The Soap Opera
Love whether it be for a person, money or material things is the most influential emotion that shapes the lives of individuals. The lives of lovers in the twenty-first century are simplified in comparison to the lives of the Puritan’s in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. As an example we can contemplate the love triangle that occurs in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The protagonist, Hester Prynne, was a married woman who had an affair with the Reverend Arthur Dimmsdale, in the absence of her husband. She unfortunately, became pregnant and had a daughter who she named Pearl. In the twenty-first century this would be a tragedy, but it would not be uncommon for a married woman to divorce and remarry to the father of her child, without disrupting the dynamics of the community. Contrarily, the Puritans choose not to accept or had missed reading the book of John in the Holy Bible. "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a STONE at her" John 8:7 (1340). Each of the Puritans must have had something they questioned about themselves. Consequently, they persecuted infidelits like Hester quite harshly such as, being killed, including the men, or forced to wear a heavy wooden ‘A’ hanging from their necks for the remainder of their years. Fortunately for Hester, she only had to wear a cloth ‘A’. Sociologically the relationship between Hester and the two men offers a unique focal point in the Puritan life style.
Most of the details about, Chillingsworth, Hester’s husband’s involvement in the triangle are at the beginning of the story while Hester was in prison. During her imprisonment with her child for committing adultery, she was brought to the town square to stand on the scaffolding for public persecution and to receive her sentence.
Upon returning to civilization, Hester’s husband, who had assumed the name Rodger Chillingsworth, was confronted with Hester on the scaffolding. Rather than lend himself to the hysteria of the public, he “bent his eyes on Hester Prynne… a man chiefly accustomed to looking inward, and to whom external matters are of little value… very soon…his face darkened with some powerful emotion”(45). Followed by a signal to Hester to keep his identity a secret, he then took his time to assess the situation. It seems that Chillingsworth would not have looked in the eyes of Hester without some deep feelings for her. Powerful emotion, be it negative or positive is rooted deep in the heart where love lies. Chillingsworth’s love had just been crushed and he had not had time to process the attached emotions that came with it.
Chillingsworth assessed the situation and initiated a conversation with a nearby townsman. He shared that he had “been long held in bonds among the heathenflok…will it please you to tell me of Hester Prynne? [ the townsman answered] in some two years, or less… no tidings have come of…Master Prynne: and his young wife…being left to her own misguidance, [Chillingsworth interrupted]so learned a man as you speak of should have learned this too in his books”(45). His discussion suggests that he possibly employed some guilt about leaving his wife alone for the previous two years. His love may have been fading but he still felt responsible for his wife.
When Chillingsworth was told that Hester would not be killed for her infidelities, he exclaimed, “great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have doomed Mistress Prynne to stand only a space of three hours on of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom…A wise sentence!”(46). The excitement in his response denotes that he was relieved that her life would be spared. If he was enraged about Hester tarnishing his reputation he would have been relieved if she were sentenced to death.
Unbeknownst to Chillingsworth, Hester’s adversary already had a hand in her survival of the trial. During Hester’s interlude on the scaffolding Mister Wilson, the clergyman announced, “I have striven with my young brother [Arthur Dimmesdale]...I have sought ... he should deal with you"(48). In that brief moment, Hester’s destiny had been placed in the hands of her lover. His political influence in the case explains why she had received a lesser sentence than those that went before her. As the story progressed, Dimmesdale utilized his political position to keep vigil over his lover and step-daughter.
Chillingsworth apparently had compassion his unfaithful wife, even after having his love for her crushed, but harbored jealousy for her lover. As he pondered her survival his emotions erupted, “It irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should not …stand on the scaffold…But he will be known!- He will be Known!-he will be known!” (46). Jealousy is a property of love. Only a man who had deeply loved would so passionately insist on knowing the father of his wife’s illegitimate child.
Even though Dimmesdale was in love with Hester, his passion was not as evident as Chillingsworth’s. While Hester was on the scaffold, Wilson pleaded for Hester to confess the name of her accomplice. Hester replied, "“ Never!”...looking, not at Mr. Wilson but into the deep and troubled eyes of the younger clergyman [Dimmsdale]" (49). Responding to Hester’s adamant elucidation, Dimmesdale placed his hand over his heart and publicly commended her silent fortitude, “Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman’s heart! She will not speak!”(50). The tale later revealed that Dimmesdale silently pursued his punishment. This may not have been as passionate as Chillingsworth’s comment. None the less, by bringing the questioning to a halt his compassion for Hester was evident. At the same time Hester had protected Dimmesdale from the trial that she was already a spectacle of and given by not revealing her lover, gave reason for the death sentence to be delayed.
The Puritans were without a physician, leaving them venerable to the multitude of physical ailments of their time. Fortunately for the colonist, Chillingsworth was able to use his education from England, even though it was not in the medical field, and the knowledge that he had learned from the Indians, to gain standing in the Puritan community, as a physician;
The practice of medicine in the colonies was in a cruder state even than were the educational facilities. The village doctor was indeed an important personage, quite equal to the schoolmaster or the innkeeper, and not much inferior to the minister. He was at home in every family, and was highly respected by all classes. He was present at every birth and every funeral; he sat with the minister at the bed of death, and put his name with that of the lawyer to every will. His medical education was usually meager, and often consisted only of a short apprenticeship with some noted physician. No medical college existed in the colonies before the Revolution… There was a great deal of mystery in connection with the practice of medicine. In addition to the regular physicians there were many quacks who hawked their Indian medicines and special cures about the country (History of the United States of America, by Henry William Elson).
By taking the position of a physician Chillingsworth was privy to Hester’s cell and eventually involved in decisions regarding her. Furthermore, when he suspected Dimmesdale of having the affair with his wife, it brought him to be housed with him.
Pearl and Hester’s failed health, during their term in prison, merited a visit from the Puritans newly found physician, Rodger Chillingsworth. In the privacy of the prison cell Chillingsworth immediately focused his attention on Pearl, which created a path closer to Hester. His bedside manner with both was caring and almost endearing. Maintaining some of his heart felt feelings, his emotions drifted in to his work and he confessed to Hester:
It was my folly and thy weakness…a man already in decay…having given my best years to feed the hungry dream of knowledge,-what had I to do with youth and beauty like thine own! How could I delude myself …that intellectual gifts might veil Physical deformity in a young girl’s fantasy! ...I drew thee into my heart, and sought to warm thee. We have wronged each other (Hawthorn 53).
Chillingsworth exhibited self-blame for Hester’s actions. In the Puritan community every citizen had a place, and men were to rule over their women. “The essence of social order lay in the authority of husband over wife, parents over children, and masters over servants in the family” (John White, But a Helper). When he was Mister Prynne, Chillingsworth had failed to maintain his place in his marriage. Being devoted to the authority of religion and society, he suffered from the guilt of not fulfilling his duties and abandoning his wife, compounded with his inferiority as a husband of a young bride.
The influence of the Puritan’s reinforced Chillingsworth’s desire to justify his love for Hester by hold on to the a few threads that tied him to her. Before leaving Hester’s cell, Chillingsworth proclaims to Hester, “Thou and thine, belong to me. My home is where thou art” (Hawthorn 54). He had not only announced to her that she was still his, but also had laid claim to Pearl. This important statement is foreshadowing to his final actions in life.
When Pearl was seven years of age, Hester encountered Arthur Dimmesdale in the forest. Upon meeting "Arthur Dimmesdale put forth his hand, chill as death, and touched the chill hand of Hester Prynne. The grasp cold as it was took away what was dreariest in the interview…Without a word more spoken,- neither he nor she assuming the guidance, but with an unexpressed consent,- they glided back into the shadow of the woods"(123). The love they shared bound them to each other even in such simple acts as walking in unison without a verbal discuss on the execution of the action. Just as long married couples seem to know the upcoming action of the other, so did Hester and Dimmesdale
The strong connection between the two lovers left both parties feeling pain for the other. In the forest Dimmesdale asked; "Hester,...hast thou found peace?[she responded] Hast thou?”(123). Both expressed a genuine concern for the others state of mind and share their pain. Accentuating the pain, Hester divulged to Dimmesdale that Chillingsworth was her husband and very jealous of him. Even though Hester had kept crucial information from Dimmesdale, the pure love, he had for her, revealed it’s self when he was accepting of Hester’s deception in the face of his own demise.
They had kept their love for each other and maintained a state of denial to the public, but in the solitude, of their visitation in the forest, they were granted a few fleeting moments of bliss. “Life had never brought them a gloomier hour...yet it enclosed a charm that made them linger upon it and claim another, and another and, after all, another moment"(126). That sole opportunity to be alone together and bask in one another’s love was so alluring that their only option was to take advantage of it. For eight years they had maintained what appeared to be a professional relationship. Their time in the forest was, a refreshing moment stolen from their past and concealed form the eyes of the townspeople.
Hester attempted to convince Dimmesdale to leave make a new home away from the town or take passage on a ship to the old country, for the good of his health. But he argued that he "must die here! There is not the strength or courage left me to venture into the wide, strange, difficult world, alone! ... Alone, Hester!"(128) He seemed to have been searching for reason, to not leave Hester and to keep her near him without begging for her presence in his life. She explained, she would join him, causing him instant elation and to be filled with an uncommon excitement. His devotion to Hester and Pearl was so strong that even the threat of his impending death would not provoke him to leave them. Hester finally succeeded in persuading Dimmsdale to join her and Pearl’s family, as the ventured to England. He made a decision to leave the community with Hester and Pearl to start a new life together. The biological family, that resulted from infidelity, proved to be stronger that the Puritan persecution.
Rather than living as a family, fate made way for their path to the town’s scaffolding, where Dimmesdale demonstrated his love for Pearl. She had repeatedly requested him to stand on the scaffold with Hester and her. As if it were a public symbol that they were a family. In doing so he would be exposed to public persecution and possibly death. Due to the activity of a holiday celebration, and the reputation that Hester and Dimmesdale had independently built, the towns people were horror-stricken, at the family on the scaffolding, rather than revengeful as they were seven years prior.
As a result of the event on the scaffolding and his already failing physical condition Dimmesdale’s stress overwhelmed his health ending his life. Hester and Pearl were then left to continue their lives of solitude in the Puritan town.
Their lives did not continue as it was though. Chillingsworth displayed that his ownership of Hester and Pearl was of great magnitude to him. It would not have been uncommon for a man of Chillingsworth’s stature to donate his wealth to the church or a school as John Harvard, who was “a young [Puritan] clergyman … [who gave] a portion of his estate, amounting to about $4000,--a large sum in those days [to establish the Harvard College]” (History of the United States of America, by Henry William Elson). Chillingsworth had suppressed his traditional patriarchal roll in his family for many years, compounding his guilt. Given the fact that the community was unaware of his marriage to Hester, it was surprising that he acted on his guilt and left his wealth to Pearl. Hester was unreceptive to his love and had divulged to him, “I felt no love” (Hawthorn 53). How could he pass his wealth to a woman that did not want his love? However, Pearl though not by blood, was still a member of his family, and created an avenue for him to provide for Hester.
Throughout the story, Rodger Chillingsworth and Arthur Dimmsdale closely monitor Hester and Pearl’s lives. This was possible a result of self-preservation for Chillingsworth’s reputation or could have been his devotion to family and his love for Hester. Because of the bonds of the Puritan religion, this cannot be established for certainty, but he did make allowances, for her, unnecessary to maintain his reputation. Likewise, Dimmsdale fell into the same place of scrutiny. The allowances he installed for Hester and Pearl kept the knowledge of his relationship to Hester cryptic. Their secret could have incriminated him in her crime, and destroyed his reputation and possibly doomed him to death. But, in the end both men made personal sacrifice’s that only benefited Hester and Pearl.
“WORK CITED”
The practice of medicine in the colonies was in a cruder …
a young [Puritan] clergyman …
Elson, Henry William. History of the United States of America, The MacMillan Compaany, New York, 1904 (p.206-208)
The essence of social order lay in the authority of husband over wife, parents over children, and masters over servants in the family. John White wrote in his Genesis commentary of a wife as "but a helper", a view called "typically puritan" by Philip C. Almond.
Gouge, William. Puritans: Social Consequences and Family Life, Museum of Learning, Explore a Virtual Museum of Knowledge
Hawthorn, Nathaniel. Scarlet Letter and Other Writings, A Norton Critical Edition, New York-London, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2005 (p. 45, 46,48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 123, 126, 128)
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a STONE at her
John 8:7, Holy Bible King James Version, Intellectual Reserve, Inc. 1979
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