The book The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a book about sin and its consequences. In The Scarlet Letter there are four characters that fall into the grasp of sin and feel its everlasting consequences. There is Hester and her daughter Pearl who learn what it is like to be an outcast of society because of the wrongs Hester commits. Then there is a preacher named Dimmesdale who must hide his sin for fear of execution, and he finds that the guilt of sin is a tough load to bear. Finally there is a man whose name is Chillingworth, and he finds himself so angry about Dimmesdale having an affair with his wife, that he is consumed by hate. All of these characters feel the effects of sin, and they also learn that they must face the consequences of sin.
             Hester and Pearl are outcasts in Boston because the townspeople do not realize that no one is without sin, and the townspeople are in denial about there own sin. Hester also faces losing her daughter because of her sin, and to her the thought of losing her daughter is the worst thing that could happen. When Hester is brought in front of the townspeople one woman says to her friends " I'll tell ye a piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling of such malefactoresses as this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? If the hussy stood up for judgement before us five, that are now here in a knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not!" (Hawthorne 48). These women's opinion of Hester accurately reflects the opinion of the people of Boston. These women do not realize that everyone is a sinner, and they think Hester is a bad person because she had an affair. No one offers to help Hester in this time of public humiliation because everyone thinks she is a bad person. She is...