In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester Prynne wore a red letter "A" on her breast. The symbol stood for adultery, a sin which she had been convicted of. This public humiliation of having to wear the bright crimson "A" was her punishment for becoming pregnant without being married. Despite the efforts of the church, she would not however reveal the name of the second party involved in the affair. Ironically, the father of the child happened to be the young town minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. He was a man of the cloth, a pillar of the community, and greatly admired by all. If his act of adultery was exposed, it would have a major impact on the whole town, so Hester chose to remain silent.
             Although Dimmesdale went without public punishment, the agony of guilt took toll on his conscience, and he became very ill. He soon invited his physician, Roger Chillingsworth, to live with him and care for his weakening condition. The young minister was so torn inside, that he finally exposed himself to his physician, who happened to be Hester Prynne's long lost husband. Chillingsworth reappears in Hester's life only to find her with a child that wasn't his. He was determined to find the child's father, and had long suspected Dimmesdale. His plan of recruiting Dimmesdale's trust soon paid off when he revealed himself as the father of Hester's child.
             As the time passed, Dimmesdale grew weaker and with each passing day, as he sunk further and further into his sorrows and guilt. Even though he was very young, and in excellent health when the novel began, in just a few short years he became bedridden and eventually was so overcome with guilt, he parished. His few moments of pleasure led him to a miserable and lengthy death.
             I believe that the point of Hawthorne writing about this eighteenth century drama was to reveal to the rest of the world of the importance of religion and ...