Guilt In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

It was Maureen Johnson who stated that “guilt is a weight that will crush you whether you deserve it or not,” but is the weight ever really lifted? In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, young Hester Prynne is tried in court and convicted of having committed adultery. Her punishment, one of public humiliation, is to wear a scarlet red “A” on her clothes for the rest of her days. “Adulterer” is a title that eventually fades away, even in the strict Puritan community that she lives in, however the guilt she places upon herself remains. This guilt also affects the relationship she has with her daughter, Pearl, even years after. Hawthorne uses Hester’s connections with Pearl, the “A”, and Chillingworth to show how even though a person can move on from it, the feeling of guilt does not disappear.

The guilt that festers inside of her transforms that “A” into a brand. Years after she commits her ‘sin,” the town silently enables her to remove the symbol from her bosom. They are now willing to see her as a multifaceted individual as opposed to just an “adulterer”. Hester, however, is not ready to forgive herself. She embraces the sin as a part of her character, her life, that she does not intend to release. To the town, Hester has moved beyond her mistakes to become a better person. They see her as someone who is “..so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!” (Hawthorne 142). While this is true, it does not mean that she has let go of her