The Elements of Mystery in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

Sarah Fitri Rabbani

1211503125

BSI/V/D

The Elements of Mystery in

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

Mystery is one of the romantic novel characteristics, before talking about mystery further; we should know first what romantic novel is. Abrams (1999) states that romance novel have the plot which emphasizes…………. the nonrealistic and occasionally melodramatic events, hopes, and terrors in the depths of the human mind, and to be therefore analogous to the materials of dream, myth, ritual, and folklore.

In contrast to Abrams, Michaels (2007) clearly defines that romantic novel/romance novel is a story of a man and a woman who are solving a problem that threatens to keep them apart and they discover a love that they feel for each other is sort that comes along only once in a lifetime. Hence it can be said that romantic novel is a literary genre which focuses on romantic love relationship between two characters (two people) which includes the melodramatic and terror events in its story. While Lye (2008) strongly states that romance is generally associated with the strange and mysterious, the adventurous, with the lure of foreign lands, with something slightly magical, with a story which refuses to be tied to the realist tradition and explores phenomena which are unusual, allegorical, and symbolic. In Scarlet Letter, there are mystery elements, as can be identified from the following quotations:

“She bore in her arms a child, a baby of some three months old who winked and turned aside its little face from the too vivid light of day; (page 80).”

“..was the wife of a certain learned man… To this purpose he sent his wife before him....in some two years, or less, that the woman has been a dweller here in Boston (page 94)”.

In the beginning of the story the element of mystery has been shown with the appearance of Hester and her baby. The quotations above indicate that Hester bring the mystery with the appearance of her and her baby which emerge many opinions and gossips about her. The confusion of opinions and gossips also become a ‘sign’ of the mystery because these are making the ‘readers’ are wondering and it becomes a mystery. The ‘existence’ (the birth) of Hester’s baby becomes a big question, because in fact Hester’s husband has been lost. It can be seen from the quotation above that Hester’s husband has been lost for two years after sent Hester to Boston but the fact is Hester now has a three months old baby. It becomes a mystery and a big question, how can????

In The Scarlet Letter a mystery is built from the symbol ‘A’. According to Kriszener and Mandell (1994) a symbol is a person, object, action, place or event that in addition to its literal or denotative meaning suggests more complex meaning or range of meanings. Hence symbol ‘A’ is not just an ordinary letter but it has an important meaning in this story, it can be said as the main point of this story.

“On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A. (page 80)”.

“But the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer—so that both men and women who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time—was that SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom (page 82)”.

Quotations above indicate that symbol ‘A’ has its ‘magnet’ and amaze everyone who sees it. With the scarlet letter-in this case symbol ‘A’- on Hester’s breast it become a ‘key’ of the main point in this story which want to be revealed. The scarlet letter on Hester’s breast emerges the questions, what is symbol ‘A’ means? Why should letter ‘A’? It is so mysterious. As Lye (2008) says that romance is generally associated with the strange and mysterious, the adventurous, with the lure of foreign lands, with something slightly magical, ……….explores phenomena which are unusual, allegorical, and symbolic, in The Scarlet Letter’s story symbol is really emphasized and it becomes the element of the mystery.

 “…she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real. Yes these were her realities—all else had vanished! (page 90)”.

The quotation above indicates that the scarlet letter on Hester’s breast is something related to the shame. As Kriszener and Mandell (1994) say that a symbol is a person, object, action, place or event that in addition to its literal or denotative meaning suggests more complex meaning or range of meanings, it means that the scarlet letter-‘A’ symbol- on Hester’s breast is a symbol of Hester’s shame. ’A’ symbol on Hester’s breast is a symbol of the shame which has been Hester done and Hester has to endure her shame. ‘A’ is a symbol of ‘Adultery’ which has been done by Hester and the unknown man. ‘Scarlet’ itself means to remind Hester about what she has done-adultery-. ‘Scarlet’ indicates the sin which reminds Hester for her lifetime.

“the stranger had bent his eyes on Hester Prynne” (page 92)”.

“When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips (page 93)”.

The existence of the stranger is a mystery. The stranger is a mysterious man who notices Hester Prynne. The mystery of the stranger arose when Hester Prynne aware of his existence but he as if want to eschew from Hester Prynne. It becomes a mystery who the man is exactly.

“And now, Mistress Prynne,’ said old Roger Chillingworth, as he was hereafter to be named, ‘I leave thee alone: alone with thy infant and the scarlet letter! (page 116)”.

The mystery of the mysterious man has been got the clue; the man is Roger Chillingworth as the quotation above indicates. The quotation above indicates that Roger Chillingworth is Hester’s husband which has been lost mysteriously. He came back with the new identity as Roger Chillingworth. The mystery also arose behind the coming of Hester’s husband and his new identity, what he means about it.

“Madame Hester absolutely refuseth to speak… unknown of man…(page 95)”.

 “Thou hast kept the secret of thy paramour…”(page 115)

The element of mystery increases in the middle of the story; it is signed with the ‘silence’ of Hester. The ‘silence’ in this case is that Hester doesn’t want to reveal the baby’s (Pearl) father identity. As quotations above indicate that in the judgment day Hester still firmly doesn’t want to reveal who the baby’s father is, who ‘her lover’ is. Moreover her husband (Roger Chillingworth) asks about the baby’s father to Hester, her ‘lips are sealed’. The identity of Pearl’s father becomes a secret and only Hester who know it. It certainly makes ‘a sense of mystery’ in its story is really highlighted.

“With sudden and desperate tenderness she threw her arms around him, and pressed his head against her bosom (page 292)”.

Abrams (1999) says that romance novel….have the plot which emphasizes………….the melodramatic events, hopes, and terrors in the depths of the human mind. What Abrams has said above I think is really shown in this story, it is because its story is built by the terrors in the depths of human mind as Hester and Dimmsdale feel. A terror of feeling guilty haunts them for their life. The quotation above indicates that Hester Prynne and Dimmasdale have been tired to hide the secret of their affair-in this case their adultery. They want to reveal their secret and want to be free from the guilty feeling of their sins.

 “he tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed! But it were irreverent to describe that revelation (page 381)”.

“My little Pearl,’ said he, feebly and there was a sweet and gentle smile over his face…’(page 382)”.

The quotations above indicate that a mystery in The Scarlet Letter’s story has been solved. It can be seen from the meeting of Hester and Dimmsdale in forest in which their gesture exposing a ‘love’ motion. And in the end of the story, finally Dimmsdale reveals that he is Pearl’s father. Abrams (1999) states the principal aim of such novels was to evoke chilling terror by exploiting mystery and a variety of horrors. It means that Scarlet Letter as a romantic novel is exploiting the mystery to evoke a ‘terror’ in the story. Thus the mystery itself is something that must be solved. Mystery gives a ‘surprise’ to color the story. I think the element of mystery is one of the important elements which built the amazing story of The Scarlet Letter.

Work Cited

Abrams, M.H. 1999. A Glossary of Literary Terms-7^th Ed. USA: Earl McPeek.

Kriszener and Mandell. 1994. Fiction: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Florida: Harcourt Brace and Company.

Lye, John. http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/2F55/romance.php, uploaded on   April 22, 2008. Downloaded on December 19, 2013.

Michaels, Leigh. 2007. On Writing Romance: How to Craft a Novel That Sells. Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books, an imprint of F+W Publication, Inc.