Truthfulness And Falsehood In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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Truthfulness and falsehood played a major role in this story. There were so many lies and deceit in The Scarlet Letter, it was unbelievable. From Hester and Dimmesdale lying to Chillingworth, to Hester lying to Dimmesdale, to Dimmesdale lying to the townsfolk of Massachusetts Bay Colony. If all of the major characters was honest with themselves and the people around them, this exciting story would have changed completely. The plot line of this great write is based on the decision of Hester and Dimmesdale to commit adultery. Once the town found out, they began to decide only on Hester’s punishment because they didn’t know who she committed adultery with. As the story continues, the readers find out that her punishment is to stand on the scaffold for public humiliation and she must wear an “A” that she takes off towards the end of the story. During the first scaffold scene Hester notices a familiar man in the crowd, her husband. Her husband is Roger Prynne, but he goes by Roger Chillingworth. Hester never informed her husband that Dimmesdale was who she committed adultery with, but instead he found out for himself. …show more content…

Dimmesdale isn’t feeling so good because he knows he has committed adultery and it makes him feel bad knowing that he should be receiving punishment as well. Dimmesdale is a minister, everyone sees him as an angel that does no wrong. So he doesn’t really know how to confess his sin without being ashamed. During the time period of Chillingworth staying with Dimmesdale, Hester does not inform Dimmesdale that Chillingworth is her husband. But eventually, Chillingworth finds out that Dimmesdale was the man that committed adultery with his wife. At that point Chillingworth becomes revenge seeking leech that is feeding off of Dimmesdale’s pain while torturing

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