The Poser of Guilt in The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a book that goes far into the lives of the main characters. After establishing the main characters--Hester, Pearl, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth--he shows how each decision they made affects all the others. Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth all felt guilty at one point in the novel.
Hester had "dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes" (50).
The Scarlet Letter - Two Symbols of Her Crime
“It lies not in the pleasure of the magistrates to take off this badge,” calmly replied Hester. “Were I worthy to be quit of it, it would fall away of its own nature, or be transformed into something that should speak a different purport.” (163)
Hester Prynne, the central character in the Scarlet Letter, realizes and accepts the consequences of the adulterous act she committed against her husband, Roger Chillingworth, as Hawthorne shows in this quotation. Hester, throughout the book, excludes and humbles herself because of her crime, rather than simply running away.
She knows the severity of her sin, and therefore welcomes her punishment without rebellion. When she stands on the scaffold with Pearl, Hester accepts "that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, [so] she took the baby on her arm... On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A" (Hawthorne 50). She humbles herself by proudly displaying both of the symbols of her disgrace: the scarlet letter A, and Pearl, her sin-born daughter. Not only does Hester display her shame, but gives back to her community. She shows compassion toward the poor and sick of the Puritan town. Hester delivers food to the poor and helps the ill. Many people of the community begin to alter how they interpret the scarlet letter that the poor Hester is forced to wear. The townspeople discuss her claiming "Its is our Hester,-the town 's own Hester, who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!"(Hawthorne 147). The letter "A" that Hester bears on her chest begins to mean "able" instead of "adulterer." Even when Hester moves away, she refuses to stay away and returns to the town to serve her remaining punishment. The town is the home of her sin and the place of her penance. Hester isolates herself from the rest of the town and lives in solitude. Hester Prynne
Guilt is powerful thing. A person’s whole life can be destroyed seconds after being exposed to the strength of guilt. Even though admitting a sin can seem more difficult than not, that confession can often make a world of difference in the long run. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne, and Reverend Dimmesdale, have two very different ways of dealing with guilt. These differences in action are what change the courses of their lives. The actions taken by one character are successful, though the actions of the other put his life in ruins. Hester confesses her sin in public, while Dimmesdale does not. This simple choice made causes a drastic change in each of their lives. When comparing the lives of Hester and Dimmesdale,
Guilt and shame haunt all three of the main characters in The Scarlet Letter, but how they each handle their sin will change their lives forever. Hester Prynne’s guilt is publicly exploited. She has to live with her shame for the rest of her life by wearing a scarlet letter on the breast of her gown. Arthur Dimmesdale, on the other hand, is just as guilty of adultery as Hester, but he allows his guilt to remain a secret. Instead of telling the people of his vile sin, the Reverend allows it to eat away at his rotting soul. The shame of what he has done slowly kills him. The last sinner in this guilty trio is Rodger Chillingworth. This evil man not only hides his true identity as Hester’s husband, but also mentally torments Arthur Dimmesdale. The vile physician offers his ‘help’ to the sickly Reverend, but he gives the exact opposite. Chillingworth inflicts daily, mental tortures upon Arthur Dimmesdale for seven long years, and he enjoys it. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth are all connected by their sins and shame, but what they do in regards to those sins is what sets them apart from each other.
As Hester wears the scarlet letter, the reader can feel how much of an outcast Hester becomes. When walking through town, “…she never raised her head to receive their greeting. If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter and passed on” (Hawthorne, 127).She believes that she is not worthy of the towns acknowledgments and chooses to ignore them. The guilt that now rests in Hester is overwhelming to her and is a reason of her change in personality.
The Scarlet Letter - Inevitable Results of Sin
There are many ways to interpret literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne is considered a very influential writer of the American Transcendentalist era; his writing deals a lot with the Puritan times, including his famous novel, The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter deals with the adulterous sin of Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the vengeance of Roger Chillingsworth, and the townspeople's attitude towards Hester and her daughter Pearl. Sin can be categorized many ways, but most importantly, one should remember that bad things always develop from sin. The fact that Hester and the minister sinned led to the townspeople looking down on Hester and Pearl, while Reverend Dimmesdale concealed his crime of passion making Hester's scarlet letter 'A' the central symbol of the novel.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the reader is able to observe how one sin devastates three lives. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth are all guilty of succumbing to temptation, anger, and desire, causing all to fit the definition of a sinner. Yet, Chillingworth's iniquities raise him up above Hester and Dimmesdale on the level of diabolic acts.
The Scarlet Letter - Use of Tone, Allusions and Diction
Puritans are well known for their morality in discipline, religious intolerance, and harsh punishments for those defying their beliefs. These Puritan influences had a great impact on early American literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne provides an illustrated look into the Puritans and their community in his classic The Scarlet Letter. Through Hawthorne's use of tone, allusions with Hester and Dimmesdale, and the diction that is used to describe how the village behaves during the multiple scaffold scenes he provides a disapproval for these rigid moralists' extreme way of life.
Hawthorne's use of tone has revealed his feelings regarding the Puritans.
Roger Chillingworth's characteristics are what parallel to those of a villain. His physical appearance changes throughout the story, shaping him into what is described as a hideous sigh. He has aged rapidly and