Criticism Related to Indians in The Scarlet Letter
Criticism Related to Indians in The Scarlet Letter
A Gleam of Sunshine from chapter entitled "A Flood of Sunshine" in The Scarlet Letter
In The Scarlet
Letter Indians are peripheral one- dimensional stereotyped characters
that are not overtly connected with the central characters, the Puritans,
or the plot. Instead, mentions of their presences connect to imagery that
is related to the wilderness, to being outcasts of society, to reminders
of Chillingworth's captivity with them and to knowledge of the herbal remedies/poisons
he gained from them. Each main character has a link to Indians and the wilderness.
Dimmesdale, after visiting the Indians, temporarily loses the trappings
of his religious piety. Chillingworth, a former captive of Indians, darkens
the herbal healing arts he has learned from them by using them for evil
purposes, associated
with the Black Arts. Hester lives on the fringe
of society and chooses to stop short of banishing herself to live amongst
the Indians where she would not be harshly judged, as she constantly is
by the Puritans. Pearl
symbolizes the freedom and oneness with the wilderness that the Indians
have -- neither being tainted by the Puritans.
Criticism Related to Indians
Excerpts from chapters from Understanding The Scarlet Letter: A Student Casebook
to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents by Claudia Durst Johnson
(courtesy of Greenwood Press).
In "A Literary Analysis of The Scarlet Letter" (18-19) Johnson
relates how some Puritans believe that Chillingworth was tainted during
his stay with the Indians. She captures the irony of the Puritan
community embracing Chillingworth as a respected healer within the community
when, in fact, he practices "the most heinous black magic," something
they assume to be confined to evildoers (witches or Indians) in the
wilderness forest.
In "The Scarlet Letter and the Puritans" (38-41), Johnson
explores how "nature and the wilderness, which represented the dark
evil in human life, became the transplanted Puritans enemy." She
alludes to Hawthorne's description of the enduring qualities of the
wilderness in "Main Street." Johnson discusses Hester's option to banish
herself into the safe haven of the Indian community, Pearl's "uncontrollable"
wildness, Chillingworth's reliance on "noxious weeds to make medicines
the way the Indians have taught him to," and Hester's suggestion to
Dimmesdale that they "escape into the wilderness" to be free of the
judgment and oppression of the Puritans.
In "The Scarlet Letter and the Puritans" (42), Johnson
focuses on the wilderness as the domain of the Black man or devil.
Symbolically, "it is a place of loneliness, terror, the unknown, rebellion,
palpable evil, mystery, lawlessness, unbridled joy, pleasure, emotion,
and sexuality." Johnson explains how Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, Hester,
and Pearl's behaviors and personalities are symbolically reinforced
by their sojourns in the wilderness and their departures from the wilderness.