God's Mercy in the Life of An Admirable Woman in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

This thesis examines the story of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne from biblical point of view. Although in this novel we can't read many words about God, the story has got a very important message for the readers. This message is God's mercy. I will demonstrate it by using different biblical references in connection to the text. Through the female protagonist's character I will prove that faith, hope and love are the most important factors in people's lives to survive humiliation. I will show what kind of contradictions can be found in the Puritans' life and will cast light on the differences between the Puritan rules and the teachings of the Bible. We will see Hester, the heroine, is not a miserable woman in spite of her sufferings and unhappiness, but she can become an admirable woman out of a fallen one. The sources on this subject are limited, so I relied on my own interpretation and mostly on my previous acquaintance with theology.