sensibly fits into the symbol of Adam from the biblical story and Pearl the apple, the holder of the knowledge of good and evil. Barbara Garlitz puts this idea into better phrasing and has a better concept of Hawthorne’s intentions than McNamara in saying that “Hawthorne brilliantly transmuted reality into symbol by giving Pearl the general characteristics of children, but in so exaggerated a form that they become the symbol, not of the scarlet letter but of what produced it—Hester's diseased moral state” (Garlitz 696). Garlitz argues that Pearl is not just a symbol of innocence in children, but also the moral state of her mother. Arguable, Garlitz agrees with my statement that Pearl is neither good nor evil, but she retains characteristics for both and therefore is the symbol of the apple in the allusion to the biblical story of Adam and Eve in Hawthorne’s novel.

In his article, Donoghue brings forth a very interesting idea that despite Hawthorne’s frequent and continual use of the word sin, he does not actually fully show or have anything in the book represent sin as anything that fits any biblical or religious definition of the word. Donoghue says that though sin is brought up a lot in the novel, “[n]either Hester Prynne nor Arthur Dimmesdale acknowledges that adultery is a sin and that they stand in danger of eternal damnation: they have not repented, confessed their sin, or prayed for forgiveness” (Donoghue 217). In analyzing each time Hawthorne uses the words: sin, sinner, sinful, etc. a lot of the times that the words are used in the narration are through the perspective of the community, an unknown narrator that some claim to be Hawthorne himself. Each time sin is brought up by Dimmesdale or Hester neither of them directly says that the act of adultery is a sin. Often times they refer to being sinful—especially in the case of Dimmesdale—but just as Donoghue states, neither of them is shown praying to God for forgiveness or confessing their sin.

The fact that Hester and Dimmesdale never pray for forgiveness is not to say that they do not feel shame or know that they have done something to be in the situation that they find themselves in in the novel. Donoghue explains that “Hester knows why she has been ostracized: she has incurred social disgrace and the punishment of being for a time cast aside. She does not feel guilty, however. Nor does Dimmesdale: his actions are occluded by his hypocrisy” (Donoghue 220). Often times in The Scarlet Letter, the characters are shown as expressing shame, but not guilt, as Donoghue explains above. Though the words shame and guilt are often used interchangeably, they are quite different in the causes of each feeling. In the case of guilt, a person has to have committed a wrong doing, or in this case, a sin to feel guilty. The similar painful feeling that one feels that is called shame, on the other hand, does not require a person to have done anything wrong in order to feel it. Shame is generally more based on outside opinions or judgments on someone rather than that person having done anything wrong.

There are lots of instances where Hester feels shameful, but not guilty of any act or sin in the story. In chapter VIII, “The Elf-Child and the Minister,” something that Dimmesdale says might cause readers to think that he is feeling guilty for the adulterous act that he and Hester committed in his conversation with the Governor, in a subtle attempt to convince the community to let Pearl stay with her mother. Dimmesdale says: “This child [Pearl] of its father’s guilt and its mother’s shame hath come from the hand of God…” (Hawthorne 513). In his explanation of the purpose of Pearl’s existence in Hester’s life, he uses the word “guilt” to explain the way the father—he—feels. However, this use of guilt is not expressing any guilt towards the adulterous act, nor is it directly said to be due to the adulterous act. It can be more safely assumed that in using the word “guilt” to describe how he feels, Dimmesdale was referring to the concealment of his act with Hester, but still not referring to that act as a sin. The fact that Hester and Dimmesdale are only shown as feeling shame in reference to their adulterous act and not guilt shows more indirectly that they do not feel that the adulterous act they committed together was a sin.

Hawthorne uses religious diction, images, and allusions to the biblical story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden to form an argument on what is wrong about religion controlling law and he also uses it to break free from religious aspects to show the flaws in pure religious perspective. One manner in which Hawthorne breaks away from the religious control in the story is in the way Hester and Dimmesdale go about their lives after Hester is punished for their adulterous sin. Though she was publicized as a sinner and avoided by the community, she was still able to sell the garments that she sewed and those who bought them were happy to wear them. Internally, Dimmesdale had a more difficult time adjusting the weight of the sin, but despite his guilt for not telling the community, he was able to give the most inspirational sermons to the community and soon became the favorite minister among the community even though he was also the youngest. Dimmesdale’s success in her sermons is further exemplified bt McNamara’s article when she says that it is essential to for readers to realize that “…in spite of the physical and moral deterioration resulting from his own conscience and from Chillingworth's vindictive ministrations… his delicate spiritual sensitivity remain unimpaired” (McNamara 540). Dimmesdale was able to give purifying sermons to the community despite the constant ‘sin’ he committed of not telling the community that he was the father of Pearl and the extra influence and torture that Chillingworth inflicted on him.

As stated in the section about Chillingworth and his representation as Satan in the novel, Chillingworth is not Satan himself, but rather, as Vogel explains, an “emissary” of the devil, one who uses the consequences of Dimmesdale and Hester’s actions to his advantage but does not necessarily cause the evil deed that started it all itself. Hawthorne breaks away from the full biblical allusion to the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden in the fact that rather than Chillingworth being Satan, he was still a human being. As a human being, Hester, in her act, does break Chillingworth’s heart in her adulterous actions. Chillingworth loved Hester, and one might even argue that he still loves her throughout the entire novel, and though he agrees that they should not have married, his love still exists. Chillingworth shows his understanding and pain in her actions in saying: “’how could I delude myself with the idea that intellectual gifts might veil physical deformity in a young girl’s fantasy!’” (Hawthorne 491). Though in the rest of the novel Dimmesdale is characterized as being ‘evil’ or called Satan by many different characters, his actions were revenge based, and not purely because he was an evil character.

Critics use all sorts of lenses to analyze Hawthorne’s book The Scarlet Letter, but many of the lenses overlook one of the main points that Hawthorne is trying to make in his use of religion in his book, and that is that religion and the bible cannot show the whole picture. The most evident scene in the book that relates to this is in the chapter “A Forest Walk” when Hester spots Dimmesdale walking and while he is unaware of anyone watching, she sees him and all his agony and how it wears him down. The structure of Hawthorne’s narrative as a whole is to show the reader almost all perspectives and thoughts and beliefs of all the characters, and in doing this he again shows how important grasping the whole picture of a situation is. In the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, the bible lacks a sense of a complete story because the majority is describing the sin that they committed and not the individual thoughts that went through the heads of Adam and Eve or the serpent or God himself. The biblical story lacks a lot of sides that could allow the reader to completely understand each aspect of it. Therefore, though Hawthorne uses the story of Adam and Eve as a template for his book, he breaks away from the restraints of the religious story and in doing so places a high importance on receiving every aspect of a situation. Through breaking off from the biblical allusion, he shows his readers that religion cannot solve or explain everything, and that religion is not perfect.

Works Cited

"BibleGateway." New International Version (NIV). N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

Donoghue, Denis. "Hawthorne and Sin." Christianity & Literature 52.2 (2003): 215-232. MLA. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.

Garlitz, Barbara. “Pearl: 1850-1955.” PMLA 72.4 (1957): 689-699. JSTOR. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Custom-House: Introductory to The Scarlet Letter.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Gen ed.  Nina Baym. Vol. B. New York: Norton, 2012. 450-476. Print.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Scarlet Letter.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8^th ed. Gen ed.  Nina Baym. Vol. B. New York: Norton, 2012. 476-594. Print.

McNamara, Anne Marie. "The Character of Flame: The Function of Pearl in The Scarlet Letter." American Literature 27.4 (1956): 537-553. MLA. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.

Vogel, Dan. “Rodger Chillingworth: The Satanic Paradox in The Scarlet Letter.” Criticism 5.3 (1963): 272-280. JSTOR. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.