She-Devil

In Hawthorne’s romance The Scarlet Letter, which was published in 1850, we meet Mistress Hibbins. She is an old, creepy woman, and she is known for her witchcraft. Although she does not play an equally important role as Hester or Dimmesdale for the story, she has an important function in the novel for a better understanding of the plot, the symbolism, and Hester, the main character.

First, Hibbins gives the story a firm time and place setting. She is an actual historical figure  included in a work of fiction: Ann Hibbins, a prosperous Boston woman who was executed in 1656 after being found guilty of witchcraft. By doing this, Hawthorne is able to ground his story a bit more in reality. The Mistress also provides readers with actual historical evidence that Hawthorne’s story and portrayal of Puritan society is not purely fiction.  He hasn’t exactly built a story around real people, but he has woven real people through his story, which has the effect of further grounding the story. 

Hibbins definitely serves a purpose in terms of helping to develop Hester as a character. Both Hester and Hibbins have been alienated from the town; however, each woman responds differently to being an outcast.  Hibbins essentially embraces it, becomes angry and nasty to people around her, and she is eventually accused of witchcraft and hanged.  Hester, on the other hand, works hard to purify herself from her sin by enduring the town’s public shaming:  

“Here, she said to herself had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and work out another purity than that which she had lost: more saintlike, because the result of martyrdom” (Hawthorne 51). By occasionally showing readers Hibbins, Hawthorne is better able to show how wonderful Hester is at overcoming the burden of her guilt and public shame.  Mistress Hibbins could be seen as the other side of Hester, the bad side. Hester could easily go over to that bad side. Having been alienated from the community, as Hibbins has been, Hester could become evil, angry, and a servant of the devil.  All the things that Mistress Hibbins is.  The town pushes Hester to the edge of town – Hibbins domain is the forest, so Hester is almost there. When Mistress Hibbins first appears just after Hester learns the magistrates are considering taking Pearl away from her, she actually tries to tempt Hester into that forest, so sign her name with the “Black Man”: Wilt thou go with us tonight?  There will be a merry company in the forest; and I well-nigh promised the Black Man that comely Hester Prynne should make one” (Hawthorne 74). Hibbins is offering Hester friendship, connection – Hester refuses. This character allows us to see how devout Hester is as a Christian.  She will not, despite her rough times, turn to the dark side of society and herself.

The inclusion of the witch not only helps to understand Hester as a character, but it also supports Hawthorne’s critical view of Puritans. Mistress Hibbins, with her “ill-omened physiognomy” who appears to cast a shadow upon the governor’s house, is, ironically, a witch.  With the leader of the Puritan colony having a witch for a sister, Hawthorne’s scorn for the hypocrisy of the Puritans is clearly apparent. In addition, that Hester refuses to accompany Mistress Hibbins because she “must keep watch over my little Pearl” or otherwise, she says, she would go and sign her name in the Black Man’s book–“and that with own blood!” (Hawthorne 75) –is testimony to the validity of her plea that she be allowed to keep Pearl so she will live, and live righteously. Further, Hester’s interview with Mistress Hibbins illustrates how dependent Hester has become on the child of her illicit love affair now that she has been ostracized from society. Later in the novel, Mistress Hibbins appears at unexpected moments; each time that she does enter the scene, however, either Hester or Arthur Dimmesdale suffer from remorse. Thus it would seem that the witch serves as a reminder to Hester and the minister of their sin and of the darkness hidden in Puritanism. 

Toward the end of the novel, after Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale have determined to run away together, Hester sees Mistress Hibbins in town. Mistress Hibbins says a number of things that make it clear that she understands the relationship between Hester and Arthur. When Hester feigns confusion, Mistress Hibbins asks her: “Dost thou think I have been to the forest so many times, and have yet no skill to judge who else has been there? . . . I know thee, Hester, for I behold the token.  We may all see it in the sunshine! and it glows like a red flame in the dark. Thou wearest it openly, so there need be no question about that.  But this minister! . . .When the Black Man sees one of his own servants, signed and sealed, so shy of owning to the bond as is the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, he hath a way of ordering matters so that the mark shall be disclosed, in open daylight, to the eyes of all the world!” (Hawthorne 159). In other words, Hibbins claims that she knows sin and temptation well enough to know who else has experienced it.  She says that though Dimmesdale tries to hide his sin, the Devil still knows of it.  Her words even foreshadow the ending, where Dimmesdale finally confesses and then dies on the scaffold. Mistress Hibbins explains she does not need proof to know all of this; she can tell by the way Dimmesdale acts. This shows how perceptive

Mistress Hibbins is; she seems to intuitively know the contents of another’s heart. The majority of Puritans may be utterly blind to such a possibility, and this is another criticism Hawthorne launches at them.  Mistress Hibbins senses Hester’s heart rebels against the community, though she seems to conform and accept her punishment with equanimity.  She later senses Dimmesdale’s guilt, despite his attempts to conceal his sin.  It is interesting this supposed witch actually knows more about the human heart than many of the rigid, judgmental Puritans do. She is more discerning as well as more compassionate than her Puritan peers.  Those “self-constituted judges,” as the narrator described them, wanted Hester branded or even hanged for her crimes.  This society had little sympathy for her and was ready to treat her co-sinner the same way.  Rather than “out” him, however, Mistress Hibbins has kept her knowledge to herself, reserving judgment because she knows that he will be judged by a higher power (though, for her, it is the Devil), in the way these so-called Christians ought to have done.  The contrast between the so-called good, God-fearing Puritans and the godless witch actually makes the Puritans look even more self-righteous, officious, and merciless. One year after Dimmesdale’s death, Mistress Hibbins is executed for practicing witchcraft. Her death supports the mercilessness of the Puritan society in the name of piety and propriety.

Some readers might see Mistress Hibbins as a bad character, embodying a devil’s servant Hester has to escape from, and symbolizing the evil. But by looking further into the witch’s actions, it becomes clear that she is more complex, helping readers to understand the Puritan society and its hypocrisy. She creates an image under which conditions people who were different had to live in the colonies of the New World. Of course, this is primarily shown in Hester, but Hibbins presents a foil to Hester, allowing us to understand her better. Mistress Hibbins therefor plays a very important role in Hawthorne’s romance.