Hawthorne’s Retributive Justice in The Scarlet Letter

Badry Abdul Salam, Hamid

	Hawthorne’s Retributive Justice in The Scarlet Letter
Journal of Research Diyala humanity
Article 1, Volume 0, Issue 52, 2017, Pages 706-726
Author
Hamid Badry Abdul Salam
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to analyze critically Hawthorne’s concept of retributive justice in The Scarlet Letter. As a social moralizer, Hawthorne sets his action in the puritanic town of Salem where sinners are always met by that community, with a sense of superiority and arrogance. Thus, instead of showing understanding and love, the Puritans become intolerant of Hester’s sin. Though a direct descendant of a Puritan family, Hawthorne shows compassion with his heroine; however, he denies her the chance to elope with her partner, Minister Arthur Dimmesdale. Sin according to Hawthorne is a reality that must be confronted; and once a sin is committed its consequences: alienation, remorse, despair, are inescapable. To cleanse the soul, he casts heavy reliance on confession for its redemptive force. The paper falls into two sections. The first discusses Hawthorne’s moral code along with his concept of sin and retribution. The second analyzes this code in the novel as reflected in the three major characters: Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. This section is divided into two parts. The first part deals with Hester’s iniquity and the punishment imposed on her by the society. The second part concerns itself with the other two characters as they come to live together. Their retributions are consistent with their sins: Dimmesdale through bitter remorse and Chillingworh through his transformation into a fiend which is a sign of damnation.

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