How The Scarlet Letter drew on The Gospels
A documented line of influence: Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrably engaged Matthew’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
The Gospels
Matthew · c. 85
BibleThe influenced
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne · 1850
The Age of the NovelRelevance
6/10
On The Scarlet Letter’s page
- The Scarlet Letter is built on Gospel ground — Hester's pillorying reworks the "cast the first stone" scene, and Dimmesdale's scaffold is staged as a Golgotha
- Pearl is named straight out of Matthew 13's "pearl of great price," a phrase Hawthorne quotes verbatim
- The novel's whole grammar of sin, judgment, and grace comes from The Gospels standing behind it
On The Gospels’s page
- Hawthorne reaches into The Gospels for the bones of his novel: the adulterous-woman scene — "let him cast the first stone" — sits behind Hester's public shaming
- Pearl is named verbatim from Matthew's parable of the "pearl of great price" (Matthew 13)
- And Dimmesdale's scaffold becomes a Golgotha, the minister staged as a Christ-figure under judgment