Who Is Hester Prynne Guilty In The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel about a woman who commits a crime. Hester Prynne committed adultery, resulting in pregnancy and public shame. In the 1600’s, your religion made the rules. If you were to break these rules, you would get publicly shamed, and you have to wear a letter on your chest. Hester Prynne committed the crime of adultery, so she had to wear the letter ‘A’ on her chest. A person’s sins often affect innocent people despite knowing the truth about others. In the novel, Hester and Pearl Prynne get judged by the public for what Hester did. At the very beginning, Pearl gets released from prison to stand on top of a scaffold to reveal her sin. The scaffold is in the marketplace so the entire village

Dimmesdale and Hester have a conversation but he confronts her saying that the child is her responsibility and not his. In the text is says, “for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hid a guilty heart through life.”(Hawthorne, 63) Dimmesdale refuses to be responsible for his actions. As a pastor, he is not allowed to sin. Admitting to Pearl being his daughter would be a sin. He is afraid of what the public would do if they found out what he did. This quote shows how Dimmesdale did not care what happened with Pearl. All he wanted was to be known as the good preacher without any sins. Towards the end of the novel, however, Pearl finds Dimmesdale in the forest and mentions it to Hester. Once Dimmesdale confesses his sins, Pearl notices that it is the same man who kissed her on the cheek. She says, “Mother,’ said she, ‘was that the same minister that kissed me by the brook?’ ‘Hold thy peace, dear little Pearl!’ whispered her mother. ‘We must not always talk in the marketplace of what happened in the forest.”(Hawthorne, 215) When Hester sees Dimmesdale, she realizes he is from the forest. When Hester tells her not to mention what happened in the forest, she tries to keep everything a secret in order for his confession to be recognized. This is during the confession, so this quote is very important. Even though he is finally telling the truth about what happened, they still have to keep everything a