Faust and The Scarlet Letter

A novel that has a connection with Goethe’s Faust is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.  In The Scarlet Letter, a young puritan minister in Boston had an affair with Hester Prynne, who immigrated to Boston before her husband, Roger Chillingworth.  The affair resulted in Hester Prynne having an illegitimate child, Pearl.  Hester Prynne refused to admit who she had an affair with, choosing to suffer her punishment alone.  Arthur Dimmesdale suffered from a great deal of guilt that was slowly killing him for several years because he did not reveal his crime while Hester recovered from her shame.  While Hester suffered scorn from the townspeople of Boston, Arthur Dimmesdale enjoyed respect because of his position as a puritan minister.  Chillingworth arrived in Boston at this time and saw that his wife had had an illegitimate child and eventually found out it was with Dimmesdale.  He kept his identity a secret from the townspeople and devoted the rest of his life to trying to kill Dimmesdale by becoming Dimmsdale’s physician and confidant.  Dimmesdale eventually admitted his crime and died as a result, which led to the death of Chillingworth.  Chillingworth died because taking revenge upon Dimmesdale was the only thing that he had to live for. 

There is a connection between The Scarlet Letter and Faust because a similar irony exists between the two literary works. Faust, like Dimmesdale, committed adultery and refused to accept his punishment.  Both Gretchen and Hester accepted their punishments for their sins and were forgiven by God while Faust and Dimmesdale suffered more over a longer period of time for failing to take responsibility for their actions.  The irony between Faust and The Scarlet Letter includes the roles of Chillingworth and Mephistopheles impact upon the actions of Faust and Dimmesdale.  Both Chillingsworth and Mephistopheles are seen as the antagonist in both literary works.  Ironically, neither Chillingsworth nor Mephistopheles was directly responsible for Faust and Dimmesdales’ mistakes.  While it can be argued that Mephistopheles led Faust to seduce Gretchen, the seduction was a result of Faust making a deal with Mephistopheles through his own free will and allowing Mephistopheles to show him worldly pleasures.  Dimmesdale also committed adultery through his own free will.  Chillingworth and Mephistopheles are more responsible for the sins of Gretchen and Hester than for the sins of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth.  Mephistopheles exposed Faust to Gretchen, who was naïve and innocent, and Chillingworth admitted to being a poor husband to Hester. 

All of these similarities between the two literary works point out the irony that is shared by Faust and The Scarlet Letter.  The irony is that the characters that were the least to blame for their mistakes were the first to seek redemption.   Hester refused to take the opportunity to blame her sin upon both Dimmesdale and Chillingworth by refusing to admit who she had committed adultery with.  Similarly Gretchen did not blame Faust for the predicament that he placed her in.  Hester accepted the shame and the scorn from the puritan community of Boston and devoted her life to caring for her daughter.  Gretchen accepted the punishment of death over running away with Faust.  While both Faust and Dimmesdale initially believed that they were escaping their punishments by running away, both came to the realization of their mistakes when it was too late for redemption.  Dimmesdale confessed his sin and died as a result and Faust’s soul was momentarily lost to Mephistopheles.