Forgiveness In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne takes place in the 1640’s, and is set in Boston. The story is about a woman named Hester Prynne, who commits adultery with the minister Mr. Dimmesdale. Hester’s husband who was presumed dead returns, and seeks to discover who she committed this sin with. Each of these characters sinned in different ways, although only two asked for forgiveness.
Hester Prynne commits adultery with Mr. Dimmesdale. When Chillingworth returns to the colony, he sees Hester standing upon the scaffold, and questions a nearby man about her. “ ‘I pray you, good Sir,’ said he, ‘who is this woman?-and wherefore is she here set up to a public shame?’ ‘You must needs be a stranger in this region, friend,’ answered the townsman, looking curiously at the questioner and his savage companion; ‘else

She hath raised a great scandal, I promise you, in godly Master Dimmesdale’s church’ ” (42). In doing this, she hurt both herself, and Mr. Dimmesdale. “ ‘People say,’ said another, ‘that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation.’ ” (36). The book shows that Hester hurt herself also on page 36, when the women are gossiping about her. “ ‘Ah, but,’ interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, ‘let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart.’ ” (36). However, Hester felt sorry for her sin, and did repent. “Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment;” (55). Hester did not want to leave Boston, because she felt that since she sinned in this place, she should remain here to repent. Hester later leaves Boston, but returns, and it is revealed that she has been forgiven for her sin by those around her. “But, in the lapse of the toilsome, thoughtful, and self devoted years that made up Hester’s life,