Beyond the Seventh Commandment: RediscoveringHester's Liberal Vision of Erotic Love in The Scarlet Letter
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The Scarlet Letter deals with the problems of sin and love through the basic motifs of the seventh commandment and its breach. The Ten Commandments are regarded as a sign of covenant between God and His people in the aspect of traditional Christian world-view. So the breaking of the commandment means the separation of the relationship between God and man, Also the transgressor comes to suffer from the serious pain of detachment. The background of The Scarlet Letter is the seventeenth century American Puritan community. The Calvinistic Puritan community accepted such ideas as total depravity and predestination, and used them as ideological bases for the maintenance of the society and the control of the members. The early American Puritan society strictly applied the dogmas to the members and imposed harsh punishments on the transgressors. The protagonist of The Scarlet Letter conforms to the rule of the Puritan society after the breaking of the law. Hester’s attitude reflects that she accepted the Calvinistic dogmas of total depravity and predestination in the Puritan community, meaning man’s salvation is predestined but nobody knows if he or she is predestined to be saved or not. Only outward good deeds could be understood as the evidences of one’s salvation, so a man had to put forth lots of effort to accomplish a high standard of morality. Hester, as a sinner, quests for the possibility of her salvation through her good deeds and endeavor. However, after she perceives the hidden sins of the neighbors and recognizes the universal sinfulness of human nature, Hester tries to get over the manipulation of the Puritan society and retains her erotic love as a liberal who pursues her dignity and freedom as a human being. Her continuous good deeds are not the outward action for the repentance of her sin any more but the practice of sisterly love to fellow human beings. Hester’s erotic love, which also contains the attribute of sisterly love, becomes real love.
Abstract
The Scarlet Letter deals with the problems of sin and love through the basic motifs of the seventh commandment and its breach. The Ten Commandments are regarded as a sign of covenant between God and His people in the aspect of traditional Christian world-view. So the breaking of the commandment means the separation of the relationship between God and man, Also the transgressor comes to suffer from the serious pain of detachment. The background of The Scarlet Letter is the seventeenth century American Puritan community. The Calvinistic Puritan community accepted such ideas as total depravity and predestination, and used them as ideological bases for the maintenance of the society and the control of the members. The early American Puritan society strictly applied the dogmas to the members and imposed harsh punishments on the transgressors. The protagonist of The Scarlet Letter conforms to the rule of the Puritan society after the breaking of the law. Hester’s attitude reflects that she accepted the Calvinistic dogmas of total depravity and predestination in the Puritan community, meaning man’s salvation is predestined but nobody knows if he or she is predestined to be saved or not. Only outward good deeds could be understood as the evidences of one’s salvation, so a man had to put forth lots of effort to accomplish a high standard of morality. Hester, as a sinner, quests for the possibility of her salvation through her good deeds and endeavor. However, after she perceives the hidden sins of the neighbors and recognizes the universal sinfulness of human nature, Hester tries to get over the manipulation of the Puritan society and retains her erotic love as a liberal who pursues her dignity and freedom as a human being. Her continuous good deeds are not the outward action for the repentance of her sin any more but the practice of sisterly love to fellow human beings. Hester’s erotic love, which also contains the attribute of sisterly love, becomes real love.
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