Hawthorne’s Use of The Themes of Dark Romanticism in The Scarlet Letter

There were times in American history where logic and facts were far more important than just silly emotions. However, after the writing form of Romanticism began in the early 19th century during the Industrial Revolution, a great emphasis was put on emotions including but not limited to guilt, anger, sin, and happiness. This showed that the American society, in particular, was casting off into a different time period where intuition and spontaneous emotion was far more valued. The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses the themes of Dark Romanticism to address the issues faced by the characters in the book. In his book, Hawthorne reflects these principles of Dark Romanticism through addressing themes like good and evil, the inherent madness of the human psyche, and the innocence of children.

In the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne greatly signifies the importance of guilt and sin. The book focuses on the guilt of Arthur Dimmesdale and contrasts it to the revenge-driven Roger Chillingsworth. Hawthorne is saying that, though guilt’s effects on the mind seem completely harmless, this emotion is more deadly than any blade. For example, Dimmesdale has a deep fixation on his own sins and his fear of being unable to confide in his sins. To make matters worse, he connects these sins to the world around him. This causes him to see hate, evil, and shame everywhere. The forest symbolizes his secrets which can be opened at any second by the villagers thus placing his high standing at risk. Consumed by his guilt, Dimmesdale seems to see everyone as a threat, except where the actual threat comes from: Roger Chillingsworth. As a result, Dimmesdale cannot recognize any threats at all because he sees threats in everything due to his guilt.

Hawthorne also questions the idea of evil in the story. Often, throughout the story, the characters debate who the “black man” is. It is thought to be Dimmesdale or Chillingsworth while Pearl is regarded as the devil’s child. The characters want to find out the root of this evil that has manifested itself in their lives through their sins. They wonder if it’s because Hester committed adultery with Dimmesdale caused Chillingsworth to become evil. It leads one to believe that the love of someone else brews hate which in turn creates evil. Contrary to this, however, the narrator states that knowledge of the heart “renders” an individual dependent on another. This means that two people using each other for comfort cannot be considered an act of evil. This means that the concept of evil isn’t what Dimmesdale and Hester did. Evil is found in the venomously dangerous heart of Chillingsworth, whose hate was bred upon false love.

There is a strong belief in the innocence of youth throughout the Scarlet Letter. In the story, youth is constantly regarded as a superior notion of wisdom. The story tells us that there is limitless knowledge to be found from those who have not been influenced by urban society. Pearl, Hester’s daughter, had a very strong intuition that the Dimmesdale was the “black man.” She questioned why the minster never showed his affections in public while only showing them in a private setting. The forest is symbolic of an escape from society. In this place, only then would Hester and Dimmesdale talk freely. Additionally, the forest saw Pearl as its own, going so far as to allow her to interact with the animals by making them be unafraid of her. The forest as well as the author recognizes the purity and innocence of Pearl and thus interacts with her.

Through the use of various ideals, Nathaniel Hawthorne inscribes many of themes of Dark Romanticism in order to express the ideals of the authors in the 19th century. The innocence of youth, madness of the human psyche, and the idea of good and evil are all used to support the personalities that look at things more emotionally, much like the Dark Romantic time period in the 19th century. By giving a glimpse of how this time period was like, the Scarlet Letter brings its readers comfort in knowing that such an instrumental time period like this is still maintained through this book.