The Archetypes of the Characters in The Scarlet Letter

【Abstract】Nathaniel Hawthorne and his works are deeply influenced by the religion and the Holy Bible.It has many corresponding relationships between the Biblical allusions and the characters，plot and theme in the Scarlet Letter.Hawthorne gave the novel symbolic characters in order to give this symbolism novel a deeper connotation，by borrowing quite a lot of the Biblical allusions.The Scarlet Letter established Hawthorne as the most important 19th century romantic novelist in the United States.This paper attempts to analyze the characteristics and the life experience of the figures in the novel，such as Hester Prynne，Chillingworth，Dimmesdale and Pearl by using the archetypal criticism.The paper also will compare the novel to the Holy Bible so that we can find the archetypes of the Holy Bible hidden in the Scarlet Letter.

【Key words】the Scarlet Letter，Hawthorne，The Holy Bible，archetype

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most important 19th romanticism novelists in the Untied States，who represents “the most accomplished American storyteller and novelist”.As we all known，the Holy Bible is one of the sources of the Western culture.Therefore，we can easily find some shadows of the Holy Bible in his works.

The Scarlet Letter is Hawthornes masterpiece，which has his typical writing features.This novel describes the Puritans living style in the 17th of New England，North America.This is a love tragedy： Hester Prynne married an old scholar Chillingworth.She fell in love with the young pastor Dimmesdale and gave birth to a daughter surreptitiously after her husband was captured.They called this daughter Pearl.Hester Prynne was sentenced to wear a red “A” in the chest.Chillingworth sneaked in America and tried his best to afflict Dimmesdale.After a number of the tortuous plots，Hester Prynne won the socials recognition for her justify，her kindly personality and her belief to the living.Meanwhile，Dimmesdale died after admitting his guilt publicly.Pearl lived a happy life with a great quantity of legacies which got from Chillingworth for his conscience sake.

The Scarlet Letter has been researched by many people since its publication.Many scholars have written about the Scarlet Letter by using the archetypal criticism.After reading these papers，I found that they had found many archetypes of the Holy Bible and the most typical one is “Eve--Adam”.Although many readers have analyzed the novel from the subject，plot and the characters by the archetypal criticism，my paper will try to analyze the main characters in order to find the archetypes of the Holy Bible.I will seek Hesters archetype through her variation from a sinner to “Able” and Dimmesdales from a saint to a sinner.Besides that，Chillingworth is the archetype of the devil and Pearl is the angle.This paper will describe these aspects systematically.

1.Hester Prynne： from a sinner to “Able”

Hester Prynne is not only as the most important heroine but also the most attractive character in the Scarlet Letter.On the one hand，most people think Hester is a beautiful，kind-hearted woman with a lot of virtues.They also feel sorry for her sad experience.On the other hand，Id like to replenish Hester Prynnes characteristics in the images of the Holy Bible.In the novel，Hester Prynne experienced a variation from a sinner to “able”.During the different stages of the change，we can find disparate archetypes of the Holy Bible.

First of all，at the beginning of the novel，Hester Prynne was a sinner.Being a identity of the sinner，especially a person committed the crime of adultery，the image of Eve occurred to us quickly.

In the chapter 3 “The First Sin and Its Punishment” of Genesis in the Holy Bible，Adam and Eve are enticed into eating the forbidden fruit by the serpent.They were sent forth from the Garden of Eden，because they violated Lord Gods order.The experiences of Adam and Eve and their later generations actually became the archetypes of human experiences in the Jesus doctrine.

Eve is a sinner； it is also an image of fallen woman.Being the archetype of a sinner that eats the forbidden fruits without permission，Hester Prynne undergoes the process of committing a crime，becoming depraved，agreeing to atonement and rescuing.Hester Prynne was born in a declining aristocratic family and then married an old scholar.When the Puritans decided to build up an earthly paradise in Europe，she was sent to the New World by her husband firstly.Hester can continue to live in “the Garden of Eden” and have a comfortable life.She ate “the forbidden fruit” by stealth，when she lost in touch with Chillingworth.Just like Eve，Hester Prynne was expelled from “paradise” and fell into the sad plight.She was asked to wear a red “A” which was the symbol of shame upon her breast，people also rule her out the fraternity and true feelings.However，she stayed in the town bravely instead of going to the other places.She began to her long penitential career，living in a small cottage alone.Hester suffered peoples discrimination and vituperation silently，to help the patients and relieve the poor.She tried her best to make up for the sin and purged her souls of sin by doing something good at last.She dared to believe herself and the possibility of the moral in the new world.People thought Hester Prynnes benignity was on the increase day by day，many women were reclaimed and wanted to get the comforts and advice from her.People began to re-recognize and interpret the meaning of the red “A”.They said it is the abbreviation of “Able”，quite a lot of people began to believe it was actually the abbreviation of “Angel”.

At the same time，being a sinner with a mark on Hester，we can find another figure Cain in the Holy Bible.According to the Chapter 4 of Genesis records in the Old Testament，Cain，Adams eldest son，was published to be “a fugitive and a wonderer on the earth”，when he killed his brother Abel.He appealed to Lord God because he was afraid of being killed by people.

Lord God “put a mark on Cain” （Genesis，the Old Testament，6） in order to avoid being killed.

Hester Prynne who wore a red “A” upon her breast once felt “Human beings put a mark on her body； it was more unbearable than Cains mark on his forehead”.At the same time，she thought this mark was her patron saint.This kind of feeling may be the same with Cains.It is well known that Hester commit an adultery crime.Both the adultery and homicide are the most two serious sins of Ten Commandments in the Holy Bible.The scarlet letter “A” not only can bring her shameful，but also can make people far away from her.The red “A” got the new meaning of “Able” instead of its original meaning，when Hester was approved by people after doing many good things.As time goes by，

The scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the worlds scorn and bitterness，and became a type of something to be sorrowed over，and looked upon with awe，yet with reverence too.

Cains mark has double symbols—murder and Saint.While Hesters mark has the meaning of “Adultery” and “Able”.From their crimes and fates，we can say Cain is also the archetype of Hester Prynne.

After that，Hester Prynne changed into “Able” and kindness in her latter part of the life.For this reason，it brought us the image of Divine Maternity.

Hester Prynnes experiences were familiar with the Saint in the Holy Bible.She gave us a kind of feeling that she came to the earth with Gods mission，suffering all kinds of trials in the world.

Hester had lived just like an apostle since she wore the red “A”.She suffered disgrace and insults in order to accomplish a task and did well and accumulates merit.In the beginning，people in the town kept their distance from her.When she went to the market，most people would taunt her，even some one will throw the garbage to her.She finally influenced the people with her benignities and kindheartedness.Owing to wear this scarlet “A”，Hester Prynne was rescued and saved common people in a qualified sense.Meanwhile，just like I have written in the “Eve--Hester”，she changed the meaning of the red letter “A” from adultery to able.

Hawthorne considered Hester Prynne as the image of Divine Maternity for suffering for common peoples sins.Besides that，we can find the shadow of Divine Maternity from Hester in the other aspect.Hester are the same beautiful as Divine Maternity：

The young woman was tall，with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair，so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam； and a face which，besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion，had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes.（Nathaniel Hawthorne，6）

When we read the description of Hesters beautiful，it was easy for us to associate her with the image of Divine Maternity.The most important aspect is that Hawthorne gave her saintly temperament，which made her have something similar with the Divine Maternity.

Finally，seeing the whole variation of Hester，the image of Paul came into our eyes.Paul also known as Soul，appeared in the Acts of the New Testament firstly.At first Paul was “ravaging the church” while other people were sad about Stephens death.He，“breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord，” committed them to prison.Later Paul converted into believing Jesus and began to preach gentiles.During the preaching，he met with quite a lot of unfortunate things，for example，he was stolen，was lashed by someone.He also was put in prison and his life once was in danger.However，he never stopped his preaching.At last Paul devoted himself to preaching.

Pauls career looked like Hesters.At the beginning of the novel，it described the plot that Hester was judged in the scaffold.Here，we can notice both Hester and Paul are known as the identities of the prisoners firstly.On one side，she suffered all kinds of vituperations and bullies in the process of saving herself.On the other side，Hester Prynne penance for her sins by helping others； while，Paul was through preaching others.Paul has a thorn internal to his body，in order to avoid him becoming overly self-important.This thorn is the same as the red “A” upon Hesters breast，they are all the brands which they had committed a crime.

Hawthorne expounded the theme，which peoples deep-rooted sin and weakness determined that human beings should depend on Gods grace and its omnipotence，by describing Hesters experience that was similar with Pauls in the Holy Bible.

2.Dimmesdale： from a saint to a sinner

Dimmesdale is one of the most important and most typical heroes in the novel.Dimmesdale is a contradictory character.Being a minister，he was the person choose by God and he should be a saint.However，he became a sinner because of committing the crime of adultery at last.This kind of variation is similar with some figures in the Holy Bible.

Firstly，the image of King David and Dimmesdale was the most similar of the other people.Hawthorne hinted Dimmesdales sin and results by quoting the Holy Bible allusion.We can find Dimmesdales archetype in the Holy Bible.There is a description of Dimmesdales room：

The walls were hung round with tapestry，said to be from the Gobelin looms，and，at all events，representing the Scriptural story of David and Bathsheba，and Nathan the Prophet，in colors still unfaded，but which made the fair woman of the scene almost as grimly picturesque as the woe-denouncing seer.（Nathaniel Hawthorne，59）

This literary quotation comes from the Samuel of the Old Testament in the Bible.David is the selected king over Israel by Lord God.The Uriah the Hittite is Davids loyalty courtier and his wife Bathsheba is very beautiful woman.David commits adultery with Bathsheba and leads to pregnant.Later，he killed the Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites，and have take Bathsheba to be his wife.Lord God feels displeased about his villainy，sends Nathan to rebuke David in his face.Because of his guilt，Davids son dies of illness finally.

This pictures meaning is very clearly.Being a pastor，Dimmesdale also is selected by the God like David.He is endowed the precise thinking and “The Tongue of Flame”，it is just like King David is endowed the kingdom and power.However，both of them commit an adultery crime.David gets the punishment of “the sword shall never depart from your house”； Dimmesdale died after being tormented from both mentally and psychically.We can get the conclusion that Dimmesdale regrets to “sin against the Lord” like David through afflicting himself in mental.Finally，King David prays to be forgiven by fasting and Dimmesdale free himself by admitting the sin public before dying.Hawthorne told us the sin existed deep-rooted in peoples mind，no matter whether he is the person selected by God or not.It hints Gods absolutely authority again.

Then，it is well known that the story of Adam- Eve in the Eden plays a very important role to the westerner writers.From what is said above，Hester Prynne reflects Eve，so the archetype of Adam exemplifies Dimmesdale.

When Lord God began to create the world，he chose Adam and asked him to stay in the Eden.For the reason that Adam was the person chosen by God，he should be a saint.Dimmesdales experience likes the Adams.Being a pastor who had won the respect of all the people and had a lofty status，Dimmesdale had “The Tongue of Flame” and the fanatical passion to the religious.However，because of violating the Gods tuition，he still can not stay in paradise forever，either.Dimmesdales degeneration is the typical Adams immorality.He fell into unending troubles from suffering the grace of God directly.Different from Hester，he belongs to a kind of immaterial banishment.Under the condition of lacking of admitting his sin publicly，he chose to keep silent and self-reprimand.Dimmesdale flung himself into the religious affairs and disconnected inner-heart from extender-heart totally.Dimmesdale admitted his guilt publicly at last，because he realized that his sin “Gods eye beheld it！ The angels were for ever pointing at it！ The Devil knew it well，and fretted it continually with the touch of his burning finger！”.This kind of experience “commits a crime，penance for the sin and rescue” is the same as Adams.

Besides that，Dimmesdale resembles Adam in characters.It is concentrative embodied in their attitude about accepting punishment.When Lord God asked Adam whether he had eaten the forbidden fruit or not，Adam said “The woman whom you gave to be with me，she gave me fruit from the tree，and I ate.” instead of saying “yes” directly.It seems that he wants to tell Lord God that it is the womans mistake，not his.While Eve said “The serpent tricked me，and I ate.”，when Lord asked her.The same as Adam，cowardly Dimmesdale dare not face the harsh reality with Hester.His cowardly and sullen character predicted his fatal tragedy.While Hester assumed the responsibility bravely like Eve did.The contrast between Hester and Dimmesdale leads to the two different results in the end.

Dimmesdale reflects the archetype of Jesus，a scapegoat.Although Dimmesdale commits the sin，he still is the peoples idol and is welcomed by them.At first，Dimmesdale lacked of courage to admit his sin，because he likes Jesus feared of pain and the honor of confessing the sin.However，when Jesus realized it was not evitable，he had to alleviate the sins of the entire world.He ascended the platform and was crucified in the cross.Dimmesdale went to the scaffold and confessed his sins before dying.At that time，Hester and Pearl were around him just like two martyrological saints.He was the same as Jesus that devoted himself to the wreck voluntary and teleological.He wanted to “express to the world how utterly nugatory is the choicest of mans own righteousness.” Dimmesdale “had made the manner of his death a parable” and gave “mournful lesson.”（Nathaniel Hawthorne，157）

Both Dimmesdale and Jesus bear the heavy cross and all the sins from themselves and the common people.They redeemed the world by sacrificing themselves.This shows us a kind of great beauty.Of course，the two person were not totally the same，the difference was that Jesus was not a really sinner，he was a whipping boy who suffered the sins for common people，while Dimmesdale suffered for himself.

3.Conclusion

There is no doubt that archetypal criticism is a very important method to analyze Nathaniel Hawthornes works，especially to The Scarlet Letter.This paper I analyze the two main characters archetypes in the novel.Being the typical archetype of “Adam-- Eve” in the American literature，it also can be found in this work.“Dimmesdale—Hester” has so many similarities to “Adam—Eve”，such as the experience，character，the mission got from God and so on.The archetypes of the Holy Bible can be found when we saw Hester changing from a sinner to “Able” and Dimmesdale from a saint to a sinner.At the same time，we can easily find the devil is the archetype of Chillingworth from his name，appearance and behaviors.Pearl was an angle coming from the heaven，she brought Hester Prynne hope.

Besides these archetypes I have analyzed，it still has many other archetypes.For example，Pearl also reflects the angel.The archetypes of the Bible and symbolism also can reflect on other aspects of the novel such as the structure，the plots and so on.Taking structure for example，the most two typical structure of the Bible is “U” structure and “holy comedy”.Both of them can be found in the Scarlet Letter.There are a large number of the Bible allusions and archetypes in the novel.Owing to his familys background，Nathaniel Hawthorne has the indispensable connection with the religious，especially the Puritan.Using a great deal of the Holy Bible allusions in the Scarlet Letter，Hawthornes work is full of enlightened writing style.It established Nathaniel Hawthorne as the people of symbolism and became the most important novelist in 19th of the United States.

References：

[1]Chen Chunzhu.The Biblical Archetypes in The Scarlet Letter[D].Fujian Teaching University，2005.

[2]David Levin，Theodore L.Grossed.America In Literature[J].John Wiley & Sons，1978，Vol.1：1182.

[3]Zhu Gang.Twentieth Century Western Critical Theories[M].Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2001：128-149.

作者簡(jiǎn)介：成程（1985- ），女，江蘇南通人，本科，講師，研究方向：英語職業(yè)教育。