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Izel Mehmet - 8617
A2 English Literature
Shakespeare Study Coursework
3005 words
Compare and contrast how the writers of 'Hamlet', 'Pride and Prejudice'
and 'The Scarlet Letter' present loyalty in romantic relationships
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Shakespeare's ‘Hamlet’ in particular is built on an act of treachery whereby King Hamlet is
murdered by his own brother
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Similarly, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’
also relies on an act of disloyalty as the basis for the plot; the novel is about adultery and the
societal values surrounding loyalty, or rather chastity, in women in Puritanical America
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The standard Christian marriage vows consist of promises to remain
loyal to your partner “in sickness and in health, through richer through poorer” – these
conditions are seen in various characters throughout the novel such as Jane who falls ill at the
beginning of the novel and Lady Catherine DeBourgh who objects to the relationship between
Mr Darcy and Elizabeth due to their differing social statuses and monetary incomes
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To begin with, all three writers use religion to shape ideas surrounding disloyalty; this is
illustrated in all three texts by other characters naming the disloyal act
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It is clear to see that disloyalty in each
of these stories is regarded as a very serious issue as all the terms used to describe either the
characters involved in the act or the act itself all carry very strong negative connotations
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Unlike this, the characters used by Austen and
Hawthorne are characters with whom the reader is not made to empathize and as such their
words do not make the reader comply with the view presented
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Additionally, Austen chooses to portray Mr Collins’ response in the epistolary style, although
this is likely a way to include events from other places while remaining with the protagonist,
Elizabeth, it may also be a way for Austen to distance the reader from the opinions portrayed
by Mr Collins as he only has one opportunity to put them across
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This theocratic view on romantic relationships and loyalty within them is also present
in ‘The Scarlet Letter’, we see throughout the novel that almost everyone in the village sees
Hester’s adultery as “ignominious” and this is presented largely through Hawthorne’s use of
average townswomen calling her terms such as “hussy” and “malefactress” , which are very
degrading terms for a woman, at the beginning of the novel
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Despite this, Hawthorne appears to challenge Puritan ideals
as he has the character Dimmesdale, a clergyman, be the counterpart to Hester’s adultery and
so they have both engaged in disloyalty against both Hester’s husband and their religion
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This is much like the style
a preacher would use with the congregation which is ironic because the novel makes you
sympathize with the ‘sinful’ characters rather than preaching that religion and following the
Bible is the only way to live your life
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This makes the use of the word much more serious as, like in ‘The Scarlet
Letter’, it is no longer a human being who has been betrayed, but also religion
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This use of sibilant words has many effects, one could be

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Izel Mehmet - 8617
A2 English Literature
Shakespeare Study Coursework
3005 words
illustration of the anger that the characters using the words feel towards the disloyal people
and so the sibilance could be a phonological indication of this anger as the sibilance makes it
sound as though the character is spitting or hissing the words out
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The writers of ‘The Scarlet Letter’ and ‘Hamlet’ also portray loyalty in romantic relationships
is through the use of imagery
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Although Shakespeare’s use of the term “incestuous sheets” in Act 1, Scene 2 is not
a description of the bond between two lovers as Hawthorne’s “iron link” is, it gives the
audience a deeper insight into the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude
...
Here, however, Shakespeare presents
Gertrude from the perspective of Hamlet, as the person in the wrong for engaging in a
romantic relationship with Claudius
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This tells us a lot about pre-twentieth
century society in which it can be concluded from these examples that women were to be
ashamed of any type of extramarital romance
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The
terms “incestuous” and “sheets” may give the audience strong mental images as the explicit

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Izel Mehmet - 8617
A2 English Literature
Shakespeare Study Coursework
3005 words
nature of the words as expressions of Hamlet’s feelings make it easy to imagine what exactly
it is that the character is so upset about
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This difference can be attributed to a number of factors, mainly the difference
between ‘Hamlet’ being a play and ‘The Scarlet Letter’ being a novel
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Furthermore, the words “iron link” may conjure up images in the readers’
minds of strength as iron is a strong metal used to support bridges and buildings, this could be
an illustration of the strength of the loyal bond or “link” between Hester and Dimmesdale
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This could be an expression of
the writer’s beliefs that ‘love defeats all’ as it appears to be the source of life for Hester and is
a way for both Hester and Dimmesdale to overcome the problems caused for them by the
Puritan society they live in and the restrictions it sets
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Both Hawthorne
and Shakespeare present disloyal female characters, Hester and Gertrude, as being scorned by
others for their actions however feminist critic Alicia G
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This is unusual for pre-twentieth century society as it is widely
assumed that women were seen as inferior, however both these writers with works from 1603
and 1850 have presented their female characters as strong women who can overcome great
problems
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Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is a novel about aristocracy in the early 19th
century
...
In the same vane, Nathaniel
Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’ contains motifs which serve as evidence of loyalty or
disloyalty between characters
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A prime example of how Austen uses dances to indicate character’s feelings for one
another through the act of dancing is in Chapter 3 at the very first ball at Netherfield Park,
during which Mr
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The importance of this is
expressed through the dialogue following the ball, when Jane states that Mr Bingley’s asking
her to dance again was a “compliment”
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Despite this, it seems to be an expectation of men at balls in the 1800s to dance regardless of
their attractions, this is expressed through the descriptions of Mr Darcy as “impertinent”
after the same ball because he did not dance with anybody other than Mr Bingley's sisters
who he already knew
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It is easy to
see how this interpretation could be made as dancing is an act which (usually) takes place
between two people and generally puts those two people in close physical proximity to each
other
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Pearl is a physical symbol of both love and betrayal as she
is the result of Hester’s ‘sin’ as she is disloyal to her husband
...
However, as the novel goes on and Dimmesdale begins to accept his guilt,

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Izel Mehmet - 8617
A2 English Literature
Shakespeare Study Coursework
3005 words
Pearl’s statements become less hateful and more loving as she tells her mother that she
considers her biological father “family” despite having had no prior relationship with him
...


Hawthorne also uses another motif as an indication of Hester’s disloyalty to her
husband and loyalty to Dimmesdale in the titled scarlet letter itself
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Hawthorne has Hester choose to adorn the scarlet letter on her clothes, like
Austen, Hawthorne has an action show the reader where a character’s loyalty lies here
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While the scarlet letter itself is a physical symbol of Hester’s disloyalty to her husband
through adultery, the choice she makes is a sign of the strong and loyal bond she shares with
Dimmesdale
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While it would be easy to say that
a person is either loyal or disloyal, we see in ‘Hamlet’, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘The Scarlet
Letter’ that loyalty or a lack thereof is not as straightforward as that and that there are grey
areas in terms of what is morally correct and what society deems is the correct course of
action to take regardless of how the characters may feel about the situation or about one
another
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We see that loyalty has a lot to do with making choices and sacrifices
such as Hester’s choice to bear punishment rather than give up Dimmesdale's name in “The
Scarlet Letter”, Lydia's choice to tarnish her family's reputation by eloping in “Pride and
Prejudice” and Gertrude’s choice to marry Claudius in 'Hamlet', despite the fact that he is her
husband’s brother, giving the audience the idea that Gertrude’s loyalties lie with herself and
her status alone
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- ‘Hamlet’
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2003
Austen, J
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Vintage Classics
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- ‘The Scarlet Letter’
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2008
[1] Stovel, B
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W - 'The Talk In Jane Austen'
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2002
[2] http://biblehub
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htm
[3] http://criticsandbuilders
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com/amlitblog/2012/03/feminist-critique-onscarlet-letter

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