Theme Of Guilt In The Scarlet Letter

Did you know, that in Puritan Massachusetts adultery was likely punished by death of both committees instead of humiliation? Arthur Dimmesdale, in the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is the town reverend and is also the father of Hester’s baby, but his guilt is overwhelming himself because he is unable to confess. Currently, Arthur Dimmesdale is torturing himself so juristically that he has developed a illness so bad that he has to constantly clutch his chest in pain. Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, returns to Boston and sees Hester at the scaffold. Roger Chillingworth, seeing Hester on the scaffold with Pearl and the scarlet letter on her chest, starts a man hunt for the father of Hester’s baby. Chillingworth is also a physician and is living with Arthur Dimmesdale to help out his heart conditions. Chillingworth continues to grow suspicious of Dimmesdale in his man hunt for Pearl’s father, so he is secretly spying on him and giving him potions to help out his illness, which are really for humiliation. Dimmesdale’s insecurities and hopes that he will go to heaven hold him back from confessing to the townspeople. Arthur Dimmesdale’s guilt has changed his character physically and physiologically throughout the book because he has developed an intense heart condition, and his guilt is so intense he is starving himself to try to manage it, although, his physical condition is partly due to the treatment and torture he is undergoing from Roger Chillingworth. In the novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne presents Dimmesdale as the town reverend who is heavily respected to someone who is mentally ill and afraid to confess his sin to the townspeople.

Hawthorne's Hester Prynne is the underdog protagonist that the reader cannot help but want to succeed. She is flawed but her flaws are outshone by her good heart and spirit. This shamed and humiliated woman is the one the reader, with the help of Hawthorne’s descriptions, wants to support. This sinful woman, with a child from wedlock, a diabolical “husband”, and a secretive lover is the motivating force that drives the reader to continue on with The Scarlet Letter. The language, descriptions, and plot of The Scarlet Letter show that Hawthorne believes the reader should look past gender stereotypes because not everything is what is

The Scarlet Letter is a novel about a Puritan woman who has committed adultery and must pay for her sin by wearing a scarlet “A'; on her bosom. The woman, Hester Prynne, must struggle through everyday life with the guilt of her sin. The novel is also about the suffering that is endured by not admitting to one’s wrongs. Reverend Mister Dimmesdale learns that secrecy only makes the guilt increase. Nathaniel Hawthorne is trying to display how guilt is the everlasting payment for sinful actions. The theme of guilt as reparation for sin in The Scarlet Letter is revealed through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of northeastern, colonial settings, various conflicts, and

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

The presence of guilt has been felt by all human beings. As guilt grows in a

Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American novelist who wrote The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne wrote the book in the 18 hundreds. The Scarlet Letter took place in the 16 hundreds in a puritan society. In his novel,The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of, The Leech, Pearl, and Dimmesdale to contribute to the overall theme of guilt.

At this point in the book, Dimmesdale is well respected by the townspeople, and looked up to by many. He has a superior reputation and worries about ruining it. Dimmesdale urges Hester on the scaffold to tell the officials and the community the name of Pearl’s father. Though he does not have the courage to, since Dimmesdale is Hester’s spiritual mentor and pastor, he is obligated to question Hester about the crime. He knows that if he admits to his sin, he will lose the respect of the townspeople. The speech is two fold, meaning something different to both Hester and the townspeople. Dimmesdale starts contradicting himself, wanting Hester to name the father, but at the same time also not wanting her to: “Even in the first scaffold scene Hawthorne shows forth the deep ambivalence of Dimmesdale’s position: the minister would like to be named and known for what he is, an adulterer” (Twayne 3). Dimmesdale encourages Hester to give up his name when he says, “What can thy science do for him, except tempt him—yea, compel him, as it were—to add hypocrisy to sin?” (Hawthorne 26). According to his ability to keep in his true emotions, Dimmesdale seems unafraid to the community. Dimmesdale is a healthy Reverend, but his confidence slowly deteriorates as his sin consumes

First off, Hawthorne uses the symbol of the scarlet letter to contribute to the theme of Guilt. The scarlet letter is forced upon the bosom of Hester, who is the protagonist of this novel. Hester had a child after her husband was known to be missing. She was accused of Adultery, and the scarlet colored letter was put on her as a token of shame to cast a shadow on her eternally. Hawthorne explains, “In a moment however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would poorly serve to hide another” (Hawthorne 50). This quote shows that the scarlet letter is a profound symbol of guilt, it could not have been hidden with

In The Scarlet Letter, sin and guilt represent the theme of morality throughout the entire novel. The scarlet letter “A” is the main representation of the protagonist assumed moral ineptitude. Yet there is a certain amount of vagueness that occurs at her initial appearance that leaves the reader a bit confused. Nathanial Hawthorne produces a marvelous piece of ambiguity that allows the reader to question their own idea of how morality is defined. While he works the theme of morality into all of the characters in the novel, the three main characters Hester Prynne, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale are the main focus if the idea of morality in the novel.

Forbidden love, hidden guilt, mischievous characters, and stringent religious beliefs are strong themes in the Puritan community. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, a young wife restarts her life, without her older husband, in Boston. Eventually she falls in love with a man, and they conceive a child together. However since she’s already married the conception is labeled as Adultery. For her sin, Hester must wear a Scarlet Letter on her chest, for all to see that she is an Adulterer. In an unfortunate turn of events, her husband returns, determined to take revenge on her lover. Now she not only must keep her lover’s identity a secret, but her husband's identity as well.

Similarly, Hawthorne uses Pearl to contribute to the theme of Imperfection. Pearl is the daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale, or in other words the product of adultery. After Hester is sent to prison, Pearl is born. Which was just 3 months before she and her mother had to present themselves on the scaffold in town. Hawthorne explains, “She bore a child in her arms, a baby of three months old, who winked....because it’s existence...acquainted only with the gray twilight of a dungeon…” (Hawthorne 50). The prison is a place of punishment and pure wickedness. Hawthorne explains that from the beginning of her life, Pearl was born into evil. Nonetheless, like any other child brought into the world she was still a gift from God, the prime example of Imperfection. Pearl was very intelligent and beautiful at a young age, but she still had an evil aspect to her that Hester saw firsthand. Pearl would sometimes show her mother affection but would quickly cover it up with vile laughter. Hester explains, “She is my happiness-she is my torture...Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too!” (Hawthorne 109). Proving Pearl was a faulty gift that Hester had to work hard for to keep. With

First, Hawthorne uses Pearl as a symbol of guilt. Pearl is the baby of Hester and Hester had her out of a sin because she wasn’t married to Dimmesdale Pearl’s real Dad so she is a sin baby. Pearl name means comes at a great price and made from pressure and darkness because she was create from the sin of adultery sex. As Hawthorne say, “But she named the infant “Pearl,” as being of great price, purchased with all she had,her mother’s only treasure!”

The character Dimmesdale represents guilt because his name all in itself it shows that he is hiding something. He is dimming the truth as if he is hiding something. He is hiding his sin of adultery from the rest of the community so he is not shamed like hester has been. His guilt eats him alive and Chillingworth becomes a leech. He leeches on to Dimmesdale guilt and makes him feel bad for what he is done.

Hester explains that she can “teach my little Pearl what I learned from this [her sin]” (Hawthorne 61). She kept faith in the fact that she has the ability to show Pearl what she learned from her sin and how she can teach her to do otherwise in the future. Hester shows how she “paid a great price” (Hawthrone 62) to have Pearl and “God gave [her] the child “(Hawthorne 63). She believes she deserves full custody of Pearl and the right to have her because “She [Pearl] is her happiness

In this novel, we meet Hester, a puritan woman who had committed the crime of adultery. “’Mother,’ said little Pearl, ‘the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom!’” (144). While Hester is considered a sinner, her daughter, Pearl, is the immediate representation of Hester’s sin