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Black and White with Shades of Scarlet

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while
your reputation is merely what others think you are.
John Wooden

Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter explores the religious zeal and hypocrisy
deeply engrained in the Puritan communities of Colonial America. Religion has an embedded
morality system for its people to follow, but problems arise when there is conflict between
formal laws and individual thought. When every thought and action is coded as good and
Christian or immoral and demonic, people begin to judge one anotherand people begin to
judge themselves.
George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, explains the world as an ocean of light and an
ocean of darkness (Scully and Dandelion 8). While Puritanism is a different branch of
Christianity than Quakerism, both Protestant sects left England to colonize purer communities in
America. This stark division of moralitythis light and darknesscreates dissonance and
perpetuates radicalism. Puritanism rejects notions of neutrality and amorality and denies
individuals the right to determine their own moral convictions.
The editors of Good and Evil: Quaker Perspectives claim that dualism of moral and
immoral, truth and untruth, good and evil is intrinsic to most conceptions of religion (Scully and
Dandelion 4). Narrow-minded notions about something as controversial as ethics and morality
cannot be so neatly categorized into two neat little labels: good and evil. What accounts for all
the shades of gray? What accounts for all of the people who have a little bit of darkness lurking
beneath their righteous smiles or those who have a glimmer of light peeking through their
embittered frowns?

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Good and evil offer too narrow of definitions, but broadening the spectrum will serve
better to elucidate disposition, behavior, and general moral compass.
Dungeons and Dragons, the extremely popular role-playing game, introduced an
alignment system that groups characters into distinct classifications based on order and
righteousness. Advanced D&D offers nine possibilities: lawful good, neutral good, chaotic good,
lawful neutral, neutral-neutral (true neutral), chaotic neutral, lawful evil, neutral evil, and chaotic
evil. Cogbun and Silcoxs Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy attempts to critically analyze
these moral distinctions by way of Kants categorical imperative. By using this to catalog the
alignments of Hawthornes major characters, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Pearl Prynne,
and Roger Chillingsworth, moral alignments can be assessed.
Hester Prynne represents the Neutral Good on the morality spectrum. Cogburn and Silcox
classify Neutral Good individuals as Christ-like, denoting that they commit an act not because it
follows from any rulebut because it is done with love (50). Though Hester is a religious,
God-fearing woman, she wanders without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness (Hawthorne
171). The wildness of her nature estranges her from the law that condemn[s] her, and she
lives as an outlaw where her heart and intellect guide her behavior (Hawthorne 68, 171). Her
guilt and shame stem from her devotion to her faith, not from the judgmental Puritan society that
criticizes her. She defies their judgment, claiming that only God has the right to judge her. Hester
stands apart from moral interests, yet close behind them, like a ghost (Hawthorne 68). Since
she has been shunned from society, she is no longer restricted by their Draconian laws or strict
social norms, and can thus act freely and unbiasedly. Hester tends to the poor despite their
reproaches, because she has a good heart. She is not motivated by contributing to order and finds
little solace in the establishment of the Church. She criticizes the judicial robe, the pillory, the

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gallows, the fireside, [and] the church (Hawthorne 171). Fully aware of the infallibility of man
and social constructs, Hesters moral sense of self comes from deep within herself.
The Neutral Good alignment implies that this social detachment shields her from the
imbalances of order and chaos (Cogburn and Silcox 50). While she is honest and altruistic,
Hester is loyal to herself above all else. Her self-love and resilience compensates for her guilt
and regret. Hesters removal her scarlet badge in the woods with Dimmesdale is an action
spawned of deep self-love and self-forgiveness. When she takes the badge up again, Hester
graduates to self-acceptance. Hester is not a perfect person, but she is a good person in that she
openly embraces her mistakes and turns her symbols of sin (i.e., Pearl and the Scarlet Letter) into
beauties to behold.
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, on the other hand, does not see beyond the scope of
generally received laws (Hawthorne 171). His alignment can be classified as Lawful Neutrala
fairly controversial and complicated moral alignment, according to Dungeons and Dragons and
Philosophy. The fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons has done away with this classification,
believing it problematic in accordance to Kants notions of lawfulness (Cogburn and Silcox 51).
However, Cogburn and Silcox point out that Kant does describe the unreasonable hypocrisy that
most of us labor under, which can account for contrary tendencies found in individuals
(Cogburn and Silcox 51). There is a distinction between action and feelings. Someone can
behave like a Lawful Good characterbut their inner thoughts and feelings may expose them as
a truly Lawful Neutral one. Dimmesdale notes that he watches not his actsfor those [are] easy
to arrangebut each breath of emotion, and his every thought (Hawthorne 172). Dimmesdales
framework for right and wrong derives almost entirely from law and scripture, and he adheres to
a system of unjust laws due to his need of structure. He, unlike Hester, closes himself off entirely

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from any wild passions of the heart. He prefers the rigidity of order to shackle and confine him.
While he places absolute faith in the Courts and the Church, Dimmesdale does not come forward
to seek the decree of the judicial system. He allows Hester to shoulder the entire blame for a
deed he took part in, which goes against the concepts of goodness/virtue as well as law/justice.
Reverend Dimmesdale is neither good nor evil. His conduct and good deeds result from a
deep-rooted need to appear virtuousnot from natural goodwill or magnanimity. His stuffy
austerity repels children, and his refusal to acknowledge Pearl in the light of day displays that his
preoccupation with appearances suppresses any disposition toward pure benevolence. He does
not relish in the pain of others and is consumed by guilt and shame. Ironically, his sins of
cowardice and hypocrisy that ensue in the successive years eclipse his meager sin of the flesh
(i.e., adultery), and this continual sin drives Dimmesdale to crippling physical and emotional
agony. The denial of his sin, the denial of his daughter, exacerbates the wound, causing it to
fester and decay. Dimmesdale takes it upon himself to inflict punishment, using a scourge to
cause bodily harm (Hawthorne 124). Dimmesdales fear of recognized sin dooms him to live a
tortured half-life of suppressed guiltiness, while Hester lives an open and honest life of
ignominy.
The figure of Pearl Prynne evokes imagery of woodland fairies and pagan witches. She
stands very much outside the establishmentreveling in chaos. Pearls natural inclination
toward Chaotic Neutral exposes her as an amoral rogue who serves to juxtapose the Puritanical
stringency of Colonial Boston. Everything about her is offbeat and eccentric, from her freakish
intuition to her Satanic grin. Born of rebellion, Pearl symbolizes individualism and the flouting
of authority. Cogburn and Silcox explain Chaotic Neutral as a willful destruction of instances of

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universal order (52-54). Pearl mimics this destruction through child play, uprooting the weeds
of make-believe Puritan children and smiting them unmercifully (Hawthorne 81).
In her earliest years, Pearl is characterized by selfishness, lack of sympathy, and some
dark and wild peculiarity (Hawthorne 76). Though Pearl is intuitive, she is senseless to her
mothers loneliness and suffering and seems to take some joy in Hesters token of shame. Her
dark passion, impetuousness, and flagrant disregard for rules shape her as a wonderfully unique
individual, though hostile and enigmatic. In Boston, Pearl seems to toe the line between good
and evilit appears as though she could easily grow up to become like Mistress Hibbins;
however, Hawthorne insinuates that Dimmesdales death and her removal from the severe
Puritan society yields a calming effect upon her spirit. As an adult, Pearl may possibly be
classified as Chaotic Good or even Neutral Good, like her mother.
Roger Chillingworth, the antagonist, paints a portrait of a physically and spiritually
disfigured man. Chillingworth is depicted as gradually transforming himself into the devil
(Hawthorne 145). His sadistic quest to ruin Dimmesdale can be seen in characters of Chaotic
Evil. Cogburn and Silcox define Chaotic Evil as destructive and as relishing inflicting pain on
others (56). Chillingworth rejects all elements of established order, for he breaks off his marriage
with Hester and lives among Native American tribes. He defies goodness and charity as he
haunts over Dimmesdales person like a vengeful demonic spirit. Though his spite and rancor
poison him from all chances of pure happiness, he shows little if any guilt. Unlike Dimmesdale,
he is not tormented by the gnawing pain of remorse. That being said, Chillingworth is capable of
good deeds, and his final will to bequeath his money to Pearl displays that even the vilest villains
have propensity for munificence.

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Everyone walks the line of morality, falling somewhere between good and evil, law and
chaos. Hawthornes diverse cast of characters exemplifies the power of choice and circumstance.
Ones position in society, whether it be that of the preacher, the social pariah, or the town harlot,
mold the individual into vague shapes and forms, but it is ones thoughts and actions that truly
define the individual, adding splashes of color that break up the mundanity of black and white.

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Work Cited
Cogburn, Jon, and Mark Silcox, eds. Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy: Raiding the
Temple of Wisdom. Chicago and LaSalle: Open Court, 2012. Print.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Four Classic American Novels. New York: Signet
Classics, 2007. Print.
John Wooden>Quotes. Goodreads. Goodreads, Inc., 2016. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
Scully, Jackie Leach, and Pink Dandelion. Good and Evil: Quaker Perspectives. Burlington:
Ashgate, 2007. Print.