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Scarlet Letter Sin Vs Society

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As every sin is different, every sin has a different effect on a person depending the persons ….. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne examines what sin is, how it affects each person, and how their sin is perceived in nature versus the community. Protagonist, Hester Prynne, is subjected to harsh punishment and ridicule in the town, as she had committed the sin of having a child out of wedlock. However the father of her child, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, keeps his sin hidden from the community, hoping to escape from the shame and embarrassment and maintain his status in the community. However as his sin withers away at his soul, he is forced to live with Doctor Roger Chillingworth, a respected doctor among the Puritan Society and Hester Prynne’s former husband. Chillingworth also keeps his sin hidden from the community, as he secretly tortures Dimmesdale, seeking vengeance for getting his former wife pregnant. While each of the characters deal differently with each of their sins …show more content…

Since first subjected to wearing the scarlet letter on all of her clothes and standing on the scaffold for 3 hours, Hester accepted her punishment in full and did not attempt to hid it from the Puritan citizens. She wore the A in “fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold” (PAGE #) to show her acceptance for her sin, and not embrace her embarrassment in front of the citizens. Since Hester allowed the community to view her as a sinner, she was able to accept it herself and repent her sin by accepting the punishment. At first, Hester experienced harsh ridicule for the community and was greatly secluded. Citizens threw rocks at her, and constantly reminded her of her

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Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates the Puritan community as judgemental. Naturally, humans attempt to hide their mistakes and imperfections from the world. The protagonists of the story battle with concealing their feelings of shame from the town. Hawthorne shows that self-isolation will inevitably lead to the destruction of one’s character, suggesting that those who admit to their sins are able to thrive. He accomplishes this by contrasting character changes between Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, and Hester Prynne.

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In the beginning of the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne introduces the main character Hester Prynne, a young, beautiful member of a Puritan society being punished for her sin of love, not lust. The opening chapters introduce the reader to gossips who deem her original punishment, death, too harsh and contrary to Puritan beliefs that unborn babies should be given a chance at life. Instead, Hester and her child are to be alienated and shunned. In addition she is to wear the letter ‘A’ (which stands for ‘adultery’) on her chest which will forever display her as a symbol of shame for her sin. Though a very resilient figure who soon overcomes this pain, Hester’s isolation takes a negative toll on her life.

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We are all sinners, no matter how hard we try to hide our faults, they always seem to come back, one way or another. Written in the 19th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows us Hester Prynne and how one sin can change her life completely. Hester Prynne changes a great deal throughout The Scarlet Letter. Through the view of the Puritans, Hester is an intense sinner; she has gone against the Puritan way of life committing the highest act of sin, adultery. For committing such a sinful act, Hester must wear the scarlet letter while also having to bear stares from those that gossip about her.

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Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne exposes the blindness of the Puritan people through the treatment of Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale’s external characters. Hester Prynne is labeled as an adulteress and mistreated by society because of their unwillingness to see her true character. Chillingworth, the husband of Hester, leads the town to believe he is an honorable man and skillful doctor, when his true intents root from his vindictive nature Finally, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester’s lover and the father of her baby, acts as the perfect man therefore the town views him as an exemplar model, while he is truly a sinner. In the novel, Hawthorne portrays Hester as a strong, resilient woman, though the members of her community

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Even as he punishes Dimmesdale for masking his guilt, Chillingworth fails to see the irony in his own use of duplicity to achieve his ends. He commences his investigations with what he deems “the severe and equal integrity of a judge, desirous only of truth” (117), but this is soon substituted for “his own black devices” (127). The sadistic “ecstasy” (126) that Chillingworth extracts from his tortures of Dimmesdale exposes his malicious intent and classifies his deception as sin. The devolution goes unnoticed by Chillingworth himself, until he inadvertently boasts to Hester that he “had become a fiend for his [Dimmesdale’s] especial torment”

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At the beginning of the story, the scarlet “A” is considered as a badge of shame. Hester doesn´t show the scarlet letter as a symbol of shame when she wears it, because she wears a beautiful scarlet “A” embroidered with gold, that she made herself thanks to her ability in making precious needle works. Hester is capable of wearing the scarlet letter in a very determined and secure way. This is why, at the beginning of the story, the townspeople think she is “proud” of her sin. The puritan beliefs say that the scarlet letter should not be pretty, because it is a “punishment” for the sinners to feel ashamed.

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Hester changed her attire to a plain, darkshade, with no designs, which corresponded to her emotions. There was nothing she could accomplish to reduce the pain of the guilt since the truth was known by everyone in her hometown. As time went on, Hester regained some purport in her town. The townspeople demanded Hester for her skills and soon she did not need to wear the scarlet letter anymore, but she thought she deserved it. Whether the sin was committed in secrecy or not, both Hester and Dimmesdale went through similar consequences.

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Hester's punishment was a judicial sentence; however, being forced to stand on the scaffold for three hours, and to wear the scarlet letter "A" for the rest of her life. It was socially humiliating. Hester was sent to prison for committing adultery. Hester was forced to live with the consequences by wearing the scarlet letter "A". Hester is physically and emotionally reminded of her sin, while wearing the scarlet letter "A".

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“Was that Scarlet Letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. ”(Hawthorne 51). Because Puritans were so against Hester’s sin, they made her wear an “A” on her chest that stands for adultery. The townspeople wanted everyone who sees her know what she did so that she would be humiliated by it for the rest of her life. Hester was basically rejected by the town, and was scorned by the people everyday.

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