Guilt And Betrayal In The Scarlet Letter

Guilt and betrayal are extremely big feelings to feel, especially back in the Puritan times where no one could help them. These are the feelings of the characters Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth. The novel, The Scarlet Letter, was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This novel’s main topic is about sin and how it affects people. Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth were both affected by sin, one more than the other. Dimmesdale is the Reverend of the Puritan community in Boston. He is later known to be the father of the child’s mother who was already married. Hester Prynne, the lady that had the child with Dimmesdale, is married to Chillingworth. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth

“In Mr. Dimmesdale’s secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge. Oftentimes, this Protestant and Puritan divine had plied it on his own shoulders; laughing bitterly at himself the while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh” (Hawthorne 133). This quote specifies how guilty Dimmesdale feels after sinning alongside Hester. He physically harmed himself as a self-inflicted consequence. In another excerpt, Dimmesdale climbs onto the scaffold that Hester was publicly shamed for sinning. He does this to “confess” and make himself feel lighter from the heavy guilt that has taken over him. “...Mr. Dimmesdale reached the spot where, now so long since, Hester Prynne had lived through her first hours of public ignominy… The minister went up the steps'' (Hawthorne 135). “‘Come up hither, Hester, thou and little Pearl,’ said the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale. ‘Ye have both been here before, but I was not with you. Come up hither once again, and we will stand all three together’... The minister felt for the child’s other hand, and took it…The three formed an electric chain” (Hawthorne 140). This is right after he went up on the scaffold and confessed in his own way. In theory, this was one way to solidify him confessing what he did alongside Hester to “the world” even if it is at night, he is showing his true self, that of being Pearl’s father.

He does not know who’s child Hester is holding but he has a plan to figure out who it is and make them suffer, which is one of the connected emotions of betrayal. Betrayal is a big feeling with different stages: shock, grief, sadness, damaged self-esteem, self-doubting, obsession, anger, revenge, and finally acceptance. Chillingworth feels most of these sub-emotions within the length of the story. “A writhing horror twisted itself across his features… his face darkened with some powerful emotion, which, nevertheless, he so instantaneously controlled by an effort of his will, that, save at a single moment, its expression might have passed for calmness” (Hawthorne 57). When Chillingworth sees Hester upon the scaffold, he feels the first stage of betrayal, which previously mentioned was shock. He also was confused and more than likely angry at her for what she did to him. He expresses these emotions very subtly so only Hester, who recognized him, knew what he was feeling. He then goes into being curious and asks a stranger why she is standing upon the scaffold. “‘I pray you, good Sir,’ said he, ‘who is this woman? — and wherefore is she here set up to public shame?” (Hawthorne 57). He questions the gentleman and solidifies his theory about her cheating on him. “...I shall seek this man, as I have sought truth in books; as I have