The Scarlet Letter

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Recommended: Theme of punishment in the scarlet letter

The Scarlet Letter
In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne three main characters are taught that they are forced to live with the mistakes they have made. 'One must be response for his/her own actions and be willing to accept the consequences of those actions.'; Hester, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth must all face these 'consequences.'; If you do something in life and you know its wrong that means yu are willing to accept the consequences.
Hester knows she has done something wrong. She has committed a sin and knows she will be punished for it. She is punished by being forced to wear the letter 'A'; on her bust and never remove it and to also stand in front of everyone on the scaffold in the center of town. She is reminded of her sins because of her daughter who was a result of the affair. She sees her everyday and cherishes every moment she has with her. They try to take Pearl away but Hester will not allow them to.
Dimmesdale has also committed adultery with Hester. As a result he is forced to keep this secret deep with in. His punishments are for it to eat him alive and slowly tear away at his heart until he is actually dead. He knew what he did is wrong he just could not tell anyone because he was ashamed of it, but this is not saying that he's not in love with Hester because that's why it happened. That is his second punishment being denied the wish of spending the rest of their lives together.
Chillingworth committed the worst sin out of all of them. He wanted to get back at Dimmesdale so he was trying to commit revenge. In fact his punishment for this was watching Dimmesdale dye but not by any fault of his own but by the secret he had kept from everyone else. Chillingworth fate was to dye knowing what happened and be able to do anything about it because he is a cold-hearted evil man.

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