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Western culture is the story of the Christ child born from the Virgin Mary and sacrificed for the redemption of humanity by a loving Father. These resurrection and rebirth themes compare to the myth of Osiris. After Osiris' death, Isis mourns him and her wails reach the sun-God Ra. He pities her and sends Anubis to piece together the body of Osiris. Anubis revives Osiris, who becomes the God of the underworld (Leeming 280), which gives humanity the hope of resurrection after death.

These myths reveal the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth and still have the power to stir the most practical souls. Hawthorne's romantic novel, The Scarlet Letter, uses the same mythological elements and has this same impact as these myths. This paper will compare the mythological roles of Hester Prynne and Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, while showing that only through the suffering and sacrifice of Mr. Dimmesdale can Pearl, their daughter, be redeemed from her capricious nature and be allowed to live within society.

The mythic roles of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter are paradoxical and encompass Christian misogynistic elements embodied both in the Madonna, the mother and child, and of Eve, the fallen woman. In Hester's role as Madonna Hawthorne writes: "Had there been a Papist among the crowd of Puritans, he might have seen in this beautiful woman, so picturesque in her attire and mien, and with the infant at her bosom, an object to remind him of the image of Divine Maternity . . ." (53).

Hester continues this role as she lives her life in isolation, administering to the sick, and caring for her willful daughter. However, Hester also wears the brand of Eve, a scarlet letter, which burns upon her bosom. Because of this mark, she becomes more virtuous, more caring, more willing to repay her debt to society. After all, she is the one who committed the adultery and who bore the child. Pearl is also a reminder of Hester's passionate nature, which Hester supposedly inherits from Eve. Hester, in a very primitive sense, is the creator of Pearl. No man can carry a child through pregnancy and feel that child move and grow. This is the reason that Hester can be both fallen woman and divine Motherfor Hester's main role is not of womanhood but of motherhood.

In contrast to Hester, Mr. Dimmesdale's mythic roles are weaker, more passive, and just as paradoxical. On one hand, Mr. Dimmesdale's suffering reminds one of Christ's mental agonies in the Garden of Gethsemane, but on the other

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