Passage Commentary on The Scarlet Letter
             "...in the view of Infinite Purity, we are sinners all alike" -- Chapter XXIV, "Conclusion"
             In the concluding chapter of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter a passage comes that in many ways summarizes the book's characters and story. The narrator's statement: "...in the view of Infinite Purity, we are sinners all alike." (page 177, paragraph 1) asks the reader to examine the actual sin of each of the characters in relation to the sin perceived by those who judged them within the story. The passage also tells the reader a great deal about the puritan society in which the characters in The Scarlet Letter lived.
             None of the characters in The Scarlet Letter have remained unscathed by sin at the close of the novel. Throughout the course of the book the reader becomes acquainted with three separate types of sin plaguing the three main characters; Hester Prynne, the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Not only does the reader come to know their individual sins, but also how they cope with their supposed damnation. On the surface, we se Hester Prynne, who lives in public shame; bearing the weight of the scarlet letter 'A' on her chest. Not only does she assume responsibility for her own sin by accepting her position as social and religious outcast, but she assumes responsibility for the sin of her fellow adulterer by protecting his identity. In Hester's case, "the view of Infinite Purity" is Puritan society and the severe morals it instills in the people living under it.
             At a very different position in this same fanatical society we have the Dimmesdale living under the severe pain brought on by his inward shame of having sinned in the face of God. Hawthorn summarizes Dimmesdale's situation perfectly on when he writes "It is inconceivable, the agony with which this public veneration tortured him!" (98) Even
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