Silence, Speechlessness, and Freedom in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850) is a portrait of life in 17th Century Puritan New England. This follows Hester Prynne, who has borne a child through an affair, and explores her struggle to find peace and freedom despite the hardships she faces as a result of Puritan law and expectations. ‘Silence and speechlessness’ is intrinsically linked to constraints placed upon inhabitants of New England. Conversely, deliberate silences, choices of speech and other forms of expression are associated with being outside the geographical and social boundaries of the Puritan town, and are used by Hawthorne to explore the possibility of…