OnTheScarletLetter

徐丹

【Abstract】Reading The Scarlet Letter， one is mostly impressed by the spirit of The Bible the story depicted. The book chiefly discusses sin and how to atone for it. Hester Prynne is the heroine of the fiction. This paper researches her fate to illustrate the influence of The Bible to Hawthorne.

【Key words】The Scarlet Letter.； Hester Prynne； The Bible； sin and atonement

1. Introduction

Hawthornes father was a captain， who died in an accident and left his mother and him behind to struggle to live for themselves. Young Hawthorne was quite aware of the misdeeds of his Puritan ancestors， and this awareness made him believe that evil was at the core of human life. To some extent， Hawthorne wrote this book to try to make up for the sin of his ancestors.

To tell the truth and yet not to offend， that is all Hawthorne tried to achieve in his works.

2. Body

The story began in seventeenth-century Boston. A young woman， named Hester Prynne， was sent ahead to America by her husband—an old and ugly scholar. However， for many years， he himself didnt arrive. Hester and a young local minister called Arthur Dimmesdale fell in love with each other. They committed adultery secretly. However， Hester Prynne is never a Christian rebel. And her final death was the resurrection of a pious heart.

First， she was ready and willing to give help to others. The Bible tells its believers that： “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it， when it is in your power to act.” Hester was “quick to acknowledge her sisterhood with the race of man， whenever benefits were to be conferred.”， even though what she received was only insult. She never wanted to go against God. We can find through these behaviors that she was a pious believer of God.

Second， Hester had firm religious faith. On one hand， Hester Prynne firmly believed that no people was guilty like herself， but on the other hand， she thought， “Heaven would show mercy… hadst thou but the strength to take advantage of it.” She always goes to the church， thus， we can feel her belief in God.

Third， Hesters plan to flee away with Dimmesdale was an error and God helps it not to happen. Maybe they felt the punishment was so long and severe that they decided to escape from. God never allowed it. So God utilized omnipotence to help them not to make another mistake. In the end， Dimmesdale admitted the sin before death .

Forth， disobedience of ones oath is not permitted. When Hester Prynne was in prison， she promised her husband not to tell his real identity to others and swore. However， several years later， she disobeys her oath and tells the secret to the minister. As a punishment to this， the minister， who Hester loves so deeply， dies the very day theyve decided to flee away.

Fifth， Hesters final result was death， but it never meant expiration. For all the charities Hester had done， peoples attitudes towards her changed. They tried to accept her. Regards the scarlet letter “A”， some people treat is as “Able” and even others treat it as “Angel”. God was benevolent and willing to help and saved her soul. Death ended her past and gave her an opportunity to lead a new pure life. Its all Gods blessing.

3. Conclusion

Through the above discussion， we can conclude that Hester Prynne is resurrected by her pious atonement. The most important reason of her salvation is she has firm beliefs. Faith is the prerequisite of Gods offer of forgiveness to Hester. Hester Prynne is finally accepted by society and receives Gods forgiveness. She is resurrected.

References：

[1]Brother Lawrence，The Practice of the Presence of God[M].London the EpworthPress.1978.

[2]Herman Bavinck，Our Reasonable Faith，Translated by Rev.Charles Chao D.D，copy right by Reformation Translation Fellowship P.O.Box 366，Petiou，Taipei，Taiwan.1978.

[3]Thomas a Kempis，The Imitation of Christ）[M].The Bruce Publishing Company，printed in the U.S.A）.1949.