Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter describes the story of Hester Prynne, an adulteress who conceived a child with reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Throughout the story the condemnation, punishment, and repercussions of the affair that she endures are depicted. For the duration of this novel, Hawthorne portrays the lives lead by Puritan society as hypocritical and sanctimonious.
Although Hester sinned, Puritans are meant to be conscientious and to believe that with repentance God is forgiving. Despite this fact, the people discussing Hester and her punishment speak about her in a demeaning manner and wish harm upon her. In fact, some claim she believes to die. On page 49 a woman states, “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die.” Adultery, the sin she had committed, was breaking one of the ten commandments. It is ironic that the punishment this woman suggests would also be breaking one of the commandments, yet it is not considered how her suggestion itself is a grave sin. The Puritans were blind to the fact that there is more to a person than their sins. It is for this very reason that nobody suspected that Dimmesdale could possibly be the one to engage in an affair with Hester. As they saw it, someone who appears
…show more content…
Though he committed the same sin as Hester, nobody suspected him. After he stands upon the scaffold and confesses his sins people still see him as innocent and holy. On page 231 it is stated, “Neither, by their report, had his dying words acknowledged, nor even remotely implied, any, the slightest connection, on his part, with the guilt for which Hester Prynne had so long worn the scarlet letter… the reverence of the multitude placed him already among saints and angels…”. Even after his confession he is still considered a saint simply because of his societal role. He wasn’t considered guilty despite the fact that he was as equally as involved in the affair as