Scarlet Letter -- Still Relevant

¶ … Scarlet Letter -- Still relevant to today's sexual and moral climate

Because the Puritan faith is so alien to modern Americans, Nathaniel Hawthorne's the Scarlet Letter may immediately impresses the casual reader as an outdated text, not simply in its language, but also in the depicted morals of the Puritan community that condemns Hester Prynne. The small, religiously governed community forces the heroine Hester Prynne to live a lifetime of wearing a scarlet 'A' upon her chest, merely because she has committed adultery. Hester has nowhere to go, no place to migrate to as a defenseless mother, so she must suffer a continual punishment of social isolation, even while she still dwells within the community. Hester maintains that she does not care, because she is proud of her child, whom she names Pearl, after the pearl whose owner cast away everything in the Bible, merely to buy a pearl of a great price. The pearl represents the purity of the soul, a purity Hester retains even after her supposed 'sin,' which is really one of many sins (some of which are much worse) committed within her community. Hester even has to fight for guardianship of her own child, as the elders of her community believe that if "the child, on the other hand, were really capable of moral and religious growth, and possessed the elements of ultimate salvation, then, surely, it would enjoy all the fairer prospect of these advantages by being transferred to wiser and better guardianship than Hester Prynne's." (Hawthorne, 1850, Chapter 7) Hester's punishment may make the modern reader angry at the religious hypocrisy of her community, and her morality of willing to conceal the name of Pearl's father and to love her child seems noble.

But consider, even in our own socially enlightened times, how sexual transgressions of unwed mothers are often viewed. It is teenage mothers, not teenage fathers who have historically been sent away to half-way homes, to supposedly conceal their condition and keep other teens from 'getting ideas' about sexuality, as if seeing someone who is pregnant will instigate rather than act as a detriment to other teen's sexuality. Teenage fathers are not similarly sent away, or encouraged to finish their high school educations at schools specifically designed for teenage fathers. Even sexually active teens whose activities have not resulted in pregnancy are able to continue along their educational lives in a normal social fashion, because their 'sin' is not revealed to the adult community in such an obvious fashion.

This sort of irrational attitude towards unwanted sexuality, or regarding it as an infection rather than a natural part of human existence, parallels the Puritan community's treatment of Hester. It is also reflected in contemporary fears of distributing condoms, educating students about birth control, or providing adequate information about how to deal with unplanned sex and pregnancies, like using the 'morning after' pill or abortion. The idea that merely possessing sexual knowledge generates the common, human impulse of sexual desire, and even having the tools to engage in sexually responsible or knowledgeable behavior is somehow tainted, may further be seen as a reflection of America's Puritan past.