Dimmesdale's & Quote Analysis

The first thing I learned was how keeping a secret from everyone destroys a person. “This feeble and most sensitive of spirits could do neither, yet continually did one thing or another, which intertwined, in the same inextricable knot, the agony of heaven-defying guilt and vain repentance” (Page 144). This quote is showing how Dimmesdale’s guilt and secret is destroying him, and turning him into a madman of sorts. I think this lesson still hold true in our society today. A majority of people have a very strong conscious, and when they are guilty of something, or they have a major secret and they don’t tell anyone, it will tend to destroy the person. People will feel really bad, and they will begin to battle with themselves over whether or

“It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates” (Page 155). People are more willing to love than to hate. To constantly hate someone takes a lot of time and energy, which I think is part of the reason that it is easier to love. I feel again, that this lesson is still very much a part of our society. After time, people will begin to accept you after you have done something wrong. I think this is important for us to realize, because it shows us something about ourselves as people. We are really more humane than we tend to picture ourselves being. The third lesson that stood out to me was that crimes you commit will haunt you for the rest of your life. “And here again was the scarlet misery, glittering on the old spot! So it ever is, whether thus typified or n, that an evil deed invests itself with the character of doom” (Page 200). Hester’s sin is going to haunt her for the rest of her life. Today, if you commit a crime, it will be on your record for the rest of your life, and could end your chances of living a normal life. I believe that reading this book helps us to realize that there are consequences to your