Elliott Vogel

In my opinion, the Scarlet Letter is one the most overrated American “classics” in existence. The overarching storyline of the novel is extremely depressing and unbelievably tragic. In multiple points throughout the story the characters have the chance to make the right choice. Sadly, they always chose to either run away from their problems or behave unbelievably selfish making it hurt to read. An example of this type of pathetic behavior was when Hester was told that if she confessed who Pearl’s father was and asked forgiveness for her sins, then the scarlet letter would be removed. Instead of making the most practical and theologically sound choice, Hester refused the grace of Jesus Christ which was so kindly offered to her. She then spent the rest of the book thinking that her earthly suffering was enough to get her to heaven where she believed she would be allowed to spend eternity with Arthur in a state of blissful happiness. Unfortunately, despite Hester’s idiotic fantasies, she would never be able to suffer enough to redeem herself from her own sins and will ultimately be sent to eternal damnation in hell. Throughout the course of the novel Hester, Roger, and Arthur all made horrible choices which were obviously wrong. The best thing that I could possibly say about this book is that it has the potential to teach one or two noteworthy morals, which society certainly needs to learn. However, these morals would be better taught in two or three sentences instead in the form of an stupid novel about adultery. Overall I would say that the Scarlet Letter is a sad and disheartening novel with very little redemptive value to make up for its moronic story line and idiot philosophy