A Life Undone with a Letter
The plot of the Scarlet Letter is based on sin and faults of the characters in this book. Due to the mistakes of Hester and Dimmesdale a child was created and the child violated the law against infidelity. However, the real evil came from Roger Chillingworth, who was altered by his desire for revenge. The Puritans believed that sinning is the nature of mankind. While others felt that mankind has good intents but those intentions can be corrupted by evil. In this novel three different symbols are used to represent evil: The letter ‘A’, The Scaffold and The Black Man. The only thing worse than committing sin is failing to admit to it.
Even though evil is the nature of mankind there are different tiers of evil. In the Scarlet Letter, some characters choose to fight it while others decided to give in to the evil. In the law of the Puritans adultery is one of the worst crimes possible. On the other hand, characters such as Roger Chillingworth decided to give in to the evil. The Puritans believe that the Black Man was an evil spirit separate from common life. We know that this is not true through Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and Ms. Hibbins because Hester's Scarlet Letter was left by the black man The Puritans use the black man as a symbol of all evil. While Hester calls Roger The Black man because she thinks he caused all the
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First, Hester is required to wear it in public always for committing adultery. Dimmesdale also gives himself the mark because of his own self-guilt. Second The ‘A’ seems almost unavoidable for Dimmesdale. The Scaffold represents major turning points in the Scarlet Letter. When the Scaffold is mentioned Hester was guilty of her evil. Dimmesdale stands on the Scaffold at night crying because if his own sin when the letter ‘A’ appears in the sky. Dimmesdale reveals himself as the other sinner because he cannot live with his guilt any