Immoralities portrayed in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

ABSTRACT

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a sensational novel about the struggles of four people and tremendous burden placed upon them during the times in Boston, after the sinful act of adultery is committed by two of them. The novel shows some kind immoralities of the main characters Hester prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. It is clearly an education that teaches the readers not to do that immoral behavior. Based on the reason, the author chooses the title “Immoralities Portrayed in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter”.

Based on the background of the study, the statements of the problems can be formulated as follows: are (1) what are immoralities portrayed by the main characters Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth drawn in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and (2) to understand what are the consequences of these immoralities for the main characters as the doers of the immoralities in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.

Theories are used in this study are concerned with novel as a literary work, moral and ethics, morality, morality and religion, morality and law, immorality, and structural approach in literary criticism.

The study is categorized as literary criticism, where the researcher doing analysis, interpretation, and evaluation in conducting the study. The writer applies the structural approach in her study because this study analyzes what character’s immoralities and what the consequences of these immoralities for the character’s life based on the intrinsic elements of this novel.

The results of the research are stated as follow: (1) the immoralities are found in The Scarlet Letter novel are adultery, hypocrisy, and revenge; and (2) the three main characters get different consequences of their immoralities for their life, so that’s why they also face the risks of their immoralities in different ways. The Puritans of Boston in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter novel unfair in responding the doers of immoralities. Most of them stare at Hester, treating her as an outcast to society, while the people treated Dimmesdale as a saint, even though he was guilty of hypocrisy. They also treated Chillingworth as a highly respected physician, although he was guilty of vengeance.

Finally, the author can conclude that no one in this novel which really goodness. All of them also have sin and it is impossible to build a plenary society. Through Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter proves that truth all. The author suggest for next researchers to investigate other literary works from some objects or analyze the same works from different points of view.