Scarlet Letter Revenge Quotes

Dimmesdale is a symbol of dishonesty and is a self-centered individual; he knows what he must do in order to make it honorable but lacks the courage and confidence to make himself public. In the Scarlet Letter, Hester tells Dimmesdale that the ship for Europe leaves in four days. He is delighted with the matter of being able to "fulfill his public duties" and give his Election Sermon before leaving. Although from this disdainful act, he worries that the congregation may notice the features found in Pearl’s face may be identical to his

“On one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him." Chapter 1, pg. 46

In The Scarlet Letter Hypocrisy is evident everywhere. The characters of Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the very society that the characters lived in, were steeped in hypocrisy. Hawthorne was not subtle in his portrayal of the terrible sin of hypocrisy; he made sure it was easy to see the sin at work , at the same time however, parallels can be drawn between the characters of The Scarlet Letter and of today’s society.

Roger Chillingworth is the symbol for evil in this novel with a personal agenda in place of a moral code making him the perfect example of how duplicity is never beneficial. Hawthorne conveys Chillingworth’s deception in the quote, “It seemed to be his wish and purpose to mask this expression with a smile.” Time and again Chillingworth hid his true identity by presenting himself as a gentle friend and preforming good deeds. For example, he insisted on the priest minimizing his workload in order to prevent an early death. Nevertheless, when Roger made the decision to seek revenge on his wife’s lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, he descended into a deep evil derangement becoming somewhat of a heartbroken devil. Consequently, this sealed his own tragic fate. "In a word, old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of man's faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devil's office." Chillingworth was an extremely learned scholar void of compassion who in the end, was the cause of his own demise. Roger Chillingworth was another character used by Hawthorne to show that deceit and dishonesty can do no good in the long

Holding on to sin can lead to isolation and alienation. Hester falls in love with another man and commits adultery.

Thy Hoang Per. 1 Mrs. Miller 09/21/14 Scaffold Quotes #1 “Knowing well her part, she ascended a flight of wooden steps, and was thus displayed to the surrounding multitude, at about the height of a man’s shoulders above the street”(9) Significance: The scaffold symbolizes the cruel public exposure of private sins and the means of redemption through confession.

Arthur Dimmsdale is first described as being "a person of very striking aspect, with a white, lofty, and impending brow, large, brown, melancholy eyes, and a mouth which, unless when he forcibly compressed it, was apt to be sensibly and a vast power of restraint." (pg. 50 Hawthorne).

Out of all the themes in the novel The Scarlet Letter, revenge is quite prominent. Throughout the book, the characters all seem to be afflicted with revenge in some sort. The theme revenge, refined by Hawthorne, exposes the flaws of the novel’s ‘perfect being’, how this virtue can take over one’s life, and how this affects them in the later future.

Tony Robbins, author, life coach, and motivational speaker said that “Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives.” (Robbins) In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals Boston, Massachusetts in the middle of the 17th century. Littered with Puritans in Boston during that time and their principles taking over much of the social order itself, it is safe to say that today’s Christian views are not nearly strongly represented as a whole in the general public. Furthermore,

This motivation drove his evil deeds. The other characters, while having made bad decisions, were not motivated by destruction, but rather lust, perhaps even love. The intent of Dimmsdale and Hester’s relationship and behavior was not to intentionally harm anyone. Conversely, Chillingworth is evil at heart. Chillingsworth’s sin is revenge and he it is whole intention inflict the most damage possible upon Dimmesdale. The fact that Hollingsworth’s goal is to cause others pain shows that he is evil. Another example of Chillingworth’s true nature can be found in chapter 14 “in a word, old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of man’s faculty of transforming himself into the devil”(page 110). Chillingworth explains to Hester that his evil nature will not allow him to stop harming Dimmesdale. Perfect in his role as “The Leech”, Chillingworth is not only fueled by Dimmesdale’s suffering, but it is necessary for him to survive. Chillingworth's character cannot exist without causing others pain. Chillingsworth’s sadistic nature and the severe extent to which it controls and directs his life is a clear sign that Chillingworth is an evil person

Next we can view the sin of pride in the characters of the Puritan individuals and Roger Chillingsworth. Pride is seen as the internal belief that one’s self is more valuable than others. The Puritans are also quick to pass judgment on Hester who appears to them as having too much pride. When Reverend Dimmesdale tries to appeal to Hester to reveal Pearl’s father’s earthly name. She refuses by saying, "I will not speak! My child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one! (1206). But quite frankly she is doing the opposite of that, Hester is acting with a great deal of chastity; or self-control to the outside world to the true knowledge of her lustrous act with Arthur Dimmesdale. She spears Dimmesdale of the pain and humiliation she must endure herself.

Chillingworth mainly sinned out of revenge. He was angry about what Hester had done and wanted to get back at her and the other man. At the end of the book, Dimmesdale ends up dying, all because of what Chillingworth did. “‘Thou hast escaped me!’ Chillingworth repeated more than once.

Guilt is a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined. When someone is feeling guilty there is often a force that is constantly reminding that person of their guilt. For instance, in the Scarlet Letter a woman due to the crime she committed was forced to wear a letter A , but the A was one of many things that remind her of her crime. Hester Prynne is the woman who was forced to wear the A. Hester was married to Roger Chillingworth, who went missing for a few years, and thus she had an affair with Reverend Dimmesdale. In addition to her affair they had a baby named Pearl.

Have you ever done something to make yourself unwanted somewhere? The book, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, during the 17th century. Now and then are very different times, the townspeople wanted Hester dead, but in this time, there would be very little punishment. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses the symbols of light and dark to depict good and evil among the characters Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth.

“Without forgiveness life is governed by... an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation,” by Roberto Assagioli can be the essence of the theme vengeance and forgiveness that Nathaniel Hawthorn weaves in throughout his novel, The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorn weaves in the theme vengeance and forgiveness to encourage us to forgive people more often to avoid resentment and retaliation as part of the many lessons he tries to teach his readers. This theme is one of the major themes in the novel and it has been developed in two different ways using the three main characters, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth. The first way Hawthorn uses to develop the theme is through the Puritan community and Hester. The scarlet letter, a symbol of the communities’