How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Internal Torture In The Scarlet Letter

“’Thus she will be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone. It irks me, never the less, that the partner of her iniquity should not, at least, stand on the scaffold by her side’” (Hawthorne 59). There are two sinners that have committed the same sin but one is known to society and the other hides it. In The Scarlet Letter Hester and Dimmesdale have committed adultery but only Hester is publically punished for her sin, while Dimmesdale punishes himself. Based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter the moral consequences of sin are conveyed as public shame and internal torture. Hawthorne also illustrates that one can be redeemed through open confession. Public shame is an indispensable

Characteristically when one views an esteemed minister he or she would conclude they rarely sin and would certainly not commit an illicit crime. Ironically, Dimmesdale is an honored minister that has concealed a sin for seven extensive years. The sin’s weight upon his heart has driven him into mentally tormenting himself, which leads to penance. The narrator describes the ways Dimmesdale inflicts torture on himself “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 132). Dimmesdale is harming himself while laughing which questions his mental stability and shows the effects of hiding a sin. Hawthorne’s inclusion of the irony of a minister’s crime and Dimmesdale’s reaction to his sin displays internal torture as a moral consequence of

The author does this by creating multiple voices and including how the characters are redeemed. Hawthorne’s use of the two main voices, Dimmesdale and Hester, allows the reader to find out how each person reacts to their sin and how they become redeemed. The climax of the novel is when Dimmesdale confesses his sin on the scaffold which is not only the turning point in the book, but also the turning point in Dimmesdale’s life. Before Dimmesdale confesses his sin he states “‘Hester Prynne,’ cried he, with a piercing earnestness, ‘in the name of Him, so terrible and so merciful, who gives me grace, at this last moment, to do what—for my own heavy sin and miserable agony—I withheld myself from doing seven years ago, come hither now, and twine thy strength about me!’” (Hawthorne 226). Even after hiding the sin for years Dimmesdale mentions God is merciful and gives him grace so he can achieve salvation. Hester, on the other hand, becomes redeemed in a dissimilar way than Dimmesdale. Hester’s open confession and her redemption is the way she lived her life with the scarlet letter. She lives on the outskirts of town and keeps her head low to separate herself from society. Hawthorne uses multiple voices and the redemption of Dimmesdale and Hester to show how one can be redeemed from