Inherited Guilt and the Haunting of History in Hester
The Thematic Claim: Ancestral Sins as Living Hauntings in Hester
In Laurie Lico Albanese's Hester, inherited guilt is not a passive inheritance but an active haunting that shapes identity, reputation, and the choices of descendants. The novel argues that the sins of ancestors—witch trial judgments, slave trading, and the cruelty of Puritan judges—do not stay buried; they echo through generations, forcing characters like Isobel Gamble and Nathaniel Hathorne to confront legacies they did not create but cannot escape. The theme is embodied in the red letter A that Isobel's mother sews into her hem, in Nathaniel's obsession with his great-great-grandfather John Hathorne, and in the lingering presence of the 1692 witch trials in Salem's streets and families. Through these threads, the novel insists that history is never truly past—it haunts the living, demanding acknowledgment and often exacting a price.
The Red Letter and the Scottish Inheritance
Isobel's synesthesia—seeing colors in voices and letters—marks her as different from an early age. When her mother teaches her to embroider a sampler, Isobel uses red thread for the letter A, and her mother slaps her knuckles, warning that such talk would mark her as a witch. Later, her mother sews a red A into the hem of a Sunday smock, saying, “their women had always hidden their red letters” (Chapter One). This moment establishes the red A as a symbol of inherited shame, passed down through maternal lineage. The letter connects Isobel to her namesake, Isobel Gowdie, the “Queen of Witches” who stood trial in Auldearn, Scotland, in 1662. Isobel's mother angrily warns of witch trials in Lanarkshire, and the novel flashes back to Gowdie being dragged into Loch Loy square, stripped, and pricked by the witch-pricker John Dickson.
For Isobel, the red A is not just a piece of cloth; it is a tangible link to a persecuted ancestress. The hidden red letter A becomes a private marker of guilt that Isobel carries without fully understanding. Her synesthesia itself is a form of haunting—she sees colors in words and sounds, a sensory experience that her mother fears will expose her as a witch. The novel suggests that inherited guilt is not only historical but also embodied, woven into the very fabric of perception. Isobel's struggle to hide her colors mirrors her struggle to hide her lineage, and both are tied to the fear of being accused.
Nathaniel's Burden: The Hathorne Legacy
Nathaniel Hathorne is haunted by his ancestor John Hathorne, the only Salem witch trial judge who never recanted his verdicts. In Chapter Fourteen, Nathaniel tells Isobel about the curse that hangs over his family: “The curse of my grandsire's behavior is its own horror... there was also a curse hurled from the gallows by little Dorcas's mother.” He quotes the curse: “If you kill me, God will give you blood to drink.” This curse, attributed to Sarah Osborn in the novel's recommended reading, is a direct inheritance that Nathaniel feels compelled to repair. He confesses, “I need to write these stories so that I can be free of the ruin my forefathers brought on our name.”
Nathaniel's guilt is not abstract; it is tied to his identity as a Hathorne. The novel notes that Nathaniel added a w to his surname after college, a historical fact that Albanese incorporates to show his attempt to distance himself from his ancestors (Chapter Thirty-Eight). Yet the name change does not erase the burden. Nathaniel's writing becomes an act of expiation, a way to confront the past and perhaps free himself from it. But the novel complicates this: even as he seeks release, he remains entangled in the very history he tries to escape. His obsession with Dorcas Good, the child accused of witchcraft, shows that the haunting is not just about guilt but about the need to uncover and remember the victims.
The curse also connects to the hawthorn symbol, which appears in the novel as a plant associated with both the Hathorne name and the thorny legacy of judgment. Nathaniel's burden is not just personal; it is a family curse that he believes he must break through his stories. Yet the novel suggests that writing alone may not be enough—the past must be faced, not just narrated.
The Haunting of Salem: Families and the Slave Trade
The novel extends inherited guilt beyond the witch trials to the slave trade, showing that Salem's history is layered with multiple forms of sin. In Chapter Fifteen, Isobel encounters a notice on the board at the Charter Ale House: “Free Negroes Beware: A slave catcher has been seen on these Salem streets.” She learns that a mother and child are being hunted, and a woman tells her that slaves who escape north are often beaten, have their tongues cut out, or are sold farther south. This moment forces Isobel to recognize that the cruelty she has been living alongside is not just a relic of the past but an ongoing horror.
The novel also includes the enslaved woman Tituba, who was the first person accused of witchcraft in 1692. In Chapter Sixteen, Tituba is in jail, cold and hungry, while other accused women huddle together. She reflects that none of the other Salem slaves spoke in her defense, and she is forced to make a pact with the devil Parris to confess. Tituba's story shows that the witch trials were not only about Puritan judges but also about the intersection of race and accusation. Her suffering is a direct result of the same system that condemned Sarah Good and others, but her experience as an enslaved woman adds another layer of inherited guilt—the guilt of a society that enslaved and then scapegoated her.
The novel's inclusion of free Black characters like Mercy and the references to the Underground Railroad (Chapter Thirty-Eight) highlight that Salem's history is not monolithic. The descendants of the accused and the descendants of the accusers live side by side, as Nathaniel explains in Chapter Fourteen: “The Silas family. The Good family. The Martins. The Easty family... They're all descended from the accused or the accusers.” This proximity creates a community haunted by its own past, where marriages between families of accusers and accused (like the Hathorne cousins marrying the granddaughters of Philip and Mary English) blur the lines of guilt and innocence.
Complexity and Contradiction: Guilt as Identity and Resistance
The theme of inherited guilt is complex because it can be both a burden and a source of identity. Isobel initially wants to hide her connection to Gowdie, but she also feels a kinship with other descendants of the accused, like Felicity Adams. In Chapter Fifteen, Isobel thinks, “I can't look at Felicity without thinking of our common history, each of us descended from a woman accused of witchcraft.” This shared history creates a bond, but it also isolates them from those who do not carry the same stain.
Nathaniel's guilt drives him to write, but it also isolates him. He tells Isobel, “I'm writing for my reasons, and you are stitching for your own.” His writing is a form of penance, but it does not bring him peace. The novel suggests that acknowledging the past is necessary for healing, but that healing is not guaranteed. Mercy's advice to Isobel in Chapter Sixteen offers a different perspective: “You learn how to move through places so folks don't see you, then you can do things folks don't want you to do... Sometimes you got to act like you are nothing—so long as you remember that it's a lie.” This advice reframes invisibility as a form of power, allowing Isobel to resist the haunting by redefining her identity on her own terms.
The novel also shows that some characters, like John Hathorne, refuse to acknowledge guilt, which perpetuates the cycle. In Chapter Eighteen, after the trials are suspended, Hathorne rages at the magistrates who recant and at the accusers who apologize. He insists, “The victims believed Satan was here and I still believe it.” His refusal to admit wrongdoing ensures that the curse—and the guilt—continues. In contrast, the novel's epigraph, drawn from The Scarlet Letter, suggests that release is possible only when one recognizes the weight of the burden. The epigraph's line about not knowing the heaviness until freedom is found implies that acknowledgment is the first step toward liberation.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How does the red letter A function as a symbol of inherited guilt for Isobel?
The red A is sewn into Isobel's hem by her mother, who says their women have always hidden their red letters. It connects Isobel to her ancestress Isobel Gowdie, accused of witchcraft, and becomes a private marker of shame. The letter also ties to Isobel's synesthesia, as she sees red in the letter A, linking her sensory difference to the fear of being marked as a witch. The A is both a hidden burden and a reminder of the persecution that runs in her bloodline.
2. Why does Nathaniel feel compelled to write about the witch trials, and does he succeed in freeing himself?
Nathaniel believes that writing stories about the witch trials is a way to repair the ruin his forefathers brought on the Hathorne name. He says he needs to write “so that I can be free of the ruin my forefathers brought on our name.” However, the novel suggests that writing is not a complete release; he remains haunted by the curse and by his search for Dorcas Good's fate. His writing is an act of acknowledgment, but it does not erase the past.
3. How does the novel connect the witch trials to the slave trade as forms of inherited guilt?
The novel shows that Salem's history includes both the witch trials and the slave trade, and both leave legacies of guilt. The presence of a slave catcher in Salem and the story of Tituba, an enslaved woman accused of witchcraft, link the persecution of accused witches to the ongoing cruelty of slavery. The novel also includes free Black characters and references to the Underground Railroad, suggesting that the haunting of history extends beyond the witch trials to include racial injustice.
4. What role does Mercy play in helping Isobel understand and resist inherited guilt?
Mercy advises Isobel to use invisibility as a form of power, telling her to “act like you are nothing—so long as you remember that it's a lie.” This reframes the burden of being seen as different or guilty into a strategy for survival. Mercy's own identity as a free Black woman in Salem gives her insight into navigating a society that judges based on ancestry. She helps Isobel see that one can resist the haunting by redefining one's sense of self.
5. How does the novel address the contradiction between acknowledging guilt and moving forward?
The novel suggests that acknowledgment is necessary but not sufficient for healing. Nathaniel's writing is an acknowledgment, but he remains haunted. John Hathorne's refusal to acknowledge guilt perpetuates the curse. Isobel's journey involves both hiding and eventually embracing her connection to Gowdie. The epigraph implies that release comes only when one recognizes the weight of the burden. The novel leaves open whether true freedom is possible, suggesting that the haunting of history is ongoing but can be faced with courage and self-awareness.