ABSTRACT
Part of timeless human ignorance is that optimistic supposition the tales subject consistently to ironic treatment, namely any program whether secular or religious that projects social reformation in preference to seeking modest but attainable improvement of hearts by difficultly won experience issuing in better personal endeavor. Nathaniel Hawthorne displays no allegiance to central Christian doctrines as vicarious atonement by redemption achieved through the Son's incarnation, sacrificial death, and resurrection. Beyond what once were called "corporal works of mercy" Hawthorne may carry over from the traditional Christian counsels of charity an insistence upon extending forgiveness to those who wrong one. Hester forgives where she loves and refuses forgiveness to those she does not love. The negative aspect of the endeavor—the refraining—derives from Hawthorne's understanding of the negative rights for the safeguarding of which governments are said to be established in the Jeffersonian Declaration.
