Good And Evil In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'

To begin with, Hester’s sin drove the story, but after the community established her as a sinner, she overcame her sins but she still struggled through other characters. Instead of depicting Hester’s inner turmoil directly to Hester, Hawthorne portrays her tumult through other characters in her life such as Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the community. Dimmesdale proclaimed to Hester, “If thou feelest it to be for thy soul’s peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and

#1. The sin of Hester was her commitment of adultery. This is the reason of the scarlet letter on her clothing. She takes all the punishment that is given to her for her crime and does not falter with what is right from wrong. Although all of the townspeople know of her crime, she refuses to tell with whom she committed the crime with and who she has hurt in the process. She does not talk about Chillingworth, her actual husband, or Dimmesdale, her true love. This affects not only her, but also her daughter, Pearl. Pearl does not understand the concept of the scarlet letter and she is very straightforward with her mother. Hester's sin affect how she lives her life for much of her life. She had to live being scrutinized by society. She didn’t

The Scarlet Letter showed that sin corrupts the human soul and motivates evil actions. This can be proven in the cases of Dimmesdale, Hester, and Chillingworth. Dimmesdale, Hester, and Chillingworth were all corrupted with sin, which determined all of their actions in The Scarlet Letter. Hester’s sin occurred before the story began. She sinned by letting herself love a man other than her husband, After the sin of loving another man she went further down the path of sin by having an affair with Dimmesdale.

The short story, "Young Goodman Brown" is a fascinating rendition of the battle between good and evil. The reader must delve into the depths of his/her own beliefs to understand what the symbolism is. Nathaniel Hawthorne writes an entire lesson in life as one big symbol using allegory. The various examples are fruitful and will be presented throughout this essay.

In "Young Goodman Brown." Nathaniel Hawthorne considers the question of good and evil, suggesting that true evil is judging and condemning others for sin without looking at one's own sinfulness. He examines the idea that sin is part of being human and there is no escape from it.

The Puritan townspeople of Boston, Massachusetts, punish a woman for committing an ignominious act with an unexpected man. Hester stands alone on the scaffold as townspeople scowl and judge, wondering who her lover is. The innocent town seamstress is a sinner in the eyes of the pure citizens. As Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter continues, the residents notice Hester’s abilities when caring for her daughter. She also regains respect as the bearer of the scarlet letter, the emblem she wears that “takes her out of the ordinary relationships with humanity and encloses her in a sphere by herself” (Hawthorne 51). Mistress Hester Prynne is an example taught to others because of her hardships faced without her true love. Hester transforms

The setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet letter” is crucial to the understanding of the event that takes place in the story. The setting of the story is in Salem, Massachusetts during the Puritan era. During the Puritan era, adultery was taken as a very serious sin, and this is what Hester and Dimmesdale committ with each other. Because of the sin, their lives change, Hester has to walk around in public with a Scarlet Letter “A” which stands for adultery, and she is constantly being tortured and is thought of as less than a person. Dimmesdale walks around with his sin kept as secret, because he never admits his sin, his mental state is changing, and the sin degrades his well-being. Chillingworth

Which is what the book revolves around. Hester’s sin is her act of adultery that she committed with Dimmesdale. But, as punishment she has to wear a Scarlet Letter. But as the story moves along the scarlet letter becomes less of a symbol of shame, and more of a symbol of strength. Because of the “A” Hester becomes stronger both emotionally and mentally. The punishment ultimately teaches Hester that strength and individuality are not gained by wearing noticeable clothing. But by quiet self-assertion and a self-reconfiguration, of one’s assigned

This ridicule has a trickle down effect on Hester as she too is banished from her own community for committing adultery. The comparison between Hester and Hawthorne defines the external struggle for the reader to fully understand the effect of opinions from society on them Although reluctant to allow Hester to leave prison, the members of the town suggest that her punishment be to wear a scarlet red letter A on her bosom, thereby allowing all to know of her crime. The scarlet letter “ was red-hot with infernal fire, ” (Hawthorne 81) and defined the state she was currently in, that being eternal hell. Though she was forced to marry an older man at a young age, her rebellion to have an affair is not seen as an internal struggle that she overcame; rather, it is merely seen as a woman who sinned, a woman who shall therefore endure the punishment for the sin, rather than a woman who was never given a say in what she wanted with her life. Time and again, Hester Prynne is seen defying society by allowing herself to stand out from societal norm just as the roses “with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner“ (Hawthorne) did. Instead, she returns to the community and is observed aiding those in need, all with seven year old Pearl by her side.

The people refute the idea that Dimmesdale’s confessions could be considered worthy of shame and instead “reverence him more”. As an authoritative figure in the Puritan society, Dimmesdale is expected to be a truthful, pure soul and the one to punish the sinful that interfere with their utopia. This societal convention causes his listeners to only interpret Dimmesdale’s sin as honest and pure, which contradicts how sin is viewed as shameful in all other instances. The opposing interpretations of sin that exist in the same society reveal the hypocrisy of Puritans as a result of attempting to confine one’s morality. As Hester and Dimmesdale are speaking in the forest about coping with their sin,

Hester accepts her sin and takes responsibility for her her actions. Society accepts Hester also and sees her as part of society again. There are dire consequences though when someone rejects the sin that they have committed and can ultimately ruin someone's life. Chillingworth and Dimmesdale both are examples of how hiding your sin can ruin your life. Dimmesdale tries to hide that he is the father of Hester’s child and that he committed adultery. Dimmesdale’s health starts to suffer terribly due impart to him hiding his sin from society and that Chillingworth is seeking revenge on Dimmesdale for what he is doing to Hester. They both, in the long run, get weaker and their health starts to worsen due to them committing sin and trying to ignore what they have done. “The scarlet letter burned on Hester Prynne's bosom. Here was another ruin, the responsibility of which came partly home to her” (Hawthorne 161). The quote before this shows that Hester took all of the blame for the sin that Dimmesdale had committed and that she was covering up Chillingworth’s sin. This quote also shows that Hester was the face of sin while the other two men were the face of faith and the face of medicine in town. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth were to avoiding sin and act like nothing happened, but

The story, “The Scarlet Letter” was a very unique but yet so similar story. Due the fact, that it was plenty of exemplification of evil in the novel and seemed to be replication of the story about Adam and Eve from the book of genesis. Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden for eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As a result of Adam and Eve knowing about their humanness, which made them be separated from the divine and from other creatures. However, the experience of Hester and Dimmesdale recalls the story of Adam and Eve because in both cases, sin results in expulsion and suffering.

The Scarlet Letter displays a theme of sin throughout the novel through multiple major events. To start off, in chapter seven, “The Governor’s Hall”, Hester observes herself in a convex shaped mirror, and realizes that the scarlet letter was exaggerated in size. The second major event is the entrance of Roger Chillingworth. He was quickly accepted into the Puritan society as an excellent physician, but as time passed, a few puritans started to suspect Chillingworth of using the skill of black art from the Indians. Hester also starts to realize a change, which goes into another major event to display the theme of sin. As Hester and Chillingworth were talking, she started to recognize a change in him, similar to a demon that had possessed him. But Hester wasn’t the only one to notice, Chillingworth noticed himself. In chapter nine and ten, Chillingworth is given the opportunity to cure Mr. Dimmesdale and to discover all of Dimmesdale’s hidden secrets. The final major event to represent sin is in chapter fifteen, “Hester and Pearl”, when Hester rids herself of the scarlet letter and realizes the freedom from the weight of her sin and shame. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses appearance versus reality to illustrate sin.

Thesis: The contrast between Dimmesdale and Hester shows a prominent theme of hiding versus confessing sins throughout the Scarlet Letter.

Puritan ethic that man's fate is set at his birth is also very much a part of the characters of the book. The Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, who committed adultery with Hester Prynne, uses the statement, "Were it God's will" when he asks for Roger Chillingsworth's advice on whether he should admit publicly to the adultery . Dimmesdale says " I could be well content that my labours, and my sorrows, and my sins, and my pains, should shortly end with me, and what is earthly of them be buried in my grave, and the spiritual go with me to my eternal state, rather than you should put your skill to the proof on my behalf" p. Hester Prynne and The Reverend Dimmesdale's affair becomes the focus of the 17th century community in New England. Hester is the "fallen" woman who is brought before the court of community opinion and justice. This Puritan community believes that all men have fallen and all men are sinners (Bloom, 1986). Hester is made to wear the scarlet letter, an A. This A represents adultery and it is Hester's badge of dishonor and sin and a symbol of her failure. The scarlet letter is meant to affect the person wearing it by showing that they have sinned an are, in the end, sorry for their sin. The letter has the opposite