The Scarlet Letter
A great deal of blood has been shed and many wars have been fought during the history ofgreatest battle and most formidable enemy is only himself. This has been made only more evidenttime and the development of the human character. However, one factor that has remained constantcharacter through this development is conscience. Conscience can be man's saving grace or hispresence may simultaneously purify and mar. As contradictory as this may sound, it has beenNathaniel Hawthorne who chronicles one man's battle against himself in The Scarlet Letter. InArthur Dimmesdale struggles to pacify his conscience and withhold the secret of his sin fromconscience continues to consume all that is his very essence, Arthur Dimmesdale illustratessin-stained conscience and redemption only through truth. The novel begins to delve into theArthur Dimmesdale when Roger Chillingworth questions him about his thoughts on sinners and theirwell the torment of his own secret, Arthur proclaims that those who hold such "m
Climbing atop this structure and later being joined by Pearl and Hester, anelectrical charge pulsed through his body and he was reawakened. " Evidently Arthurdoes this frequently, and the reader is presented with the thought that this gesture possibly is not done as much out ofphysical suffering as spiritual suffering. Arthur's conscience was now stainedwith sin, and its weight will soon become too much to bear. He reveals to the world his humanity and in so doing, forgives himself and is himself forgiven. ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**. He despises the hypocrisy of such a vile scoundrel as himselfpreaching from behind the pulpit, yet can never bring himself to admit his corruption before his congregation. Through Arthur's change from merely feeling the painsof his human weakness while being interviewed, to his attempts at relieving his pain through scourging, fasting, andvigils, to his ultimate acceptance of the truth at the final scaffold scene, Nathaniel Hawthorne succeeds in showingthat redemption can be achieved through truth alone; complete atonement comes only with complete truth. It is visible to him as he pulls aside Arthur's ministerial robe: a scarlet letter A upon his chest. With his last steps, he ascends the scaffold and completessomething he feels he should have completed seven years earlier: he accepts his sin, he accepts Hester, and he acceptsPearl. His innerturmoil led him to find other methods of penance: the scourge, fasting, and vigils. At this pointin the novel, Arthur's sin had begun, if it had not already succeeded, in consuming him. His conscienceand the truth, which had been agonizing him before has purified him, and he is free to achieve the peace he was in searchof.
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