Truth In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

The truth sets you free Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a novel full of secrets and lies. It all starts out with Hester Prynne, a beautiful young woman whose beauty deceives every eye but is now a mother charged with one of the most unpleasant sins in a Puritan colony. Her sin is of adultery which causes her to be punished with “the scarlet letter” for not following the teachings of God that of course were to not commit adultery and to be as puritan as one could be. Her silence is significant and worth Pearl’s real dad’s reputation. Roger, her long lost husband who has finally returned from Boston, goes on the hunt for the other half of the big sin. Hester tries to keep in silence but eventually Roger does his best to get to him.

Furthermore, in her case she was having an offspring with the man of her affair. Her dishonesty becomes a truth until her baby comes along, it then turns into a costly silence. Everyone had a bad thought of her, it was just as if she “had brought shame upon [them] all”(Hawthorne 59). Every thought of Hester as a bad image to the village. Being one the prettiest, yet one of those who has beauty but no brains. Hawthorne shows that every bad action has the severe consequences. She was only given a “wise sentence” (Hawthorne 59) and “thereafter, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom.” (Hawthorne 59) Her punishment was big and bad enough her life would not be the same because she will only get labeled and exempted from living a normal life in the eyes of the ‘normal’ people. According to Independence Hall Association they state that “Adulterers might have been forced to wear a scarlet "A" if they were lucky...The STOCKADE forced the humiliated guilty person to sit in the public square, while onlookers spat or laughed at them. Puritans felt no remorse about administering punishment.” Proving that the people had no mercy on the adulterers

He ironically places Hester’s long lost husband, Roger Chillingsworth, to undercover be a doctor for the minister. Roger was already suspecting who his enemy and sinner #2 could be.The minister however was very afraid of him for an apparent reason he labeled as “nameless” (Hawthorne 119) not knowing he was Hester’s long lost husband. He was ill, as Roger made him believe he just had to rest and leave the studies for while. Ironically he leaves with Roger to a home, yet he only shows the divine side that he wants everyone to see. Chillingsworth acknowledges that there is men who do not take ownership of their own guilt.He declares in front of the minister that those men “fear to take up the shame that rightfully belongs to them… Trust me, such men deceives themselves!”(Hawthorne 120) as the minister only listens. How could he even stand to hide the truth? Being called unmanly names to his face was enough for him to confess, sadly he would not. The minister was only in doubt after, if he should confess or leave Hester to it, the damage was done there was definitely no way back. Only to lose his good reputation and live the same labeled way Hester has been living all these years can be his best choice.
Finally, Hawthorne ends with the surprising and breath taking climax of actually recognizing who Pearl’s real dad is. It commences as Mr. Dimmesdale, Pearl’s real father, stands on the scaffold in front of the whole town.