Scarlet Letter : A Love Story

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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is often interpreted by some readers as a tale of sin. However, the novel is much more a love story between Hester Prynne and Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale then anything else. Through the strong emphasis of love, Pearl’s presence and Dimmesdale’s Torture, the reader can identify the novel as a tale of romance.
Commonly throughout the novel, love is emphasized over sin in certain important scenes. At these times, sin is topic that creates the scene, but love is the theme that ultimately prevails which proves that the story is more about love and romance then sin and the consequences of sin. At the town meeting where the governor planned to take custody of Hester’s daughter Pearl, Arthur convinced Gov. Wilson to let her retain custody. The town meeting is set up by the author to appear as a reminder of Hester and Arthur’s sin. However, it is Arthur’s love for Hester that ultimately carries the scene. While defending Hester, he spoke “with a voice sweet, tremulous, but powerful,” (Hawthorne 78.) Had the scene revolved around sin, he would have spoken in a darker tone. Rather then that, he spoke with sincerity that proves Later, in the novel when Hester and Roger Chillingworth confront each other, Hester says she hates hhis complete soul. The hate that Hester has grown for her husband could easily appear to the reader that the scene could revolve around Roger’s sin of revenge. However, one must keep in mind that she hates Roger because she loves Arthur Dimmesdale. Much like the town meeting, this scene was
set up by the sin of adultery and Roger’s revenge but only to later emphasize the romance between Arthur and Hester.
In addition to the emphasis of love in the particular scenes, it is also largely emphasized in the product of the love encounter, Hester and Arthur’s daughter Pearl. At the town meeting that would determine her custody, it had become clear to the reader that she...