Scarlet Letter Essay On Guilt

With sin comes great consequences. Some are punished, damned, or lose their friends just because they lost themselves. Paying these moral consequences can create feelings of contemptibility and guilt for what they have done. In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, main characters Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne commits a terrible sin, uncommon in their puritan community. The moral consequences these characters have to pay are guilt and shame.

The narrator reveals that Hester is still “so passionately,” (Hawthorne 190) in love with Dimmesdale in chapter seventeen when she makes the decision to reveal Chillingworth’s identity. It is proven that Dimmesdale shares these feelings later on in the same passage when he forgives her for not revealing Chillingworth’s identity sooner and they reminisce on their sin. Dimmesdale tells Hester, “I have not forgotten!” (Hawthorne 191) This is in reference to their love for one another when they committed their sin seven years ago. Hester’s willingness to abandon New England and take off with Dimmesdale and their daughter towards the end of the novel shows that Dimmesdale was the one who truly held her back from leaving, not her sin. While the sin played a part in her own guilt, Dimmesdale was the one she truly stayed for. Their emotions towards one another are extremely complex, but had Chillingworth not ruined their potential escape plan, I believe that they would have lived out the last of Dimmesdale’s sickly days as a

Mr. Dimmesdale’s conscience constantly brought his negative aspects to mind, and caused him to spiral into self hatred and misery. The overwhelming presence of guilt for his offense caused Mr. Dimmesdale unbearable suffering and general unhappiness in knowing that he had not only wronged God, but Hester and the entire community as well.

To begin, Hawthorne uses the scarlet letter “A” to reinforce the theme of Guilt. Hester Prynne, the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter, is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” upon her bosom because she has committed the sin of adultery. This leads Hester to feel guilty for the rest of her life. Hawthorne states, “... that scarlet letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself” (Hawthorne 51). The quote shows how feeling guilt has made her much more distant from the rest of the townspeople. Hester experiences this agonizing guilt whenever she glances in a mirror, or down at her chest. Pearl is the result of Hester’s

In Dimmesdale's first speech he uses accusatory appeals to further humiliate and set an example to the rest of the community. Dimmesdale publicly put Hester on the scaffold to make a example of her, to show the other citizens what would happen if they sin." If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation"( Hawthorne 57). This quote by Dimmesdale shows that Hester's earthily punishment, by Public humiliation, will be effective in her deliverance from sin. The whole reason for Hester's public punishment is to show her that she could not recover from the sin. The public punishment is more for Hester than for the community. Hester being put on blast at the scaffold insure that she believes she is forever going to be an outcast in society. In Dimmesdale's second speech his appeal changes from accusatory to remorseful. Dimmesdale's use of remorseful appeals in his second speech helps him say his confession. Dimmesdale's confession in the end has people feel bad for him because they saw how keeping the secret was hurting him. " ye, that have loved me!- ye, that have deemed me holy!- behold me here, the one sinner of the world!"( Hawthorne 208). This quote shows that the people of the community loved Dimmesdale and he knew that. So, for Dimmesdale to betray them the way he did, he felt bad. So he confessed publicly to help himself with the

In the Scarlet letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates the consequences of sin. Hester, Chillingworth and Dimmesdale are the main characters that were the highlight of the book. I'm going to tell you how sin they all committed had an effect on their lives. Guilt is a consequence of sin that Hester had to endure throughout her life. She continuously walked around with a smile on her face to act as if others opinions didn't influence her about the sin she had done.

This means that the sin continues to influence Dimmesdale long after Hesters public shame has been forgotten, which controls his actions and thoughts. After Hester and Dimmesdale talk about their current state and past sins on page 203, Dimmesdale seemed to transform into a completely different being-sinister and energetic. He was anxious to do out-of-the-ordinary activities. This shows that after Dimmesdale is told that Chillingworth was her husband all of Dimmesdale’s actions became based on evil motives, proving that his actions are controlled by sin. After the years of torture that Dimmesdale has gone through he finally reveals the truth, telling the whole town that he was the one who committed adultery with Hester, dying soon after.

He shuns Hester for her crimes, when he did the same thing in the dark, WITH Hester at that. I didn’t understand why Hester wouldn’t have just outed Dimmesdale as a fraud immediately, but then I realized it wouldn’t have made a difference because people would believe a reverend’s words over a criminal’s. I also didn’t understand how you could claim yourself a man of God when you committed the “worst” crime and then tell bold-faced lies to everyone around you. If that’s the case, he is no better than Hester, and if anything he’s

His words to Hester during her public punishment reveal his internal guilt and hypocrisy, and show that he realizes that it will weigh down upon his soul forever. His guilt only increases from that point onwards, and he becomes ill and ever-increasingly guilty despite harsh self inflicted penances and indirect confessions to the community. Finally, when his death his near, Dimmesdale makes decision he should have made years ago, to confess the sin hidden in his heart to the entire town. Due to his health he collapses, and is finally released from his guilt and hypocrisy moments before he dies. Free from his suffering, Dimmesdale dies with hope for God’s mercy and with peace in his

Dimmesdales’s sin of being a co-adulterer has a devastating affect on his mind, affecting him both physically and mentally. He was afraid of revealing his sin to the public, and lets Hester take all the blame. Some of the townspeople believed that Hester “has brought shame upon [the townspeople], and ought to die” (Hawthorne 49). She was disgraced and isolated from the rest of the townspeople, while Dimmesdale himself became more and more popular, as he kept on delivering more and more powerful sermons. Hester had to live a life of pain and misery, while Dimmesdale was not a part of that pain, the pain of having to suffer from being secluded by the townspeople. He also never tried to ease Hester’s struggles by helping her raise their child,

The guilt brought forth by sin is hoped to be blotted out once redemption is reached and faith is reconnected by repentance. The human nature of sin is linked with guilt that is freed by finding humility which brings redemption. Hester is weighed down by the guilt of adultery and lives in darkness as the sun avoids her due to her sin. Hester reaches humility once she becomes true to herself and her actions, she no longer lives in guilt of her sin and is brought into the sun. Dimmesdale struggles with the guilt of concealing his sin. Revealing himself as the sinner of the world shows his humility and reconnects him to God.

This concealed sin is the center of his tormented conscience. The pressures on him from society are greater than those on Hester because he is a man in high standing, expected to represent the epitome of the Puritanical ideals. It is ironic that Dimmesdale, who is supposed to be absolutely pure and urges congregation to confess and openly repent their sins, is incapable of doing so himself. He knows the hypocrisy of his actions but cannot bring himself to admit his deed publicly. In resentment of this he punishes himself physically - he is "often observed to put his hand over his heart, with indicative of pain" (ch 9). Dimmesdale's resistance to be true to himself gradually destroys his well being as well as Hester's, and although he eventually declares the truth, his resistance ends him.

In “The Scarlet Letter,” Hawthorne presents the consequences of sin as an important aspect in the lives of Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingsworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale. The sin committed, adultery, between Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale had resulted in the birth of their innocent little girl, Pearl. This sin ruined the three main characters’ lives completely in different ways. With the sin committed, there were different ways the characters reacted to it: embracing the sin, concealing the sin, and becoming obsessed and consumed with it. With each reaction to the sin there were also different actions of redemption.

In The Scarlet Letter, the perception of sin deviates from person to person. The deviation occurs on the severity of the sin that was committed and who committed the sin. Focusing on Hester and Dimmesdale, it is easy to compare the consequences of coping with the perception of their sins, on a private and a public level. The outcome of dealing with their sin is extremely different. The theme of morality affects Hester and Dimmesdale as well. They have varying levels of morality and this changes during the course of the novel.

To begin, Hawthorne uses The Scarlet letter to contribute to the theme of guilt. Hester Prynne a normal women in a puritan society sinned and committed adultery. Her punishment is she has to wear The Scarlet Letter for the rest of her life. Not only does it hurt her physically but it also hurts her mentally. Hawthorne explains “ let her cover the mark as she will, but the pain of it will always be in her heart” (Hawthorne 49). This quote shows that this letter isn't just a worthless piece of fabric but it's a symbol of sin and guilt and it will always be in her heart. When people see Hester they don't see her as a normal puritan girl they see her as an example on what not to do. Right now in the book all of the townspeople are all outside of the prison waiting for Hester and they're all talking