Nature Vs. Nurture In The Scarlet Letter

Humanity has pondered its own inherent morality for centuries. Is man naturally good or evil? How much of either is the result of the nurturing man has received in their formative years. Philosophers such as John Locke tend to believe that the natural state of man is good while others, like Thomas Hobbes, see man as being naturally corrupt. Puritans take a Hobbes-like viewpoint on the state of man and thus believe that man must be purified at whatever cost. This disregard for human dignity creates a society full of secret sinners for when their sins are brought to light they are ostracized by the community. The narrator, as a descendant of that harsh legacy, feels guilt for what his ancestors did and, in writing this story, tries to purge …show more content…
Some have come to believe that these two forces work in tandem in creating a person's personality. Indeed, it seems the most well-grounded characters in The Scarlet Letter are those whose nature has been developed in conjunction with their nurturing. Hester as the main character of the novel, is also the most realistic. She has both virtuous and immoral moments, but they do not detract from her value as an individual. In fact, by portraying her as a flawed character, it allows the reader to more fully empathize with her. In the community, Hester is the outcast not only because of her adultery but also because she is not a native of the New World; she is from England, the very place the Puritans fled to escape religious persecution. Due to her being nurtured not by Puritan society but by the English, she is very dissimilar to her Puritan associates. To fit into their world, Hester had to change aspects of her personality as a result of the nurturing of the Puritans. Her nature to rebel in conjunction with her nurturing to be kind creates a woman that the Puritans can never really understand. They degrade her when shelves her life on her own terms, the adultery, but when she acts according to their rules, at the expense of her own happiness, they claim her as one of their own as if …show more content…
She does what she wants when she wants in spite of Hester's attempts to civilize her. At times Pearl appears to not be real at all. In fact, it is not until the end of the novel when "[her] spell was broken" (198) that the reader sees any depth or insight to Pearl beyond her nature as a wild child. However, in her wildness, she projects a sense of innocence and dreaminess. All of the whimsical imagery that the narrator characterizes her with evokes the idea that perhaps Pearl is not of the same world as the rest of the characters. The other character who is ruled by her nature rather than her nurturing, Mistress Hibbins, also appears to belong to a fairytale world. Unlike the other characters, Mistress Hibbins is offered quite a bit of leeway with her transgressions. Always inviting passerby to join her in a party with the Black Man in the forest, it is clear that she is a witch but it appears as if no one really cares. It is not until much later that she is executed as a witch. She has the privilege of being Governor Bellingham's sister and a result her sins seem to be glossed over by the townspeople. This privilege allows her true nature to be put on

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