Good Vs Evil In Scarlet Letter

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses the contrast between the public and private selves of the characters to convey how just because someone has sinned, it does not make him/her an evil person as long as he/she are able to improve by opening up and understanding his/her wrongdoings.

In Dimmesdale’s eyes towards the end of the novel, Roger Chillingworth is viewed as the Devil. Chillingworth’s private sin of tormenting and plotting against Dimmesdale is his obsession throughout his life and blinds him from realizing the true evil he is committing: “’What evil have I done the man?’ asked Roger Chillingworth again” (Hawthorne 141). In questioning his malevolent acts towards Dimmesdale, it proves that Chillingworth fails to take responsibility

Dimmesdale is given several opportunities to acknowledge his sin, but refrains from doing so, looking for penitence and whipping himself -- but finds no solace. Dimmesdale is exceptional at burying his sins from the community that he appears to be a Godly/sinless man; however, the weight of his sins is causing his physical and emotional health to deteriorate the longer he keeps them private. Over time, the guilt and self-punishment take an enormous toll on his body and mental health, ultimately leading to his death. Throughout almost the entirety of the novel, Dimmesdale lies about being the true father of Hester’s daughter, Pearl, because he is frightened that his prominent title in the community will be taken away. Nonetheless, Dimmesdale starts to cultivate a closer relationship with Pearl and wonders whether or not she would want to have him in her life: “Dost thou think the child will be glad to know me? I have long shrunk from children, because they often show a distraught- a backwardness to be familiar with me. I have never been afraid of little Pearl” (Hawthorne 168). Dimmesdale is afraid of what the community will think if he opens up to everyone about the fact that he is her father. He does not want the community to think he is like them in that he has faults and is

When Hawthorne states, “Be that it might, the scaffold of the pillory was a point of view that revealed to Hester Prynne the entire track along which she had been treading, since her happy infancy” (Hawthorne 50), he conveys that Hester realizes that she will not carry her sin alone. Since, her crime has brought shame onto the child she has born, she finally feels the weight of her felony. Hester understands that all that has occurred is a direct result of her decision and cannot be undone. She decides in this moment that although she is afraid of what will come, she will acknowledge her crime and stand as a symbol: A. This symbol allows for Hester to give her growing daughter a greater world view when Pearl begins to question its true meaning: “Mother, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!” (Hawthorne 152). Hester is a model of sin for the public as she continues to wear the scarlet letter on her chest; however, Pearl does not understand exactly why her mother is wearing the letter since Pearl is still innocent and pure: because of this she assumes that she will be wearing one someday.