Guilt In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

The Guilt of Hidden Sin
Everyone has that one secret or problem that makes them feel as if they are the only one that will ever understand, so they suffer through it alone. Many times they feel like “That secret” is specific to each person; that they are the only one that can relate and that they alone must live with the weight on their shoulders. It is on them to fix or cover up for as long as they can. “...if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom...” (Hawthorne 82). In the first scaffold scene Hester is brought forth to confess her sin, and that of her fellow sinner, Arthur Dimmesdale, but she refused to speak his name saying she will endure their agony alone. Seven years later, in the dark

The town had no doubt that Pearl was the product of sin as Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, never arrived in Boston. Hester and Pearl were then brought before the town, including Dimmesdale, to confess the sin that she committed and with whom. Hester refused to speak Dimmesdale’s name even after hearing that they would remove the scarlet letter, saying, “... It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony as well as mine ...” (Hawthorne 65)! Hester believed that she could endure both of their shame

Until he saw Hester and Pearl walk past and called them to join him up on the scaffold. While Dimmesdale stood alongside of Hester and Pearl, as he should have years ago. Pearl asked him to stand by them the next day, but Dimmesdale denied her request, saying “At the great judgment day!” ... “Then, and there, before the judgment-seat, thy mother, and thou, and I, must stand together. But the daylight of this world shall not see our meeting” (Hawthorne 144)! Dimmesdale responded to Pearl’s question by telling her, one day they will all stand together in front of God during final judgement, but the world will never witness them standing together. Before Dimmesdale was able to continue, a meteor flew across the sky illuminating a scarlet “A,” which Dimmesdale thought of as a mock, specific to him. Soon after, a physician walked up to the scaffold while Dimmesdale’s hand was over his own heart, the physician concluded that Dimmesdale must have been sleep walking and delivered him back to his