Throughout the annals of history, man has struggled with the concept of sin and how to analyze it. When examining the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, this same concept holds true. For he who said, “do not commit adultery”, also said, “do not kill.” This statement reveals that all sins are equal in the eyes of God. However, the Puritan society hypocritically judges some sins to be greater than others. One example of this is the sin of adultery. Adultery is considered to be one of the worst sins of all. The main characters in The Scarlet Letter all commit sins, but Hawthorne judges them based on how they acknowledge or repent their sins. Moreover, the effect of sin in The Scarlet Letter emerges through the development of …show more content…
Dimmesdale is in a dilemma throughout the entire novel on whether he should confess to his adulterous affair with Hester, which makes him very cowardice. He literally lets his regret kill him. According to Nina Baym, professor of English at the University of Illinois, “His (Dimmesdale’s) "sin" is an impulsive relaxation of self-restraint and a consequent assertion of his youthful energies against the restrictions established by the elders” (3).Dimmesdale struggles against a socially determined identity and never fully learns the truth of what Hester has learned: that individuality and strength are gained from responsibility, not a rejection of one’s assigned identity. Professor Baym is pointing out the fact that admission of sin and asking for forgiveness allows one to carry on with their lives, were hiding the sin from others will eventually destroy a person from within. Through Dimmesdale’s sin, Hawthorne reveals that sin is better to acknowledge with penance and take responsibility for one’s actions. Unlike Hester’s and Dimmesdale’s sin, Chillingworth’s is very different. While Dimmesdale and Hester suffer though their sin, Chillingworth does not. He finds pleasure in seeking his revenge against Dimmesdale. Chillingworth represents the evil nature of sin. He never has remorse for the chaos he causes. When Chillingworth encounters Hester in her jail cell and she suspects he is trying to poison her with medicine he says, “ Even if I imagine a scheme of
Chillingworth was surprised to find this out. Chillingworth intends to discover and pursue Hester’s lover and to get revenge on him. Chillingworth has a bad feeling about Dimmesdale after waiting and watching every person in the village. Chillingworth decided to move in with Dimmesdale to act as a caring ‘doctor.’ Chillingworth was basically a leech to Dimmesdale, he never left his side and always made sure Dimmesdale had his
Physically deformed and mysterious, Roger Chillingworth finally met his wife after being separated from her for almost two years. He showed no great anger towards her and took upon himself some of the accountability saying it was “...my folly and thy weakness,” (Hawthorne 52) which was the cause of Hester's sin. Chillingworth's only feeling was one of revenge towards the man who had been Hester's lover. Chillingworth was obsessed by hate and revenge so much that when Dimmesdale died “... the life seemed to have departed...” (Hawthorne 72) from him and he died within a year of Dimmesdale's death. Chillingworth never felt guilt or attempted repentance because he “... violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart.” (Hawthorne 133). He sought to destroy Dimmesdale's
Another effect on Dimmesdale, seen as his guilt slowly wears him down, is how he compares his actions to those of Roger Chillingworth. This is clearly seen when Dimmesdale claims to Hester, "We are not, Hester, the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! That old man 's revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so!” (Hawthorne 185). Even in the privacy of the forest, he did not want to accept the full reality of his actions. This is a step forward for him, however, because he chooses to actually say aloud that what he did was wrong, just not as wrong as Chillingworth’s terrorizing of him. Eventually, Dimmesdale is able to confess to the public his sin, and this is due to his longing to escape the torture Chillingworth has been putting him through. Dimmesdale is no longer affected by the guilt that his actions brought about, so Chillingworth has no reason to aggravate him anymore. Sadly for the reverend, the shame
The third example of Dimmesdale is the worst sinner than Chillingworth is because he doesn’t have responsibility for what he has done. After Hester is out of prison, she is punished and she takes all the blame and their shared sin while Dimmesdale chooses to hide behind her. Dimmesdale let Hester and Pearl go through hash criticizing, disparaging, and insulting for everyone in the towns. People disparaging Hester by saying “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and
The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the nephew of John Hathorne. During the Salem Witch Trials, the only judge that did not apologize for the remorseless and cruel acts that were put upon many men and women was in fact John Hathorne. Nathaniel changed his last name from Hathorne to Hawthorne in an attempt to disassociate himself from his uncle. John Hathorne is the reason why Nathaniel Hawthorne is obsessed with the puritan times. Hawthorne lived in the 1800s, but the setting of the novel is based before the Salem Witch Trials were held in the 1600s. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the scarlet letter, Dimmesdale, and burrs to contribute to the overall theme of guilt.
In contrast to Dimmesdale, there was Chillingworth, the legal husband of the woman Dimmesdale sinned with. Disguised as a healer, Chillingworth waits and observes, trying to discover the identity of the father of Pearl, the child of Hester. When he discovers that Dimmesdale was the lover, he moves in with Dimmesdale to torture him. Chillingworth uses his position as a healer to do the opposite of his occupation, to hurt Dimmesdale’s mind, tormenting him psychologically, and ultimately poisoning his mind. He tortured Dimmesdale throughout the whole novel and not once showed remorse for his horrible sin. He was never confused about his sin; he never questioned if it was right or wrong. This was a result of his religious views; he wasn 't religious at all in fact, he was referenced as the Devil.
Ever since the beginning, in the regards to the biblical belief system, sin has plagued the world. Ever since the woman named Eve took the apple, sin has said existed. Sin has become a ruling factor in certain communities, at the time of the Romans, some sin was considered punishable by death. In the years of the 1500s, a group emerged calling themselves the Puritans. They based their everyday lives around the avoidance of sin. So when one committed a sin he/she was punished. Death, torture, beatings, and public shaming. Shame, it's to have painful feelings of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. The e of shame is seen many times throughout the texts The Crucible by Arthur Miller and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Both tell stories of men plagued by their sin of adultery and what they do to deal with the guilt they have brought upon themselves. The two go through trials and tribulations, but in the end seem to come to terms with their sin and consequences. But also realize how they've grown from the experience.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist who wrote many novels and short stories who was born on July 4th, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. He originally had his last name as Hathorne - without the ‘w’ – but changed it due to not wanting to draw attention from his ancestor John Hathorne who was the only judge involved in the Salem witch trials. Nathaniel Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody in 1842 and had three kids. They ended up moving all around Massachusetts but then they finally decided that they’d settle in Concord, Massachusetts. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s first novel written is called Fanshawe in 1837. Hawthorne wasn’t sure how he felt about it, so he published it anonymously. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the novel was criticized heavily
Few themes in literature are as influential or tacitly communicate as much as the theme of sin does, especially in The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible. Through their masterpieces, Hawthorne and Miller reveal the commonness of sin and the grave consequences that often follow it, but also the endurance and perseverance of man despite sin, fulfilling Faulkner's idea of the “writer’s duty”, a term he used in his Nobel Banquet speech. According to Faulkner, the “writer’s duty” is to write about man’s “inexhaustible voice”, that he “has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance”, to remind him of the “courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice” that lies in the past. Faulkner states that if used correctly, the works of an author can urge men to “endure and prevail”, which is certainly what The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible teach through the life of Hester Prynne and John Proctor.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's bold novel, The Scarlet Letter, revolves around sin and punishment. The main characters of the novel sharply contrast each other in the way they react to the sin that has been committed
In the novel The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author composes a story that focuses on the idea of sin from an action of adultery through the perspective of Hester Prynne. The act of Hester’s infidelity endures a pessimistic influence on a character named Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, who is a Puritan minister. Yet, Hawthorne portrays to the readers a transformation in Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale in personality and how the theme of guilt can be influential which embodies a destructive cleanse at the end of the novel.
Chillingworth’s sins were also motivated by envy and a desire for revenge, which overpowered him. His envy made him want to win Hester back, and he would not let anything stand in his way. Hester and Dimmesdale’s sins were motivated by love for each other, while Chillingworth acted out of his own anger and jealousy. This went as far as to create noticeable differences in his personality.
Overall, sin can change the view of many lives, some for the better or some for the worse. The novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts three forms sin can affect someone: hatred, guilt, and wisdom. Through hatred people's lives can become malicious, like Chillingworth’s consistent revenge. Guilt is show in the way Dimmesdale responds to not telling the town what he did. Wisdom is displayed through the actions of Hester. She sees that everyone conceals sin in their lives. Sin changes the lives of many people, not just the few people involved, but the people all around the
Through out the course of history, those who were considered sinners were often out casted from the society. This is much the case with Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. After a public trial, Hester is considered a sinner due to her birthing of a so called “devil child”. Hester is convicted to the life long bearing of a scarlet letter on her chest. The Scarlet Letter that Hester Prynne wears symbolizes the change in perception of sin through out the novel. Due to the revelations of the governor Winthrop and the reverend Dimmesdale, the way sin is perceived changes from one of shame to the idea that every one is a sinner in their own right.
Hawthorne had introduced Chillingworth as the victim, not the villain. After all, Hester and Dimmesdale both violated him by engaging in the act of adultery. This causes many readers to sympathize for Chillingworth until he plainly confesses that it was originally himself that sinned: "Mine was the first wrong, when I betrayed thy budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay."(66) Chillingworth knew that Hester didn't love him before they were married, but he was looking for what he