The Scarlet Letter: Romanticism & Realism

American Romanticism in literature, deemed by the Puritan-influenced society at the time (prior to 1875), would probably best be known as what some would call “classic” storytelling: a clear and obvious contest of Good and Evil with a moralistic purpose and catalytic guidance from the divine and other supernatural forces. In what would be my guess as an appeasement to the reader (being that the written language used was more complex than anyone was speaking back then), the story would be set somewhere exotic, in The Scarlet Letter for instance, the story takes place in “the wilderness,” a small town surrounded by the woods. In fact, it’s in these symbolic woods where the Devil exists, referred to in the novel as “The Black Man,” our prime supernatural being in the story. But when compared to Realism, which Hawthorne shows traces of with this novel, the morals are blurred, the focus is steered more towards the characters, with less dynamic plot turns and a closer look at everyday life.
And though The Scarlet Letter lies somewhat in between these two genres, there are more instances in the book that proves the case that this novel is much closer to Romantic literature. Mentioned earlier was the use of symbolism through nature, which is dominantly used in the forest for this story. Though there is the example in the very first chapter, of the rosebush by the jail house, the only good thing described in this scene, it almost seems as if it’s the only colorful thing, with the description of the surrounding gray and dirty atmosphere (36). The multiple forest references include all the major characters, for it’s where Hester lives on the outside of town (56), where her husband Chillingworth comes from just in time to see her get punished on the scaffold (53), and the only place where Dimmesdale feels safe and as himself, for he is the father of the “child of sin,” Hester’s daughter Pearl, a secret he hides until just before his death (126). But there is also many supernatural references as well, especially in the first twelve chapters of the novel (as where the latter half expounds more on the characters’ flaws in a “realistic” manner) (Rowe, 1208). Including moments when Chillingworth transforms in his anger toward Hester showing that the Devil is truly inside of him, for not cooperating with him as an aide (111), or when the great “A” appears in the sky at one of the end of Dimmesdale’s vigils (105). These examples set a clear example of what Romantic literature was/is like, elements like these, due to Westward Expansion and industrialization.
What’s important to notice is that the end of the novel doesn’t have a clear moral to tell. Despite what the rules were dictating at the time, unless is the story was referred to as “true” (i.e. “The Custom House”), certain things like shedding those high in the church in a negative or dark light as it was surely done in The Scarlet Letter.


1. Rowe, John Carlos. The Internal Conflict of Romantic Narrative: Hegel's Phenomenology and Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. MLN, Vol. 95, No. 5, Comparative Literature (Dec., 1980), pp. 1203-1231. Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2906489

2. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. 2005. Published by: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.