the "custom house": an interpretive analogue of the "scarlet letter"

The University of Notre Dame

The "Custom House": An Interpretive Analogue of the "Scarlet Letter"Author(s): Joseph DunneSource: Notre Dame English Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Winter, 1968), pp. 39-42Published by: The University of Notre DameStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40066448 .

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THE "CUSTOM HOUSE11: AN INTERPRETIVE ANALOGUE OF THE SCARLET LETTER

Joseph Dunne

Judging from his introduction, Hawthorne was afraid the readers of the Scarlet Letter would become too immersed in its concreteness and, consequently, misinterpret the struggles of Hester and Dimmesdale either by dismissing their plight as the peculiar product of an ob- solete social and moral system and, hence, of little interest to the present age, or by giving the tale an overly moralistic interpretation, viewing it as one of guilt and retribution or, conversely, as a condemnation of the Puritans. He sought to preclude such objections through the "Custom House."

His preliminary step was to establish a balanced view of the

importance of the Puritan heritage for his own age.

The custom house was representative of the Puritans1 best-known role, that as the founders of Boston and Salem. Even in Hawthorne's

day the house was run much in the tradition contained in its records of the long Puritan rule and of the once- illustrious men at its head. But most of the towns1 growth was of a later origin, and what did remain from Puritan times, like the custom house and the waterfront about it, was in a state of decay, inhabited largely by enfeebled

"patriarchs." This laid open the question whether Puritanism, despite its important pioneering role, could still be regarded as a signifi- cant force.

In answering this, he turned first towards the persons most under its influence, the descendants of the Puritans, of whom he himself served as an example. Again, he indicated a kind of decay in his statements that his Puritan ancestors were greater than any of their descendants, that they would have strongly disapproved of his

ideals, and that he was determined that his children would be free of those ties of tradition that held him to old Salem. Despite these

changes, something substantial yet remained from his ancestors: their

posterity were at least always respectable. Furthermore, he insisted with uncharacteristic pride that his heritage was superior to the merchant heritage passed down by the "latecomers" (Revolutionary times) to America. Even some of the darker aspects of Puritanism compared favorably with the excesses of the current systems. Gloom, for

example, was one of the most forbidding characteristics of Puritanism; Hawthorne found its presence in the custom house a "welcome change for one who had known Alcott." (This resembles Faulkner's strong condemnation of the failings of the old South, yet recognition that it had been stronger and better than the new.)

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All this suggested that the reader view Puritanism as a complex of qualities and attitudes, many of which would enrich a man of the present age. The "discovered manuscript11 applied this idea by inter- preting the story as that of "saintly Hester.11 This moral perspective arose from the "historical density" provided by the custom house and the fictional manuscript. Old Surveyor Pue was a Puritan near enough in time to appreciate the views of the old Boston community, yet far enough removed not only to be acquainted with Hester's later years, but to judge her objectively. To this was added Hawthorne's self-conscious insistence that the scarlet letter and Hester's story had had a power- ful effect upon his imagination. The main result was to abstract the tale from time and place so it could be interpreted in modern terms, something that could not be done within the tight framework of the tale itself. This, the main thrust of the introduction, was achieved through the construction of an elaborate situation analogous to that of Puritan Boston.

In general, both were highly repressive environments. The key- note was the exclusion of domesticity. The dust and disorder of the custom house and the decrepid state of its old patriarchs indicated the absence of a woman's touch. This surface gloom reflected the inner chill: the governmental eagle above the door, which seemed to have a soft breast for her nurslings, would suddenly and capriciously cast them off. Similarly, Hawthorne remarked that Puritan Boston was the only community which would have placed Hester upon the scaffold in- stead of by the fireside. Her consequent expulsion led her away from womanly warmth to the coolness of masculine speculation. Chill ingworth, frustrated in his hope of being warmed by her at the fireside, became a cold-hearted fiend. Dimmesdale, also denied these offices, refused to seek them elsewhere, though the community saw this as his only means of escaping from an early death. The women about the scaffold contrasted sharply with the young mother who alone displayed tender feelings towards Hester; significantly, she died young. This dearth of warmth resulted in the gloominess and sternness of the Puritan temper- ament which, in turn, led the community to cast off the sinner. Even more terrible than the social consequences was the belief that the sinner was also cast off by God. This literally hounded Dimmesdale to his grave.

Ironically, the systems designed to guide their followers and to eliminate offences proved very ineffective because of their lapses into formalism. In the custom house the "patriarchs" who didn't completely degenerate into idlers performed their duties mechanically. Whenever something important slipped through their fingers, which was frequently the case, they would become most diligent in tracking down minor offenders - straining out the gnats after the camel had slipped through. In the novel, the sin of adultery, the target of the community's reprisals, was actually the least sinful action de- picted. Far worse were Dimmesdale' s hypocrisy and Chill ingworth' s violation of the human heart. Even when the community was aware of some deeper crime - the witchcraft of the governor's sister or the sin- isterness of Chill ingworth - it not only was incapable of acting but,

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in the latter case, it abetted the criminal by imposing him upon his victim. Furthermore, these greater crimes were largely the result of the system: Dimmesdale acted out of fear of public exposure, Hester resorted to forbidden speculation because of frustration and isolation, decreed as her psnance, and Chillingworth began his villainy because he could not be reconciled with Hester without exposing himself to

public infamy, and was able to prey upon Dimmesdale because the minister was trapped in his hypocrisy. Hawthorne's remark about the custom house applied equally here: "Neither the front door nor the back opened on Paradise."

Even on a purely human level, Hawthorne found the custom house more suitable for the man of a pure animal nature. Happiest was the

Inspector, whose life was centered about eating. Most functional were the business persons who kept the house running. They belonged to the same general class as the merchants, and Hawthorne compared a young clerk1 s first merchant venture to a "first taste of blood. ff A man with a soul was in danger of losing it. Hawthorne's imagination became so oppressed that even when he had his material for the novel, the discovered manuscript, it refused to function. Only his sudden removal from office saved him from permanent impairment. Despite these deleterious effects, an office holder could never move himself to leave; his removal could be effected only by an external force. For those who had tarried too long, removal could prove fatal, as it did for the patriarchs Hawthorne dismissed. In a different context, Hawthorne felt a kind of doom that held him to Salem, though he knew he would be better off elsewhere.

Restrictions upon mind and soul were a matter of law in Puritan Boston. It was only when Hester was cut off from the community that she began the speculations the elders would have considered more sinful than adultery. Her opportunities for creativity were limited to her needle which, aside from the scarlet letter, Pearl's clothes, and

special occasions, was employed in concealing rather than in enhancing beauty. The restrictions were even worse for Dimmesdale. His scholar-

ly talents, largely uncalled upon, were daily violated by his hypocrisy. This drove him further and further under the influence of his strong animal nature: following his original sin of adultery, his sermons became more charged with emotion than with reason, and climactically, his decision to flee with Hester found his animal nature threatening to dominate him completely. Only death, a severance from without, brought him peace. Similarly, Hester felt bound to Boston by an in- eluctable doom. Though she left long enough to secure Pearl's re-

lease, she returned to end her days there.

Unless one could allow himself to be absorbed by such a stifling environment, he had to seek a workable compromise. The easiest but least satisfying way was withdrawal into the memories of a brighter past. The old general in the custom house, habitually lost in rever- ies of former glories, at least avoided the mental deterioration of his fellow patriarchs. Similarly, Hester sustained herself on the scaffold, in part, by recalling her carefree days in England.

The key to genuine living, however, was the maintenance of self- reliance. Tenure in the custom house destroyed this by reducing the

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person to a virtual alms-house inhabitant. Stripped of this external support, the patriarchs would die, while the officers, cursed with the illusory hope of regaining their positions, would never again fend for themselves. The novel's outstanding example of sturdy independence is, of course, Hester Prynne. To begin with, she not only supported herself and Pearl with her needle, but even managed to give alms. This independence was even more pronounced in the psychological realm. Despite years of terrible isolation that daily taxed her heroism, she had reserve strength enough to come to Dimmesdale' s rescue. The minister, on the other hand, being more dependent upon the system, was incapable of dealing with the consequences of his momentary step outside it.

Self-reliance, however, must never be carried to the extreme of a complete break with one's environment. Hester's ornate work on the scarlet letter asserted her independence, yet the letter itself and her wearing of it were in accordance with the rules of the community and, hence, established her connection with it. The necessity of such a connection was demonstrated by Pearl's vigorous reaction to Hester's casting the letter away, and by the demonic temptations that seized Dimmesdale after his decision to flee. Hawthorne expressed this in pragmatic terms when he chided himself for searching the dim past for his material when many a better tale of every day life had taken place under his eyes in the custom house. That is, life itself is flawed, so flight is useless. One must make the most of a bad situation. Haw- thorne used his idle periods in the custom house to peruse its records for story material. Hester gleaned what creativity she could from her needle, and did what she could among the afflicted when she was ostra- cized by the untroubled.

This concept is especially important when it is applied to man's situation in life. The Providence that seems either absent or unrelent- ing towards the sinner could well be making a man's unfavorable conditions yield moral advantages, even by balancing two evils to produce a good. Hawthorne claimed that the custom house, though deleterious in itself, was a welcome check upon the opposite but equally deleterious influences of Alcott and the other Transcendental is ts. In the novel, Dimmesdale, who suffered from his contact with Hester's strong animal nature, ultimately seemed to be purified of that by his suffering from Chill ingworth' s demonic mind. Similarly, Hester found herself buffeted between her own animal nature and the sternly intellectual Puritans. Though she missed being a good housewife, she perhaps became more saintly through her good works and penances, at least in the years following the time of the novel. In its ultimate implications, this concept hints at the question explicitly raised in the Marble Faun: could a person improve as a result of sin? Considering the view of life as flawed, the answer not only has to be positive, but a deeper question is raised: is there any other way for a great person to improve?

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the "custom house": an interpretive analogue of the "scarlet letter"

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