Sipes 1 Dustin Sipes Professor Walter Hesford English 343 16 November 2012 The Ministers Red A vs.

Hesters Black Veil: The Battle for Heroism between Internal and External Stigma in The Scarlet Letter I. Introduction Stigma in and of itself could rightfully be considered the driving force behind The Scarlet Letters entire plot, most obviously in its external manifestation: the scarlet letter A. This letter manifests itself in two separate ways. Its first and most obvious form is a piece of embroidery affixed upon the bosom of Hester Prynne, a woman condemned to wear it for all her life as punishment for her act of adultery. Its second form is a wound, self-inflicted, on the bosom of Arthur Dimmesdale, the man who shared her sin but did not come forth to bear his punishment. Each of them bore their stigma differently, with Hester being forced to bear her stigma externally for all to see and judge, and Dimmesdale bearing his stigma in secret, internally punishing himself for his sins in lieu of actual confession. Both required their own strength to bear; yet, whose strength is the greatest? Hester Prynne has been commonly accepted as the heroine of The Scarlet Letter, but there are a few who instead choose to assert that Dimmesdale should be hailed as the unsung hero of Hawthornes greatest work. Herein we will closely examine both Hesters external stigma and Dimmesdales internal stigma, weighing them against each other to determine, by way of finding the greater strength between them, who is the true hero or heroine of The Scarlet Letter.

Sipes 2 II. Hester: Strength in External Stigma While Hester is an undoubtedly strong woman, one who is considered the effective heroine of The Scarlet Letter and is perceived as above all defining herself in the face of adversity, her character is nonetheless undeniably defined by the scarlet letter from the beginning. Even her characteristic streaks of independence and pride, the very traits that cause many readers and critics alike to assert that she does indeed own herself and is not subject to the influence of the letter, arise primarily from her defiance of the letter and the stigma attached to it. It is unavoidable that she is always in some form subject to the effects of this stigma. One of her greatest strengths, however, is her ability to reverse this external stigma attached to the symbol and present it to the eyes of the reader, and eventually the Puritan community, in a completely different light than that which was originally intended. From the very birth of the letter, Hester willfully re-embroidered its inherent stigma, and emerged from the Salem jailhouse bearing on her bosom a letter that was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore (Hawthorne 40). Within the context of modern culture the effectiveness of this embellishment is significantly reduced; however, against the restrictively drab backdrop of the Puritan world in which Hester is placed, where such extravagance was greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony (Hawthorne 40), such embellishment was a bold move indeed, bringing down heavy criticisms from the Puritan goodwives who witnessed her emergence from the jailhouse. She hath good skill at her needle, thats certain, one of them concedes, but did ever a woman, before this brazen hussy, contrive such a way of showing it! Why, gossips, what is it but to laugh in the faces of our godly magistrates, and make a pride out of what they, worthy gentlemen,

Sipes 3 meant for a punishment? (Hawthorne 41) Hester may not have been actively conscious of it, but the Puritan woman had made a valid observation. While it was assuredly easier for Hester to execute her blasphemous threadwork in the relative isolation of her jail cell, beyond the reach of the public eye, the golden embellishment of her scarlet punishment was nonetheless an act of defiance. Maybe it was a subconscious defiance, or otherwise completely purposeful; or perhaps it was merely her effort to make something beautiful a practically subversive act in and of itself, amongst such a somber lot as the Puritans out of something obviously meant to be a mark of moral ugliness. Regardless of what her intentions were, the effect of her art is the transformation of the intended meaning of the letter; instead of hiding her shame, she draws the gaze more intently to the symbol on her breast, pronouncing her separateness more loudly than the pronouncements of the magistrates (Last 360). Here it is important to remember the intent of this analysis, and that we are herein measuring the characters strength upon the scale of stigma. Hesters defiant re-embroidering adds pounds to her figurative side of the scale. By sentencing Hester to wear the scarlet letter, the Puritan authorities were attempting to punish her by placing upon her an irremovable, burning stigma, one that would remove her individual identity and make her, rather, an object belonging to the community as a whole as the negative example, as the abjected, sin-infected other (Last 360). This stigma would, in theory, remind her constantly of her shame by ensuring that the community saw her not as Hester Prynne the woman, but as simply Hester Prynne, wearer of the scarlet letter, reducing her to a transparent sign[, and] a transgressor of man's laws (Last 360). Well-crafted though this scheme was, it nonetheless backfires in the form of Hesters triumphant embroidery; [her] needle subverts the interpretive code (Last 360). This subversion continues steadily throughout the tale as more and more of the townsfolk come to interpret the

Sipes 4 letters meaning in new ways. Hester re-embroiders her stigma not only literally, but figuratively as well. By submitting herself without complaint to societys worst usage, being quick to acknowledge her sisterhood with the race of man, and by making herself a self-ordained Sister of Mercy, she slowly begins to reverse the stigma surrounding her infamous letter. (Hawthorne 105) Indeed, she re-defines the letter through her actions until many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original significance, instead asserting that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a womans strength (Hawthorne 106). Hesters ability to withstand the heavy stigma laid upon her does not end here, but moves past mere redefinition to a complete conversion of its power. In The Custom-House, Hawthornes oft-referenced preface to The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne supposedly stumbles across what one can only presume was the infamous scarlet letter itself. In his narrative, he places the cloth letter to his breast, and feels a sensation not altogether physical, yet almost so, as of burning heat; and as if the letter were not of red cloth, but of red-hot iron (Hawthorne 26). Many speculations have been made as to the connotations of this burning, most concluding that it is the residual product of the sin or suffering that had been connected to it during Hesters life. I instead choose to believe that it was residual heat from a metaphorical furnace. The scarlet letter which, by Hesters strength, was now almost completely redefined and under her control acted no longer as a conductor of its inherent stigma; rather, as implicated in the previous sentence, it acted as a metaphorical furnace, using Hesters quiet defiance as fuel to convert this stigma into a subtle energy that was then at her disposal. She utilizes this energy by manipulating two of the very factors that she is helpless to change: silence and isolation. Silence is an inherent byproduct of the level of exclusion that Hester was forced to endure. Amongst a people that looked down upon her in constant judgment, her voice became

Sipes 5 virtually meaningless. Had she chosen to speak to any Puritan, whether in passing or in any degree of depth, her words would more than likely have been treated with contempt, if not ignored outright. Noted Hawthorne scholar Leland S. Person, Jr., in his article Hesters Revenge: The Power of Silence in The Scarlet Letter, asserts that in Hesters silence lay her true strength and power over her situation. Given her circumstances, he says, a strategic silence is the most appropriate form for Hesters exercise of power to take (Person 471). He also describes it as both fitting and ironic ironic because, as feminist critics have argued, women are customarily silenced in male-authored texts in order to be rendered powerless (Person 470). Indeed, some of Hawthornes notorious feminist critics might argue that her seemingly meek acceptance of this silencing should be seen as weakness and insist that a truly strong woman would not have stood by and let herself be muted and used by society. Such criticism would more likely prefer a figure such as Ann Hutchinson, to whom Hawthorne draws many lines of comparison with Hester. Hawthorne even says that Hester might have come down to us in history, hand in hand with Ann Hutchinson, as the foundress of a religious sect. She might, in one of her phases, have been a prophetess (Hawthorne 108). How preferable would this have been to the radical feminists! One fact that such a viewpoint overlooks, however, is the existence of Pearl. Preceding the quotes in the previous sentence, Hawthorne gave us a disclaimer, stating that this alternative fate would have only been possible had little Pearl never come to [Hester] from the spiritual world (Hawthorne 108). With Pearl as her responsibility, Hester was not allowed the luxury of being outspoken against her Puritan oppressors, lest she have suffered death from the stern tribunals of the period, for attempting to undermine the foundations of the Puritan establishment (Hawthorne 108), leaving Pearl to be raised by the church or some

Sipes 6 church-ordained guardian which doubtless would have appeased the traditional moralists as well. Leaving the feminists and Puritan-sympathizers aside, however, we realize that Hester truly had no choice but silence. Thus, it was silence that she was forced to use as her both her armor and her weapon, drawing it close to herself and letting her absence of words speak for itself. In its own way, her silence spoke more than her words ever could have, justifying her to others where actual argument would have merely worsened her situation. When she met members of her community in the streets, she never so much as raised her head to greet them, or to return their greetings. On the rare occasion in which they were resolute to accost her, she merely laid her finger on the scarlet letter, and passed on (Hawthorne 108). Even this simple act of silence shaped opinions as effectively as words, and even though it may have been out of pride, it was so like humility, that it produced all the softening influence of [that] quality on the public mind (Hawthorne 108). Suzan Last, quoted earlier, even provides a proverbial bone to throw to the feminists regarding Hesters silence: Without benefit of a suitable language, Hester communicates through her feminine artistry of needle-work an artistry that the narrator recognises as almost the only one within a woman's grasp (76). The women in the community recognise her non-verbal, feminine form of communication Only in this nonverbal, semiotic system can she begin to take control, to some degree, of her identity; and only through the use of this semiotic power can she subvert the patriarchal symbol of punishment paced on her breast, as well as the patriarchal power placed over all women in the community. (Last 361)

Sipes 7 A further consequence of Hesters stigma is her isolation from the Puritan community. Though not physically isolated, she nonetheless remains separated from them by the invisible boundary created by her scarlet stigma. This isolation causes her no great grief; on the contrary, it presents her with the opportunity to develop what is probably the greatest augment to her strength: her freedom of thought. Her enslavement to her stigma and the resulting silence and isolation forced her life to turn, in great measure, from passion and feeling, to thought (Hawthorne 107). In all actuality, this forced transition freed her from what Hawthorne refers to as the fragments of a broken chain (Hawthorne 107), and the law of the world in which she lived was no law to her mind (Hawthorne 107). This freedom of thought and subsequent freedom of will, when set against her Puritan backdrop, is what has marked Hester Prynne in the literary annals as notoriously Antinomian, alongside her somewhat-counterpart, the sainted Ann Hutchinson. As aforementioned, Hester never reached Hutchinsons level of revolution due to the constraints placed upon her by her daughter; yet, due to the fact that we can get inside her head, so to speak, we realize that she was truly no less revolutionary in her questioning of Puritan-imposed circumstances. She assumed a freedom of speculation, then common enough on the other side of the Atlantic, but which our forefathers, had they known it, would have held to be a deadlier crime than that stigmatized by the scarlet letter. In her lonesome cottage, by the sea-shore, thoughts visited her, such as dared to enter no other dwelling in New England; shadowy guests, that would have been as perilous as demons to their entertainer, could they have been seen so much as knocking at her door. (Hawthorne 107-108)

Sipes 8 In this fashion Hester turned the seemingly bleak prospect of isolation into a playground for private reflections, contemplations, and a level of introspection that strengthened her even further. III. Dimmesdales Weakness: Internalized Stigma If Hester is the heroine of The Scarlet Letter, then by extension one might consider Dimmesdale to be the hero. What, though, is heroic about him? To adequately support an argument of strength between Hester and Dimmesdale, we must first examine what could possibly make us think that Dimmesdale is potentially a strong figure in the first place. His character one visibly rife with weakness, and unsound in mind, body, emotion and spirit more often than not strays into the realms of the pathetic. Where, then, is his strength? In one respect, Dimmesdale could be seen as, in the words of one Bruce Ingham Granger, the Tragic Hero of The Scarlet Letter. Granger insists that Hawthorne's allegorical romance centers on a good man's struggle with and eventual victory over the guilt he experiences after committing lechery (Granger 197). He also asserts that Dimmesdales was the final and most magnificent triumph of the story, as he has his Calvinist faith put to the supreme test and, having agreed to flee Boston with Hester and their child, finds the strength to face his responsibility and confess before he dies (Granger 197), which purportedly is the act of a man who is tragically great (Granger 202). In contrast, to further portray Dimmesdale as the storys glorious martyr, Granger demonizes Hester. [She] is incapable of acting in any way that is ethically meaningful (Granger 202), he says. Whereas Dimmesdale's full revelation on the scaffold is tragic, Hester's dynamic but lawless behavior is at best heroically pathetic (Granger 202). These assertions, while touching in their sentiment, collapse rather quickly beneath closer examination through the lens of stigma. Firstly, we must remember that, from the beginning,

Sipes 9 Dimmesdale was too frail in character to come forth, of his own volition, and take upon himself the external stigma that Hester was forced to bear. Thus, he subjected himself to an internalized self-stigmatization, which he bore for years until his victory at the scaffold which I prefer to see as a collapse rather than a victory. Was it truly the case that Dimmesdale miraculously and instantaneously found the inner strength to accept external stigma, suddenly dredging up some hidden reserve of Christ-like martyrdom which compelled him to sacrifice himself upon the scaffold? Inspiring as this concept may be, I find it highly unlikely that Dimmesdale would so easily and spontaneously change the nature of his entire character of cowardice as it had been portrayed and reinforced throughout the text, especially at the end where his weakness had reached its lowest point. It is improbable that he found the strength to accept external stigma; rather, it is more easily believable that he simply ran out of strength to uphold his internal stigma. Even if we were to see Dimmesdales confession as a victory rather than a collapse, it was a victory attained more at the strength of Hester Prynne than Arthur Dimmesdale. Before he begins his ascent to the scaffold, he cries out to her for help, saying Hester Prynne in the name of Him, so terrible and so merciful, who gives me grace, at this last moment, to do what for my own heavy sin and miserable agony I withheld myself from doing seven years ago, come hither now, and twine thy strength about me! Thy strength, Hester; but let it be guided by the will which God hath granted me! Come, Hester, come! Support me up yonder scaffold! (Hawthorne 160) What little will Dimmesdale does have, he admits, is not even his own, but has been granted him by God, and even with this God-given will he must still implore Hester to support him! This does not seem like the final act of a martyr, but the act of a weakling in the throes of desperation, a

Sipes 10 coward who had become so thoroughly compounded with hypocrisy that all his seeming revelations and gestures have undermined the efficacy of his true revelation. His final act can be seen according to the pattern of his previous gestures (Stocking 337). A far more intriguing assertion of Dimmesdales potential strength can be found in an article entitled Subtle, but remorseful hypocrite: Dimmesdales Moral Character by Kenneth D. Pimple. This article asserts that Dimmesdales true strength, as opposed to Hesters strength in silence, lay in his powers of speech. Throughout the text of The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdales powers of speech are repeatedly lauded. A prime example lies in the beginning of the story: as Hester stands upon the scaffold, Dimmesdale is entreated to reason with her for the purpose of convincing her to reveal her partner in adultery. As readers, we realize the irony in this, but the surrounding crowd is clueless regarding the truth of the situation. Dimmesdales entreaty, despite the obvious difficulties we know to be present in its execution, was nonetheless awe-inspiring. The young pastors voice was tremulously sweet, rich, deep, and broken. The feeling that it so evidently manifested, rather than the direct purport of the words, caused it to vibrate within all hearts, and brought the listeners into one accord of sympathy (Hawthorne 49). His gift with words escalated steadily from that point onward until his final sermon, right before his confession. The text says that [never] had inspiration ever breathed through mortal lips more evidently than it did through his (Hawthorne 157). Such strength in his rhetoric, combined with the fact that he had a congregation to exercise it over, provided Dimmesdale with a great amount of power at his disposal. Dimmesdales eloquence speaks to the heart, Pimple says; its power comes more from affect than meaning, more from emotion than reason, more from pragmatics than semantics (Pimple 259). This ability to make people feel as he wanted them to feel without revealing the true purpose behind his words inherently made Dimmesdale a master manipulator.

Sipes 11 This very power of manipulation, however, is where we begin the descent into Dimmesdales weakness. His rhetoric was a rhetoric of hypocrisy, and as such, it began to tear him apart over time. To quote the gospel of Mark, if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand (King James Bible, Mark 3.25). Dimmesdale was indeed divided against himself, facing an ongoing dilemma where [He] values both his social face and his immortal soul, but he cannot save one without losing the other. His inner torment springs from this dilemma, and his effort to serve two masters leads him into continual doubletalk and makes his life an ongoing deception. His double values split his speaking in twain and slowly tear him asunder. (Pimple 270). Dimmesdales desperate need to uphold his public image also causes me to believe that, even had he possessed the strength of will and character to own his stigma externally from the beginning, he still would have proven himself the weaker party in the end. Hester, until the end of her days, remains strong and quietly defiant under the shadow of her letter. Dimmesdale, though, would have collapsed over time, and rather quickly, unable to withstand the shame allotted to him by his flock and their collective disappointment in him. His emotional and personal tie to his profession and occupation of guiding the souls of the Puritan community would have degraded him with regret, and in the end he would have been reduced to a mess of a man nearly identical to the Dimmesdale who carved his letter into his breast in private. IV. Final Battles: The Forest and the Triumphant Return Chapter XVII of The Scarlet Letter, in which Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest outside of the village, sets the scene for our final battle of strengths. It is here that both of our protagonists unload their full proverbial arsenal, displaying their cores for the world to see and

Sipes 12 judge as they will. Dimmesdale utilizes his talents of manipulation to their fullest extent in this encounter, and his critical conversation with Hester in the forest follows a pattern similar to his public speaking (Pimple 260). He presents himself in a fashion that makes him, on the surface, obviously weak. He begs Hester in the most pathetic fashion to help him, to use her strength to give him guidance. Think for me, Hester! he says; Thou art strong. Resolve for me! (Hawthorne 126). Here he truly is weak, but he is also beginning to subconsciously exercise the only power he possesses, manipulating Hester who still so passionately loved (Hawthorne 124) the man into being his strength for him. It is at this point that Hesters own strength begins to rear its head, countering Dimmesdales manipulation: she takes his burden upon herself, looking the wretched minister in the eyes and instinctively exercising a magnetic power over a spirit so shattered and subdued that it could hardly hold itself erect (Hawthorne 127). She tells him to run, to leave the oppressive community behind to search for a new life across the sea in their former homeland. The traditional moralist might argue that this is instead Hesters greatest moment of weakness, as she would be wholly subjecting both herself and the poor, defenseless Dimmesdale to the clutches of sin; but The Scarlet Letter, it must be kept in mind, is not a book written to enforce Puritan morals. It is a mild demonization of the Puritan way, and as such one cannot base the strength of Hawthornes characters actions on traditional Puritan morals and still expect to properly understand either them or the text in which they reside. Dimmesdale is bolstered by this new proposition, and in his eyes burns a fitful light, kindled by her enthusiasm (Hawthorne 128). He quickly hides it though, letting it [flash] and [die] away (Hawthorne 128), continuing his futile struggle against his own duality. Doubtless he wished that this proposed freedom could be possible, but in order to preserve the sanctity of his immortal self he knew, according to the religious standards to which he had prescribed, that

Sipes 13 he could not do such a thing as flee without damning himself. By this point, though, his weakness had seeped through his very soul, dampening his dedication to these standards. In this spiritual weakness his desire to preserve his mortal self won over, and he instinctively exercised his talent for manipulation in the form of a guilt trip. He says to Hester, There is no strength or courage left me to venture into the wild, strange, difficult world alone! (Hawthorne 128). He then repeats the word emphatically, putting forth a not-so-subtle hint: Alone, Hester! (Hawthorne 128). Hester, then, is put in a position where she is forced to make the hard decision for him. This she does: Thou shalt not go alone! answered she, in a deep whisper (Hawthorne 128). Now we arrive at the debate over who has truly won here. It could be argued that Dimmesdale has won: utilizing his talent for manipulation and rhetoric of duality, a talent developed as a result of his internalized stigma, he has virtually forced Hester into doing and saying precisely what he wanted her to do and say. It could also be argued that Hester continues to be the stronger of the two, as she was willing to take Dimmesdales burden upon herself a symbol of her compassion, and not an indication of weakness by falling into Dimmesdales proverbial trap. To truly determine who has won here, we must look beyond the end results of their battle and examine instead the roots of their stigmas. Dimmesdales stigma, while it irrefutably required its own level of strength to uphold, nonetheless had its root in selfishness. This selfishness was the manifestation of his weakness; he did not have the strength to confess and bear the external stigma as Hester did, so he is forced to selfishly bear his internal stigma. Dimmesdales internal stigma is inherently weak, therefore, because it was born of weakness. Hesters stigma, however, had its roots in utter selflessness. She was forced to bear her stigma, whereas Dimmesdale had a choice and, furthermore, she chose to bear it alone, with no

Sipes 14 companion to stand beside her and ease her shame, all for the sake of keeping Dimmesdales secret. We must also examine the course which their stigma took over the span of The Scarlet Letter. Dimmesdales selfish stigma degraded him, slowly but surely, until he became a pathetic creature capable of only giving up the ghost upon the scaffold with last words that, even with his dying breath, carried the dual rhetoric of hypocrisy. Hesters selfless stigma, meanwhile, continued to manifest itself in further selflessness: helping and providing for those who scorned her with complete humility, taking the burden of Dimmesdales sin as her own, and in her moment of greatest triumph returning to the place of her persecution after years of departure and willingly taking up the scarlet letter again, sacrificing any hope of regaining herself to serve her penitence. In this way Hester is a wondrous oxymoron. Her true and indisputably great strength lies in her ability to use that which she is powerless to help as the source of all her power. She is, by definition, a true heroine.

Sipes 15 Works Cited Granger, Bruce Ingham. Arthur Dimmesdale as Tragic Hero. Nineteenth-Century Fiction Vol. 19. No. 2 (1964): pp. 197-203. Print. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Custom-House. Ed. Leland S. Person. New York: W.W. Norton & Companany, 2005. Print. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Ed. Leland S. Person. New York: W.W. Norton & Companany, 2005. Print. Last, Suzan. Hawthornes Feminine Voices: Reading The Scarlet Letter as a Woman. The Journal of Narrative Technique Vol. 27. No. 3 (1997): pp. 349-376. Print. Person, Jr., Leland S. Hesters Revenge: The Power of Silence in the Scarlet Letter. Nineteenth-Century Literature Vol. 43. (1989): pp. 465-483. Print. Pimple, Kenneth D. Subtle, but remorseful hypocrite: Dimmesdales Moral Character. Studies in the Novel Vol. 25. No. 3 (1993): pp. 257-271. Scholarly Journal. Stocking, David M. An Embroidery on Dimmesdales Scarlet Letter. College English Vol. 13. No. 6 (1952): pp. 336-337. Print.