Witch or Savior

Her main function in the novel is to wake up the sin hidden inside Hester and Arthur.

The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is hated by many critics and students. Thomas Foster wrote an essay about his negative review, stating: ”I just don’t care for The Scarlet Letter. I’m sorry. Don’t get me wrong. I like Nathaniel Hawthorne” (T. Foster 1). The book is staged in the 1600s, in Boston, Massachusetts, Puritan north of the colonies in America. It tells the story of a lady “Hester Prynne”, who committed adultery with a paramour (Arthur Dimmesdale) when being married to another man (Roger Chillingworth). The novel develops how she deals with the sin sewed on her cloth. In the novel, she keeps on falling back in love with Dimmesdale, but it would reveal him as the father of her daughter, Pearl. Every time she tries to forget or forgive herself, a person appears to make her remember it. Mistress Hibbins is an occasional character, but her appearances have long-term effects. The true question is whether her appearances are attacks or just attempts to get people turned to Satan from God. From the moment Hester meets Hibbins, she realizes the mistress does not have good intentions. She speaks to Pearl when she is without her father, and after the meeting of the lovebirds, she tries to separate them.

Mistress Hibbins is, in fact, based on a real woman named Ann Hibbins, who was executed for witchcraft in 1656, which gives a hint at when the action happens. In the novel Mistress Hibbins is the sister-in-law of governor Bellingham: “As they descended the steps, it is averred that the lactice of chamber-window was thrown open, and forth into the sunny day was thrust the face of Mistress Hibbins, Governor Bellingham’s bitter-tempered sister, and the same who, a few years later, was executed as a witch” (Hawthorne 79). As soon as she is introduced, Misstress Hibbins noticed that Hester is isolated. Readers immediately can infer that she made the deal with the devil; Hawthorne uses Black Man as a way to say his name. She invites Hester to the forest and by accepting the invitation she would join Hibbins on her journey to meet the Black Man in the forest. Luckily for Hester, Pearl saved her: “I must tarry at home, and keep watch over my little Pearl. (…) Even thus early had the child saved her from Satan’s snare” (Hawthorne 79). After the discussion of whether Pearl should be in the care of Hester or not, Hester could tell that somebody had to take care of her and so she rejected the offer. Some may see it as Pearl saving her from the Black Man rather than Hester herself. Mistress Hibbins notices that and uses it to her advantage.

The next time the Mistress is mentioned, Hawthorne explains Hibbins was in contact with Hester’s daughter Pearl telling her about how the A on her bosom is from the “Black Man” and her mother is meeting with him in the forest: “‘And who told you this story, Pearl,’ asked her mother, recognising a common superstition of the period. ‘It was the old dame in the chimney corner, (…) And that ugly-tempered lady, old Mistress Hibbins, was one. And, mother, the old dame said that this scarlet letter was the Black Man’s mark on thee, and that it glows like a red flame when thou meetest him at midnight, here in the dark wood” (Hawthorne 125). Pearl, still trying to understand why her own mother has to wear a letter on her chest, believed it; questioning her mother later shocked Hester. The first time she lied to Pearl, reflected on her reaction and told little Pearl to go play and stop asking questions. Mistress Hibbins, although without Hester’s acknowledgment, was willing to use Hester’s daughter in order to gain her a “guest” at her small party in the forest. Pearl, the little child as she is, easily got manipulated, and as result, Hester revealed her anger to her. But after that, Mistress Hibbins’ intention changed after she discovered her new victim.

So far readers can only guess that Hibbins’s function in the novel is to provoke Hester to sin more, but after Hester met with Dimmesdale to discuss their feelings and expose themselves to each other, Mistress Hibbins tries to invite him to a talk at midnight: “Well, well! We must needs talk thus on the daytime! You can carry it off like an old hand! But at midnight, and in the forest, we shall have other talk together” (Hawthorne 148). Arthur questions himself whether he just sold himself to the devil with an assumption towards Mistress Hibbins: ”’Have I then sold myself,’ thought the minister, ‘to the fiend whom, if men say true, this yellow-starched and velveted old hag has chosen for her prince and master?’” (Hawthorne 149). Dimmesdale not fully sure what he has done shows Hibbins’s flair for gathering people towards the devil, but also has evidence that people already are afraid of her due to her being connected to the devil.

The last moment the readers get to see her is when she keeps on comparing Dimmesdale to a guest at Satan’s party, but after noticing something she is convinced Arthur is already a part of it: ”When the Black Man sees one of his servants, signed and sealed, so shy of owning to the bond as is the Reverend Mr. Dimmsdale, he hath a way of ordering matters so that the mark shall be disclosed, in open daylight, to the eyes of all world! What is that the minister seeks to hide, with his hand always over his heart? Ha, Hester Prynne?” (Hawthorne 161/162). Hibbins suggests to Hester that Arthur is hiding something and Hester knows what it is. The Mistress suspects it is the scarlet letter. Suspicion by mistress Hibbins indicates that she can feel the presence of nearby sinners and have the audacity to intervene and develop the sin inside of people.

Throughout “The Scarlet Letter” Mistress Hibbins appears four times and her objective is to gather followers for the devil. Her main function in the novel is to wake up the sin hidden inside Hester and Arthur. She manages to do that to Dimmesdale but not Hester. Pearl by her side saves Hester from Hibbins’ first “attack”, but when The Mistress realized it her second attack became on Pearl. This then reflects on Hester lying to her own daughter. Her third appearance is directed towards Arthur and is succeeded by making him doubt his religious position. By showing up in Arthur’s resignation speech, she notices that she managed to turn him without doing anything.

Work Cited

Hawthorne Nathaniel, 1804-1864, The Scarlet Letter, New York, 1988

Foster Thomas, “The Allegory Man Cometh.” New York. 2011