“Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.”  – Blaise Pascal

            In the Scarlet Letter, force and justice are powerful themes. The problem of balancing force and justice so that neither extreme, powerlessness and tyranny, are reached. The people of the town show an attempt to balance this power by issuing Hester the Scarlet Letter instead of meting out the usual punishment, death, because of her special circumstance. Chillingworth, however, does not attempt to balance justice and force when dealing with Dimmesdale, his constant pressure on Dimmesdale to get him to confess to being the other adulterer, borders on tyrannical. Pearl however, shows a balance of power between justice and force, because Hester wants to keep her, and because Pearl is such a burden when she is young, she forces Hester to take care of her, whilst meting out Justice for her sin, if inadvertently. The town, in its own way, shows all three facets of this truth, they show justice without force, force without justice, and the right balance of force and Justice in this novel.

            The scarlet letter is the townspeople’s attempt to mete justice upon Hester for her sins. The letter, however, is an example of justice without force. While intended as a sign of shame and sin, falls relatively flat as a punishment for Hester. The normal punishment in Puritan society for adultery is death, but because her husband has never showed up, even though it is long after he was supposed to, and everyone assumes he is dead, she is given special dispensation for her sin. So instead of death the town deems it fitting to make her wear a mark of shame, a mark to remind her and other people that she is a sinner and an outcast. It makes her and by extension Pearl, outcasts and rejects in Puritan society. The letter does not shame her as it is supposed to however, as she basically flaunts it by embroidering it in crimson thread, and quite largely. It almost makes her  celebrity, albeit a celbrity sinner.  “”the scarlet letter had the effect of the cross on a nun’s bosom. It imparted to the wearer a kind of sacredness which enabled her to walk securely amid all peril.”(page157)  The punishment is without any real force behind it, therefore it is largely powerless to mete justice upon Hester. “Justice without force is Powerless…”

Chillingworth demonstrates the opposite extreme of this issue. When he comes into town and learns that Hester as committed adultery, he immediately sets out to find the other person involved.  Chillingworth immediately begins to suspect Dimmesdale, and makes himself close to Dimmesdale. He installs himself in the town as a doctor and begins to administer medical care to the townspeople. He uses this profession to become Dimmesdale’s “friend”. As his “friend” and physician, Chillingworth is able to manipulate Dimmesdale’s guilt and shame to attempt to make Dimmesdale confess to either Chillingworth, or the entire town that he is the other adulterer, the father of Pearl, and the other sinner in the scandal. Over the years he whittles away at Dimmesdale’s defenses in order to find out the one who has committed adultery with his wife. Instead of justice, Chillingworth is meting out forceful, slow revenge on Dimmesdale. “In a word, old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devil’s office.” (page 163)   He becomes a tyrant, tormenting Dimmesdale for years without even Dimmesdales knowledge. Chillingworth wasn’t controlling his revenge, his revenge was controlling him. Chillingworth let his anger control his actions, he used complete force instead of making provisions for justice. “The unfortunate physician, while uttering these words, lifted his hands with a look of horror, as if he had beheld some frightful shape, which he could not recognize, usurping the place of his own image in a glass. It was one of those moments-which sometimes occur only at the interval of years-when a man’s moral aspect is faithfully revealed to his mind’s eye. Not improbably, he had never before viewed himself as he did now.” (p.166)

            Pearl, however is a balance of force and justice. Hester begged that Pearl would not be taken away from her, and the fact that Pearl is such a burden on Hester, combine to be a punishment for Hester, without being cruel. “But she named the infant “Pearl,” as being of great price–purchased with all she had–her mother’s only treasure!”  She burdens Hester with her wild tendencies and incessant questioning about her father. Yet she blesses her mother by her sheer presence. Hester loves Pearl and almost needs her as a reason to live, a reason to be a mother. Pearl allows her to be punished by being a constant reminder of her sin and a burden on her mother, yet she also embodies justice because instead of the simple cruelty of death, Hester is allowed to keep what she loves while receiving her punishment. Hester is punished, but fairly.

            The balance of force and justice is a central theme in The Scarlet letter Hesters differing punishment the letter shows that justice without force is powerless. Chillingworth on the other hand, with his cruel treatment of Dimmesdale, demonstrates the tyranny caused when force is applied without justice. A balnace needs to be reached in the novel. That balance is reached in Pearl. Pearl is a balance of justice and force s a punishment for Hester, because Hester wanted to keep her, and the fact that Pearl is a huge burden on her mother, balances out the justice and punishment in this punishment and creates an equilibrium.