The leech, Chillingworth, is partly responsible for Dimmesdale’s agony and he himself suffers from his sinful leech-like actions of sucking another man's life force away. Pearl is born of sin and is a reminder of sin to her mother. She is airy and wild while the sin still traps her, but after Dimmesdale confesses and frees her from the sin, she represents hope because she can lead a normal life. While sin means something different to everyone, belief that one has sinned often has emotional consequences that are difficult to get past. Although our own experiences may not be as dramatic as those of the characters in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reminds us that sin and its consequences are significant in shaping our lives and ourselves.
Reverend Dimmesdale suffers for not being true to himself. The governor chooses Reverend Dimmesdale to be the judge of Hester. This shows that the people think he is righteous so he feels he has no choice but to hide for the sake of the people and what they believe in. Then instead of admitting his sin of adultery to the public, he keeps his secret to himself, knowing it will burn inside of him until he reveals it to the public and to pearl especially. The only thing worse in the Puritans society than committing a terrible sin is not admiting to it.
From the congregation’s point of view, Dimmesdale is seen as “the saint on Earth” and that no sin is present within his pure and “white soul”; however, the truth is that he’s “vile,” he’s “the worst of the sinners” (149). In the Puritan community, lying and adultery are both viewed as a sin. Dimmesdale’s fear to confess his sin only makes the sin worse, making him a “viler companion of the vilest,” or, in other words, viler than Hester (149). Dimmesdale has a tremendous amount of guilt that he hides from the community, making him physically ill and for him to submit himself to torture. Though, his weak frame and sickly appearance only make his congregation think he is even more holy.
In conclusion one finds that the exposed sin of Hester caused extreme social isolation, where only time and effort can get her assimilated back into society. The hidden sin in Roger Chillingworth’s life caused him to go mad, and become satanic. Arthur Dimmesdale’s hidden sin ended up killing him. When analyzing the novel one finds a vast difference between exposed sin, and hidden sin. This difference is evident in the fate of these three characters.
After committing adultery with Hester, Dimmesdale takes it upon himself to decide the punishment, since nobody else is aware of his crime, which causes him to abuse himself to great extents. Hence, Dimmesdale’s shame is not a fit consequence that teaches him a lesson, rather it physically damages and even tortures him, almost resulting in his death. Another effect of the shame that impacts Dimmesdale is the toll it takes on his mental state. He no longer feels fit to lead his congregation, saying he should have “thrown off these garments of mock holiness,” revealing that he thinks he is not worthy of the pious position (173). Additionally, he soon
Although Chillingworth expressed this a couple of times, Hester’s afraid and at some point she starts feeling ashamed of what she has done because of how Chillingworth expresses it, but she doesn’t let her feelings show. She showed Chillingworth that in a way, she doesn’t care about his bias opinion and proves this by not telling him the name of the father. Even the name ‘Chillingworth’ has an evil sense of it. Hawthorne named the character ‘Chillingworth’ in order to show how arrogant and bitter he was. In a way, his goal is to ruin Hester 's life, and have revenge on her due to the fact that he feels betrayed, but Hester doesn’t let it get to her, and focuses on her child
He was not proud of his Puritan past and wanted to show the people the wrongs of the older ways. Hester Prynne is an outcasted adulterer and the secret of who her love is is kept a secret from the townspeople. Hawthorne shows the flaws in Puritan society by showing how harshly they judged someone when they committed a sin. The true identity of Pearl’s father is that of the town’s reverend, Arthur Dimmesdale. The one who preaches about refraining
Although, he tries to better himself, Yunior’s awful treatment to women prohibit him from attaining a significant connection with them. His dishonesty erodes his strength, health, and his relationships with not only women, but his family and friends. Yunior realizes that his own heartbreak was his own fault due to betraying his fiance. His language of objectifying women only makes the reader see how disrespectful he is towards females. His words and actions towards his past lovers make him regretful and guilty for the hurt he put them though.
For instance, when Hamlet states, “Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder / of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I / could accuse me of such things that it were better my/ mother had not borne me” (3.1.121-23). He tells Ophelia that he doesn’t love her, which was cruel and uncalled for, even if Ophelia is not completely innocent in this situation as she is spying on him by her father’s orders. Furthermore, Hamlet’s misogyny continues as he disrespects his own mother, as he states, “She married—O most wicked speed!
While she is there she is ridiculed because she committed the sin of adultery. Even though the other Puritans that ridiculed her had sinned themselves they still had the nerve to look down upon Hester as a sinner. Hawthorne shows in this scene how hypocritical the Puritans truly are. They scold Hester without even realizing that they too, are sinners. Religious imagery is used yet again when the women of the story don’t allow Hester, a seamstress, to make or even touch their wedding dresses.