ipl-logo

What Is Hester's Attitude Regarding The Sin Of Adultery In The Scarlet Letter

502 Words3 Pages

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter depicts two different attitudes regarding the sin of adultery. One of the two attitudes hits on the morals of Hester and Dimmesdale. This attitude shows that they are sinners and need to repent for what they have done. The second attitude expresses that their actions are acceptable due to the circumstances. It is easy to understand that the sin they committed was an accident based on the given facts. Puritans were strongly religious and took the Ten Commandments very seriously. The people of the town thought that if one disobeyed these rules you should be killed. Instead of killing her they gave her the small punishment of standing on the scaffold for three hours and wearing a scarlet letter A on her chest. “Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast…”(Hawthorne 161). The people of Boston were very mad with this punishment. Many believed that Pearl should be taken away from Hester. They thought that a woman that committed such a sin should not be able to take care of a child. …show more content…

Hester was told that Roger’s ship had sunk during its voyage to America. Therefore, Hester did not know he was alive so to her she was not committing adultery. Although they knew that what they did was wrong Dimmesdale, a minister, was in love. Why else would he sleep with Hester? Dimmesdale still felt very guilty despite his love. He begged God to forgive them for what they had done. "I freely forgive you now. May God forgive us both!" (Hawthorne 398). Roger sinned as well. Roger married an Indian Princess, which was also a sin. He should have also been punished but he changed his name to Chillingworth to hide his identity. Hester and Roger were married but she. Told him in the beginning that she was not in love, which is another reason Hester should not have been

Show More
Related
406 Words | 2 Pages

By not confessing to adultery, Dimmesdale retains his reputation, but at the cost of his soul. As a religious leader within the Puritan community, Dimmesdale must exhibit a moral example. Internalizing his guilt offers him a method of maintaining that position. Dimmesdale appears as “pure as new-fallen snow,” (84), but still hidden within him is his sin (84).

Read More
1158 Words | 5 Pages

Dimmesdale suffers differently from Hester, because while she “bore it all” to the townspeople (181), his fears forced him to hide his sin, living a life full of “nothing but despair” (177). Hester, though made a social pariah of the town, has a more honest and healthy way of dealing with her sin. Because Hester is forced to face her wrongdoings under the watchful eye of her Puritan neighbors, she did not have the same guilt of secrecy that Dimmesdale did. Dimmesdale, by hiding his sin, allows himself to become a captive to his guilt. The way that Dimmesdale dealt with his guilt was unhealthy for him, both mentally and physically.

Read More
1464 Words | 6 Pages

Hester Prynne is punished in front of the whole Puritan community, with her daughter Pearl. Together Hester holds baby Pearl in her arms while being publicly ridiculed on a scaffold in the center of the town. To escape the constant mockery from the society, she can easily leave and move to a place where no one knows her sin, and where she would be free to live without punishment. Hester knows she has done wrong though, so she decides to stay where her sin takes place and where her punishment is established. Hester believes “The torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul and work our another purity than that which she had lost.”

Read More
527 Words | 3 Pages

John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath has become an American classic in its seventy-eight years of existence due to its accurate interpretation of the struggles faced by midwestern farmers and their journey west. The book is formatted using intercalary chapters, which tell a broader story than just the narrative. This is a strong decision that enhances the novel with expertly executed figurative language and furthers the plot by giving explanations to past events. Steinbeck’s choice to use this structure is quite beneficial and is partially to blame for the novel’s literary credibility.

Read More
496 Words | 2 Pages

During the book Hester goes to Boston while Roger stays, then when Roger came over to New England he got kidnapped by indians and when he got rescued. He went to Boston and saw Hester pregnant with another man's child. After this Roger tries everything to get Hester to tell him who she has been with but she won't confess. ¨To confess the truth, it was my greatest apprehension¨. She can't confess because she doesn't want dimmesdale to get

Read More
941 Words | 4 Pages

Her defiance becomes stronger and will carry her through different hardships. Her determination and lonely stand repeats again when she confronts Governor Bellingham over the issue of Pearl’s guardianship. When Bellingham wants to take Pearl away from Hester, Hester reply’s with, “God gave me the child! I will die first!”(Ch.). When also pressured even more for the child’s care, Hester pleads, “God gave her into my keeping.

Read More
791 Words | 4 Pages

Hester and her daughter, Pearl, were constantly ridiculed by the inhabitants of the town, and many citizens believed that Hester deserved a harsher penalty for her actions. One woman mocked Hester while gossiping with her peers when she declared, “‘This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die’” (36). Agreeing with this claim, many of the villagers continued to mock and scrutinize not only Hester’s actions, but Hester herself. Another woman suggested that “‘a brand of hot iron [should have been put] on Hester Prynne’s forehead’” (36). While this sentence seems less harsh than death, this woman’s comment proves that she too believed that Hester deserved a severe punishment for her despicable sin.

Read More
393 Words | 2 Pages

The question “Is Hester Prynne guilty?” has been up in the air. Hester has committed a crime, sinned to her Puritan religion, and refused to state the identity of the father of her daughter. Hester is without a doubt guilty for all the reasons stated above. Hester and her husband married in the Puritan religion. She then sinned by committing adultery.

Read More
445 Words | 2 Pages

Hester knew everything would come down to this. She was born and raised just like most Puritans, she knows what is against her religion. She knows very well what she would get herself into committing certain sins. She has gone against people of her kind. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die; is there not law for it?

Read More
620 Words | 3 Pages

Everyone has sinned in their life, and it can be very hard to win over the trust you have broken. In the novel, Hester Prynne commits adultery with one of the town's ministers, Arthur Dimmesdale, and names their daughter Pearl. As a punishment, both parents receive a Scarlet letter ‘A' that they must wear at all times. Hester's true husband was held captive by Indians and when he is released, he finds the town in which Hester lives, and poses as a physician by the name of Roger Chillingworth in order to conceal his true identity. Because of how these characters deal with redeeming themselves of their sin, Chillingworth becomes the physician of Dimmesdale and causes spiritual torture to him, while Hester is not affected.

Read More
189 Words | 1 Pages

When a sin has been committed, people often seek forgiveness from God. They believe that God will provide the proper penance if they confess to their sins and will therefore obtain absolution. In this photo, the Hindu god Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles, is worshipped in order to gain His forgiveness. Similarly, forgiveness from God is discussed in The Scarlet Letter as Hester Prynne gains peace and forgiveness for her sins after her confession and rightful penitence. However, because Arthur Dimmesdale never confessed to his sin, he becomes conflicted with his preaching morality despite the corruption of his own soul.

Read More
601 Words | 3 Pages

Hester is the biggest sinner throughout the romance and there is no reason to believe that Dimmesdale, or Chillingworth is. One main reason why Hester was the biggest sinner was because she was an adulteress to begin with. Toward the beginning of the book, the townspeople had accused her of having a baby with another man because the husband was nowhere to be seen. This is important because it ties into many other reasons as to why she is the biggest sinner.

Read More
640 Words | 3 Pages

Hester didn't deserve to be publicly humiliated. Hester already has a lot to deal with. Hester didn't like being shamed. In conclusion, Hester's punishment was unjust because Hester was sent to prison for committing adultery.

Read More
480 Words | 2 Pages

The Scarlet Letter Essay Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale were two of the main sinners in The Scarlet Letter. Both characters kept their sins secrete throughout the story. These sins included adultery, revenge, and even murder. Out of the two sinners, Chillingworth was the worst, because he never felt guilt for the terrible things he was doing. Dimmesdale spent his entire life in guilt and remorse for the sins he had committed (“Who”).

Read More
936 Words | 4 Pages

The Puritan society thinks that it was their job to punish people who committed crime severely because they believe they were doing god’s work. They persecuted Hester for committing adultery while they are blinded by

Read More

More about What Is Hester's Attitude Regarding The Sin Of Adultery In The Scarlet Letter

Related Topics

Open Document