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Multiple Themes In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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The Scarlet Letter involves multiple themes throughout the story: the role of god, guiltiness, and sin. Society made these themes so apparent in Boston at the time, and if the same sin was committed today, the consequences would be much, much different. The Scarlet Letter has such a great amount of themes, and the themes themselves come in the perfect order, making the book so well written. In The Scarlet Letter multiple characters tried (some failed, some succeeded) to act as god, somewhat in a symbolic form. One example in The Scarlet Letter would be the townspeople and how they made such great judgments over a crime/sin that really didn't effect their everyday lives, and believing it was perfectly fine to judge Hester so harshly. Another example would be how largely God played a role in the lives of such a highly Puritan populated town. All of the characters lives were greatly centered around their religious beliefs, which is a huge reason as to why Hester was so frowned upon. They thought that her cheating on her husband was an offensive sin and crime, and she was punished in the social sense every day for her acts. All because they thought it was God’s path for her to take after she …show more content…

There were different interpretations of how to react and how to respond to Hester’s sin committed. Additionally, different characters dealt with their own sins in different ways. Hester payed hers publicly, she stood on the scaffold with her young daughter and wore the “A” everyday, without ever complaining. However, on the other hand, Dimmesdale kept his sin secret until the last little section of the book. He dealt with them privately, by hurting himself physically and going through so much emotional pain. Also, sins were considered much more of a legal problem in their society compared to today. In the modern world, adultery isn't considered a crime in America, but still not a good

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