Sin In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

495 Words2 Pages

After I read the quote described above, I had felt a great sense of happiness and satisfaction. Through reading Hawthorne’s writing, I had enveloped myself into the book, and my feelings became Hester’s feelings. With this final act of closure from Dimmesdale, I had been so relieved that something good had come from The Scarlet Letter. Throughout the entire story, sin had been established as a prime theme, and the recurring idea was that the leading figures preaching against sin are actually the ones committing it, and how the Puritan society itself was extremely controversial and hypocritical. With the theme of sin in mind before I started reading the book, I did not expect something so heartwarming to occur. I had expected something really …show more content…

Furthermore, the build up to this moment was also impacted by Pearl’s reaction. When Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl were in the forest, Pearl had been against even touching Dimmesdale, and when he kissed Pearl, she immediately went to wash it away. However, when Dimmesdale was finally able to admit to the whole city that he had committed the sin as well, Pearl accepted Dimmesdale when she, in her own according kissed him. In that moment, Pearl was freed from her inability of sympathy, and Dimmesdale was freed from his grief and pain of keeping his sin pent up. Dimmesdale, in the very end also realizes how because he hid his sin, he had seemingly strayed further from God than Hester had and in recognizing his mistake, Dimmesdale has a touching moment where he repents to God. Because of all these pent up emotions and feelings and Hawthorne’s ability to envelope the reader, it seemed like I had felt all the emotions myself, making this moment between Pearl and Dimmesdale the most emotional part for me.“One day,” I thought to myself as I read this sentence, “I will stand before that crossroad.” Standing there alone, will I be able to make the right