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Cheating In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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Why is it that cheating in a relationship was first thought of? Cheating is immoral because it involves breaking our word, it almost always involves lying. It's as if we're breaking a promise and commitment to our partner. The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne during the romanticism period. Takes place in the 1600's where puritans are residing in a village and a woman called Hester Prynne commits a serious crime, named adultery. When her husband comes back from his 'adventure' he mentally torments Hester and the man who she committed adultery with for their sin. Chillingworth, Hester's ex-husband, turns maniacal and evil, in return for the satisfaction on who Hester cheated on him with. Basically, illustrating the downfall of a cheating relationship between Hester and Chillingworth. Cheating is losing hope for a main relationship, and gaining hope for another, which shouldn't be allowed on any circumstance.

One reason why cheating is wrong, is because the pain out weighs the gain. No one ever leaves their Lawyer's office with a smile on their face - grateful for the experience. nor has anyone ever said from their deathbed, "I wish I had an affair". This …show more content…

Its a golden rule we learned growing up, whether it was in school, or taught by our parents. After countless years of being raised to follow that rule, why ruin it now by cheating? If our spouse was to cheat on us, surely we would be depressed and contemplate on the reasons why this issue happened. As stated in chapter 10 of The Scarlet Letter "Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that moment of his ecstasy, he would have had no need to ask how Satan comports himself when a precious human soul is lost to heaven, and won into his kingdom." Chillingworth drives himself crazy, finding out why Hester committed such a crime on him. Even to the point where people describe his evil as, close to Satan's

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Some of the worst forms of malice come from love. Abigail Williams from The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a great example of this. Abigail is a young girl who was caught practicing witchcraft in order to make John only love her. In the puritan times this would mean death. So, to combat this she calls multiple townspeople witches, saying she had seen them with the devil.

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Adultery is one of the most common of the 10 commandments broken. Around 22% of adults have cheated on their partner. In The Crucible, John Proctor is seen as an honest and trustworthy man to turn to during the witch trials. The secret of John and Abigail’s affair is released and he is soon discredited as a respected resident. Although he is no longer respected, he is no longer believed to be a hero.

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Having an affair leads to nothing but trouble. Not only is it a sin but it is unfair and disrespectful to the spouses. Mr.Hall and Mrs.Mills affair went on for years. Their deaths were mysterious and never solved. A few people were blamed for their deaths but there wasn't enough evidence to convict anyone.

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So on one note who could really blame Hester for having an affair. Until Roger came back into town she did not know is was an affair because she assumed her husband Roger Chillingworth had died. After some time Chillingworth connected the dots and he knew who the father was to Hester's young child, Pearl. When Chillingworth first came back he became Dimmesdale's Physician because he suspected it was Dimmsdale the Minister of the town.

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This very message is repeated all throughout the book with Chillingworth, he was once a good man, but transformed due to the guilt he has set upon himself from marrying Hester, although he doesn’t blame her, he is after the sinner who didn’t fess up to the deeds. Visually to Hester, she has witnessed the alterations of a man who

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Hester finds community service, whereas the minister's sin-related repercussions cause him immense distress and a physical and emotional breakdown. Chillingworth steps in as the go-between to help Hester and Dimmesdale realize what they are going through. He evolves into someone even nastier than he was before. He devises a plan to undermine Hester's reputation, which was already in jeopardy. Tarnishing Hester’s reputation was Chillingworth’s way of getting back at Hester for the humiliation that she caused him.

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Adultery, an act both John Proctor and Hester Prynne committed, in both societies is morally and legally wrong while being considered a sin to God. “Hester Prynne… for so long a period not merely estranged, but outlawed, from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman. She had wandered, without rule or guidance,” (Hawthorne 165). From the first chapter that Hester Prynne was introduced, she was outcasted by society after having her daughter, Pearl as a result from her affair. She was then forced to wear an embroidered scarlet “A” on her chest for life as her punishment.

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Society today is really judgemental. If you don’t wear the right clothes or have the right car then you will get judged. It’s kinda like in the book The Crucible if you weren't a puritan then you were an outcast or you might have been a witch. One of the puritan girls Abigail Williams blamed a lot of women who were called puritans and lived the puritan way. In this case people just judged them without looking into far more research.

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Hester went through public humiliation, wearing her sin for all to see and she lived till old age killed her. These two characters represent more than the sin they committed. They show us the pain of a hidden sin and the fruits of a public

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He overcomes this struggle, trying to stay committed to his already upset wife, but he had already committed a treacherous sin. John Proctor had to live the rest of his days with the loathsome guilt towards himself. Throughout the novel, John Proctor debates whether or not he is an honest man. Even though he keeps his sin a secret from the rest of the town, his wife knows that he’s an adulterer.

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The Puritan definition of truth was the word of God or every verse contained in the scripture, and the truth is believed to be “the self-expression of God”. Puritans took the word of God very serious and depended on it for their life lessons. In The Scarlet Letter Roger Chillingworth identifies Mr. Dimmesdale’s faults and want to uncover the secret that’s destroying him inside. Chillingworth makes it his purpose to find the truth. Chillingworth has an opportunity to do so while Dimmesdale is asleep from the drugs that Chillingworth gave him.

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The book “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a complex novel that has underlying themes of sin and the responsibility for sin. The novel takes place in a Puritanical society, but two people, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, fornicate with each other, even though Hester is married to someone else. Only Hester is punished, so Dimmesdale keeps his guilt inside, not revealing it to anyone. Hester’s husband, Chillingworth, then proceeds to ruin Hester’s partner in crime, corrupting his soul and being the ultimate cause for his death. Hester, on the other hand, leads a relatively happy life after she had repented for her sin.

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We are all sinners. Although one may try hard not to sin, all humans eventually succumb at some time or another to sin. While people may not able to avoid the fate which awaits them, the power of free will allows people to decide how they will respond to sin. While some may respond with guilt and regret, others may react with a sense of redemption and a renewed sense of responsibility. Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American author during the 19th century witnessed the power of sin to wreak havoc not only to an individual but a whole community.

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The Hidden Sin and The Revealed Sin As humans, we live in the that are brimming with sins and evil desire. As the creator of all the creatures, God, sent his only son to save the people from the control of devil. The only thing we have to do is to acknowledge our mistake. Bible teach us that we should tell the truth to God and your neighbors, and God will forgive you. But people are worse, they not only hide the sin and their evil behaviors but also try to deny it.

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Throughout the novel, Hester is fraught by the Puritan society and her suffering is an effect of how evil society is. Hester continues to believe that the crime she committed was not wrong and she should not be punished for it. Her desire to protect and love Dimmesdale, turn her into a stronger person and become a heroine in the book. Although society still views her as a “naughty baggage” (Hawthorne 73) and is punished for her wrongdoing, Hester never thought to take revenge on them, yet she gives everything she has to the unfortunate and leaves herself with very little. She continues to stay positive no matter what society has for her.

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