The Role of Mistress Hibbins in The Scarlet Letter

It is common in literature for plots to progress by the actions and development of the major characters, the protagonists and antagonists. However, minor characters reveal certain symbols or ideals that make their roles in the plot significant. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Mistress Hibbins, the town witch and sister of Governor Bellingham, appears as a minor character due to her few and temporary appearances in the novel. Although so few, Hibbins’ appearances seem to trigger remorse and suffering for both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, two of the major characters in Hawthorne’s plot. Set during the mid-1600’s in Salem, Massachusetts, at the time of the Salem Witch Trials, Hawthorne introduces Mistress Hibbins as a prime example of civil disobedience and public scorn in the Puritan settlement. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, the character of Mistress Hibbins contributes to the unraveling of Hawthorne’s themes of hypocrisy and its relation to the Puritan society, Hester’s dependence on her daughter Pearl, gossip among the Puritan people, and also serves as a foil for Hester Prynne. Mistress Hibbins contributes to Hawthorne’s theme of hypocrisy with her relations to the Puritan society, which has condemned her as a witch, and thus, removed her from their society’s prosperity. For instance, Mistress Hibbins is the Governor’s sister but also a witch who hasn’t been hung yet, who should be cast out from society, but instead lives in her brother’s mansion in the Puritan settlement. “the lattice of a chamber-window was thrown open, and forth into the sunny day was thrust the face of Mistress Hibbins, Governor Bellingham’s bitter-tempered sister, and the same who, a few years later, was executed as a witch.” (Chapter 8, page 103). This quote poses two questions for the reader. The first, was Mistress Hibbins truly a witch? The passage states that she was later executed as a witch. It was law that known witches were to be executed. Was it possible that Mistress Hibbins was always suspected to be a witch, but it was never confirmed until a few years later? Certain passages in Hawthorne’s novel suggest she had already been declared a witch such as, “that a witch, like old Mistress Hibbins” (Chapter 2, page 47). It follows that if she was, in fact, a witch, why hadn’t she been executed until a few years later? One possibility that arises is that since she was the Governor’s sister, she was protected from death until the Governor himself could no longer protect her from the law. Mistress Hibbins’ protection from execution is an example of hypocrisy because as a Governor, Bellingham should be inclined to enforce the law, not defy it. A second example of Hawthorne’s theme of hypocrisy in relation to Mistress Hibbins is the Governor’s mansion, in which Mistress Hibbins lives, and its contradiction to Puritan ideals. Puritan society suggests a simple lifestyle, without the luxuries of humankind, and enforcing those ideals among its people. However, in Governor Bellingham’s situation, it seems to be the opposite. The Governor’s house is characterized by, “the walls being overspread with a kind of stucco, in which fragments of broken glass were plentifully intermixed; so that, when the sunshine fell aslant-wise over the front of the edifice, it glittered and sparkled as if diamonds had been flung against it by the double handful. The brilliancy might have befitted Aladdin’s palace, rather than the mansion of a grave old Puritan ruler.” (Chapter 7, page 91-92) This passage implies that Bellingham’s house was not like that of a Puritan ruler’s, but of Aladdin, a king from children’s fairytales. This is not how a Puritan ruler should be living, and yet, no one confronts Bellingham about it, rather, they criticize those who venture into the forest, who they think are doing evil, but actually escaping the hypocritical society that persecutes them.