The Scarlet Letter is a very popular book, but one wonders how it achieved this status with such a plot full of loopholes. Many critics point these out, and it is amazing that the book is still a staple in modern literature with such a leaky plot. This is especially evident when Chillingworth returns; his return is very matter of fact with no real explanation. Hawthorne also fails to give good reason for the many times when characters meet each other at a perfectly coincidental moment. Another big problem is that of how Pearl, Hester's daughter from the adultery, seems very mature in her speech for her age.
The flaws in this book begin right at the beginning. Hester's husband returns from a mysterious two year disappearance that Hawthorne fails to elaborate on, which weakens the plot already and leaves the reader with a sense of cluelessness. Chillingworth conveniently doesn't tell anyone his name or who he is upon his return and finds his way to the crowd when Hester is up on the scaffold being ridiculed for her adultery. He just returned to find the wife that he hasn't seen in two years up on the town scaffold for adultery and manages to keep his cool, and not reveal his identity. This is a feat that many people could surely not pull off. He then creates his new name, Roger Chillingworth, and immediately is established as the town physician. This is how he was able to talk to Hester in her jail cell. Had the town not had a physician the previous two years when he was absent, or were they so desperate for one that they immediately hired an ugly man, in fact "one of this man's shoulders rose higher than the other." This is a small detail, but this was how Chillingworth was able to talk to Hester in the jail cell and convince her to not reveal to anyone his real identity, and how he was able to find Dimmesdale's secret. If it had been more realistic that wouldn't have been possible.
Chillingworth's arrival also exhibits another evident flaw. Many times throughout the novel, people arrived at places at just the right time. Many times it comes across as quite cheesy, and as if Hawthorne simply overlooked this fact in an attempt to follow his ideas for the book. How coincidental is it that Chillingworth arrives back after two years on the exact day that his wife is forced to stand upon the scaffold? Another time this is very obvious is when Dimmesdale exposes his inner guilt and his private torture by going to the scaffold during nighttime in the second scaffold scene. Hester and Pearl just so happened to be walking home when he was doing this. Even more unlikely is how Roger Chillingworth was there at the same time, hiding, waiting. This detracts from the power of the scene because Hawthorne doesn't give a sound reason as to where they were going or why they were there. This happens once more when Dimmesdale meets Hester in the forest. Again, there is no reason as to why either of them or there, and it is a great coincidence that they are there at the same time. This is a fatal flaw that consistently detracts from emotional scenes and causes scenes to come across as not being developed well enough.
Possibly the most popular problem with critics of Hawthorne's plot is that of the character of Pearl. This is first very obvious at the end of chapter six. Pearl is "big enough to run about," which is probably around the age of three. She says many things that are sophisticated beyond her years, such as "'He did not send me!' ... 'I have no Heavenly Father!' ... 'It is thou that must tell me!'" Pearl denies that her Heavenly Father is her father and wants to know who her real father is. This is not a very natural line of thought for a toddler. Hawthorne possibly does this to make her appear a young naive, immature child, but she comes across as more of a sacrilegious, almost creepy monster child. Another reason Hawthorne could possibly do this is to further explore the idea that Pearl is the spawn of the adultery, and a constant joy and torture to Hester. Hawthorne could be trying to make her seem abnormal, as if how she was created affected her behavior. An interesting idea, nonetheless, but it comes across as if Pearl is almost inhuman. This seems another case where Hawthorne ran out of creativity and cleverness, and pursued an idea without much thought as to what it was doing to the story. His tendency to do this definitely weakened the novel.
The Scarlet Letter is an interesting book with an initially creative plot. However, Hawthorne fails to strengthen it where it becomes shaky. The book almost has an incomplete feeling, as if it were almost a rough draft. He spends plenty of time elaborating on events less deserving than some of the major plot flaws with tedious descriptions. An area like this that greatly needed improvement is that of Chillingworth's return; it is very vague as if Hawthorne wanted to just get it out of the way. This goes hand in hand with another very obvious flaw. Many times Hawthorne couldn't seem to find a reason for people to meet up, so he just let it happen and assumed the reader wouldn't mind creating their own ideas as to why those characters coincidentally were in the same place. Another main problem is how Hawthorne makes Pearl seem very mature at very young ages. He could have easily let her grow older and her character would have fit better, but he chose not to. Overall, if the above problems were addressed more thoroughly, The Scarlet Letter would be a much better novel, and would attract a larger fan base.
