A Love That Could Never Be

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A Love That Could Never Be

Have you ever loved someone so much, but you couldn’t be with them? In “The Scarlet Letter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates a love that could never be with Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Since Hester was shone from a normal life in society after her acts of adultery, she could not be with the man she loved. Since Mr. Dimmesdale was the “saint on earth” (Hawthorne 251) he was also not able to show his affection towards Prynne in public or even in private.
In the opening chapters we first begin to learn about Hester, but never about the man she committed adultery with. While on the scaffold the townspeople gather around her and watch as the magistrates try to convince her to tell who the man was. “Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman’s heart!”(Hawthorne 70) Hester loved this man so much she felt that it was no need for her to bring him down with her. So she stood up on the scaffold with the baby in her arms “ And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!” (Hawthorne 71) Hester realizes that if she confesses the name of the man that it would not help them to be together but instead making it completely impossible.
As the story progresses we learn more about the child that was born through this unholy union. “Thy heavenly Father sent thee!” (Hawthorne 102) Hester wouldn’t even reveal the name of her daughter’s father. Pearl would repeatedly ask who her father was but Hester would simply say the heavenly Father or ignore the question. She did this out of fear of the name of the man she loved getting out. If anyone in the town found out who this man was he would be ruined and so Hester would be just as miserable as she was. Pearl became the “mother’s only treasure” (Hawthorne 92) Pearl kept Hester alive and yet in some strange way punished her by reminding her of the dreaded sin that she committed.
When we start to learn about Arthur Dimmesdale,...