Sin in Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlet Letter, uses sin in his novel as the main theme. Each of the main characters; Hester Pryne, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale, have sinned in the novel. Hester’s sin was committing adultery, Dimmesdale’s sin was that he covered up the fact that he and Hester had an affair and Chillingworth’s sin was marrying a younger woman which then turns into greater sins.

Hester Pryne, the lead female character in this novel, is a strong and loveable woman. Due to Hester’s sin, adultery, she has to wear a scarlet “A” on her chest. Hester does not cover up her sin in the novel, she openly appreciates the letter because she knows that her sin was not done in order to hurt others, but because of her love for Dimmesdale. She wore the letter proudly and it was elaborately designed. Hester’s sin was not the worst committed among the other characters in the novel, it is the basis for the novel yet she has recompense for her sin. Hester’s character grows stronger throughout the novel because of her sin; unlike Dimmesdale and Chillingworth whose sins caus

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The two sins of Chillingworth are not as straight forward as the sins of Dimmesdale and Hester. Once a man full of love, Chillingworth has now changed to be a character capable of “violating the sanctity of the human heart”. Dimmesdale not confessing his sin and Chillingworth being hurt because of Hester’s affair was the cause of both characters downfall, whereas Hester was forgiven, and forgave herself, for her sin and Hester’s character prospered at the end of the novel. When Chillingworth married Hester she was a generation younger than he was which causes conflict in the marriage already. Chillingworth was the cause of Hester’s sin; due to being apart and the age difference he “betrayed thy budding youth into a false and unnatural relation”. He was distraught and upset when he saw Hester on the scaffold with a child, that wasn’t his and he wanted to find out who it was to torture them for having an affair with his wife. Dimmesdale’s sin has been built up inside him for seven years and the guilt has overridden his entire self being. She has suffered enough for her sin and contrasting Dimmesdale, she confesses to her sin. He does this in order to save himself, although his sin led to the downfall of his character. He is also a selfish character because while Hester is up on the scaffold confessing her adultery, Dimmesdale stands and does not confess himself.

The characters in The Scarlet Letter all commit sins to a degree.

In The Scarlet Letter Dimmesdale is weak and portrayed as a cowardly character. Dimmesdale’s effort to try and get rid of his guilt was never ending, he stood on the scaffold at night to try and confess but since no one heard the confession it did not affect the guilty conscience that he still had. He hunts seven years and pursues Dimmesdale, his whole purpose in life is to torment Dimmesdale because he had an affair with Hester.

Approximate Word count = 751
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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