Langland-Hayes 1

Kelsey Langland-Hayes

Dr. Crews

ENGL 361

14 December 2019

Puritan Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is a flaw rooted in man’s sinful nature; it consists of individuals’ attempts to

conceal their own flaws and criticize others for those same flaws. Throughout time, society

utilizes scapegoating to blame an individual for deeper societal issues and cover their sin with a

mask. Due to the high volume of this scapegoating problem throughout all of mankind, a variety

of literary geniuses, or writers, point out this flaw of human nature by embedding the

consequences of scapegoating into their literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne, an author of

Puritan-based works, emphasizes the commonality of scapegoating especially during the time of

the Puritans. To be more specific, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, he portrays

Hester Prynne as a scapegoat to illustrate the hypocritical mask of the Puritans during this time.

Wearing the scarlet letter for a majority of the story, Hester Prynne is portrayed by

Hawthorne as a victim of scapegoating. In one of the first scenes of the work, she stands before

the town on the scaffold with her golden embroidered scarlet letter plastered in the center of her

chest as a symbol of her sin. Hawthorne eventually reveals Hester Prynne’s sexual sin of marital

infidelity and how the letter displays her sin for the town to judge and ridicule her. The Reverend

Mr. Wilson pushes and persuades Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale to ask Hester Prynne to reveal her

partner in crime, so she can remove the scarlet letter. Wilson declares, “‘Extort her to confess the

truth!’” (Hawthorne 56). As evidenced, Hester Prynne represents a scapegoat figure; she is
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branded and ostracized, so the Puritan townspeople can feel purified by her ostracization. The

scarlet letter of the title is a sign that elicits various interpretations from characters in the novel,

as well as from the narrator of the tale. In the case of the community, they interpret Hester

Prynne’s scarlet letter differently than Hester Prynne interprets the sign. For the community, the

scarlet letter represents the badge of her sin. Reverend Wilson makes it clear that Hester has to

give away her partner and repent of her “crimes” to remove this “badge of sin.” Hawthorne

writes, “‘Speak out the name! That, and thy repentance, may avail to take the scarlet letter off thy

breast’” (57). In the Christian belief, for someone to receive forgiveness for their sins, they must

repent of their sins. Similar to Reverend Wilson, Dimmesdale, also referred to as Pearl’s father,

continuously places his hand over his heart, which Dimmesdale does to express how he deserves

to wear this badge of sin and shame as well. To be more specific, Hawthorne describes, “Mr.

Dimmesdale, who, leaning over the balcony, with his hand upon his heart, had awaited the result

of his appeal. He now drew back, with a long respiration” (58). For Dimmesdale and the town,

the scarlet letter represents a badge of sin, or the weight of sin. By forcing Hester Prynne to wear

the scarlet letter, or this “badge of sin,” the Puritan townsfolk make her a victim of scapegoating.

Through the victimization of Hester Prynne and the representation of the scarlet letter as

a symbol of sin, the Puritans force her to fill the role of a scapegoat for their sin. Based on the

location of the Puritan fathers of Boston in relation to Hester Prynne, the Puritans make her a

scapegoat for the Puritan community. According to Evans Lansing Smith’s academic journal

article, “While she stands alone upon the scaffold, holding the infant Pearl beneath the scarlet

letter on her breast, the Puritan fathers look down on her from the balcony above and plead with

her to reveal the name of the child's father. her partner in sin.” Rather than meeting Hester
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Prynne on the scaffold and standing alongside her, the Puritan fathers of Boston literally and

figuratively look down on her for the acts of sin she commits. Furthermore, focusing on Hester

Prynne’s sins rather than each person’s individual sins, the Puritan townspeople create a

scapegoat out of Hester Prynne. Specifically, Smith writes, “the plot of The Scarlet Letter is

impelled from the beginning by the need to uncover what has been concealed by Hester's loving

protection of Dimmesdale, a need evidenced most obviously by Roger Chillingworth's efforts to

discover the identity of the child's father.” Throughout this work of literature, uncovering Hester

Prynne’s partner and her sins is a key focus of the Puritans, ergo making her a victim of

scapegoating. In addition to this, the Puritan fathers of Boston justify their scapegoating of

Hester Prynne by viewing it as their duty. Craig A. Milliman points out, “All” of Dimmesdale’s

“Puritan auditors save one perceive that ‘accountability’ as the ‘responsibility’ of pastor” (83).

Rather than focusing on their own sins, the Puritan fathers of Boston utilize Hester Prynne’s fall

into sexual sin as justification for making her a scapegoat.

Depicting Hester Prynne as a scapegoat follows not only the consistency of Puritans in

this story, but also the Puritans in this time period. Within the context of the story, Hester Prynne

cannot seem to catch a break; wherever she goes, Hester Prynne becomes the subject of the

Puritan townspeople’s mockery. Hawthorne writes that “the young and pure would be taught to

look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast - at her, the child of honorable parents - at

her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman - at her, who had once been innocent

- as the figure, the body, the reality of sin” (66). Through Hawthorne’s utilization of anaphora, he

emphasizes the mockery of the Puritans in Hester Prynne’s town. Instead of leaving the town,

Hester Prynne stays and takes the punishment she feels she deserves. Specifically, Hawthorne
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states that “the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another

purity than that which she had lost; more saint-like, because the result of martyrdom” (67).

Hester Prynne tolerates the cruelty of the Puritans, for she is still guilty of her sins. As the

Puritans continue in their scapegoating ways, they view their actions as righteous. According to

Lynne Walhout Hinojosa, “Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English Puritans saw their

historical moment as typologically related to Biblical history and therefore as part of God’s

providential plan” (74). In other words, the Puritans remain ignorant of their scapegoating and

view their treatment of Hester Prynne as a part of God’s divine plan. Regarding the history of

Puritanism, Michael W. Kaufmann argues that the Puritans ponder, “Should religious belief be

measured in terms of behaviors and practices (such as attending a particular church), or

emotional responses to sermons, or interpretive protocols of Scripture, or representations of the

soul in conversion testimonies?” (35). In essence, the Puritans believe that behaviors and

practices grant them good graces with God. As a result of these beliefs, the Puritans victimize

Hester Prynne and place her in the role of a scapegoat to take the blame for the sins of the

community.

Because of the Puritan townspeople’s scapegoating of Hester Prynne and the Puritans’

scapegoating throughout history, the Puritans are guilty of hypocrisy. In The Scarlet Letter,

Dimmesdale, specifically, falls into hypocrisy. Preston Harper communicates, “Committed as he

is to works as a testimony of one's goodness and the criterion for community acceptance, he is

unwilling publicly to confess his sin and, consequently, abandon his ministry, which is the

highest position in the Puritan community” (61-2). Due to Dimmesdale’s unwillingness to

confess for most of the story, he acts like a hypocrite. Even though readers eventually find out
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that Dimmesdale is a sinner and a hypocrite, the townspeople still view him as a pious, righteous,

incredible preacher, which makes them hypocrites as well for their condemnation of Hester

Prynne. Furthermore, Harper argues, “Like other Puritans, even Governor Bellingham,

Dimmesdale also becomes a hypocrite, and he attempts to atone for his sins by public acts of

charity and spiritual edification” (62). Dimmesdale not only hides his sin, but he also tries to

conceal his sin more by doing good deeds. Similar to the Puritans of this time, Dimmesdale acts

out of a place of hypocrisy. Andy Dorsey elaborates on this by claiming that Puritanism “centers

on spiritual hypocrisy. This ancient discourse was once again revived in the form of pamphlets,

sermons, histories, letters, journals, and conversion narratives as a result of disputes between ‘the

Massachusetts establishment’ and Anne Hutchinson,” a Puritan woman who spread her own

interpretations of the Bible during this time of the Puritans (630). Like the hypocrisy of the

Puritans, Chillingworth exhibits his own hypocrisy, ironically, when he tries to reveal

Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy. Harper explains, “Not only has Chillingworth committed the

unpardonable sin, but also he is a hypocrite as well, concealing his true identity from

Dimmesdale and the community” (57). Refraining from revealing his identity to the other

Puritans in his community, Chillingsworth is the epitome of Puritan hypocrisy. Illustrating the

hypocritical mask of the Puritans of this time, Hawthorne offers a variety of instances in which

the Puritan characters exude hypocrisy through their scapegoating of Hester Prynne.

Based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s biography and his family’s history with the Salem

Witch Trials, Hawthorne’s life and family’s experiences illustrate the scapegoating and hypocrisy

of the Puritans. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s great-great grandfather, John Hathorne, and his father,

William Hathorne, were judges in the Salem Witch Trials, which involved the persecution and
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imprisonment of convicted “witches.” Hawthorne’s disgust with his ancestors led to the addition

of a letter in Hawthorne’s last name, so others would not associate him with his horridly cruel

great-great grandfather and father. Rebecca Beatrice Brooks expresses how a multitude “of

Hawthorne’s novels and stories, which tend to be about overbearing Puritan rulers ruthlessly

persecuting others, were inspired by Hawthorne’s ancestors, John Hathorne and his father

William.” The cruelty and acts of persecution committed by Hawthorne’s family members

inspired Hawthorne to write many of his works built on the hypocrisy of the Puritans. In another

biography, written by American Writers Museum, it discusses Nathaniel Hawthorne and the

horrors of Salem, Massachusetts. The American Writers Museum explains, “In Hawthorne’s

portrayal of the legacies of Salem, then, the horrors of witchcraft do not just represent paranoia

or oppression but in fact comprise a significant part of the moment’s gloomy wrongs and dark

histories.” The history of the Puritans involved years of hate, judgment, and hypocrisy. As a

result, Hawthorne felt led to call out the Puritans for their hypocrisy through the art of writing

literary works of genius. Not only this, but Hawthorne felt guilty for the crimes of his ancestors.

American Writers Museum elaborates, “Hawthorne did write an American historical romance

that originates (quite literally, in the opening pages of its first chapter; also biographically, in

Hawthorne’s guilt about his ancestor John Hathorne’s role in the trials) with the gloomy wrong

of the Salem Witch Trials.” Through the life of Nathaniel Hawthorne and his works, it is evident

that the Puritans were guilty of both scapegoating and falling into hypocrisy.

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne victimizes Hester Prynne as a

scapegoat to illustrate the hypocrisy of the Puritans during this time. Forcing Hester Prynne to

wear the golden embroidered scarlet letter and trying to get her to reveal her partner in crime
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displays this act of scapegoating that the townspeople commit. Due to the town’s constant gossip

and conversations related to Hester Prynne, it seems that the town wants to make Hester Prynne

carry the weight of the town’s sins by wearing this “badge of sin.” When the Puritan fathers of

Boston place themselves physically above Hester Prynne and separate themselves from her, they

manifest themselves as metaphorically higher than Hester Prynne; this shows how the Puritans

and their leaders view themselves as superior. By making Hester Prynne a scapegoat, the

Puritans can feel some sense of relief for their own “badge of sin.” Moreover, this work

manifests the Puritans and their behaviors during this time. The Puritans of this time appear

hypocritical and cruel in their harsh punishments. Additionally, through Hawthorne’s personal

biography and relations to his Puritan ancestors in the Salem Witch Trials, he receives inspiration

to write against these inhumane ways of the Puritans; the Puritans are hypocritical experts on

scapegoating. All in all, this flaw of hypocrisy rooted in human nature leads to the scapegoating

of Hester Prynne.
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Works Cited

American Writers Museum. “Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Horrors of Salem.” American Writers

Museum, 25 Oct. 2016, https://americanwritersmuseum.org/nathaniel-hawthorne-and-the-

horrors-of-salem/. Accessed 29 Oct.-10 Nov. 2019.

Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. “The Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne.” History of Massachusetts Blog,

15 Sept. 2011, https://historyofmassachusetts.org/nathaniel-hawthorne/. Accessed 29

Oct.-10 Nov. 2019.

Dorsey, Andy. “A Rhetoric of American Experience.” Early American Literature, vol. 49, no. 3,

2014, pp. 629-62. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1353/eal.2014.0057. Accessed 29 Oct.-10 Nov.

2019.

Harper, Preston. “Puritan Works Salvation and the Quest for Community in The Scarlet Letter.”

Theology Today, vol 57, no. 1, Apr. 2000, pp. 51-65. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/00405736

0005700105. Accessed 29 Oct.-10 Nov. 2019.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1963.

Hinojosa, Lynne Walhout. “Religion and Puritan Typology in E. M. Forster’s ‘A Room with a

View.’” Journal of Modern Literature, vol. 33, no. 4, 2010, pp. 72-94. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.2979/JML.2010.33.4.72. Accessed 29 Oct.-10 Nov. 2019.

Kaufmann, Michael W. Post-secular Puritans: Recent Retrials of Anne Hutchinson. Early

American Literature, vol. 45, no. 1, Mar. 2010, pp. 31-59. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1353/

eal.0.0095. Accessed 29 Oct.-10 Nov. 2019.

Milliman, Craig A. “Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.” Explicator, vol. 53, no. 2, 1995, pp. 83-5.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/00144940.1995.9937234. Accessed 29 Oct.-10 Nov. 2019.

Smith, Evans Lansing. “Re-figuring Revelations: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.”

ATQ, vol. 4, no. 2, June 1990, p. 91. EBSCOhost, http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.

regent.edu:2048/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=7ae3c154-13cd-4daf-920e-13ae6390baf4

%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=9604290611

&db=a9h. Accessed 29 Oct.-10 Nov. 2019.