Consequences And Remedies Of Din In The Scarlet Letter :: essays research papers

The Scarlet Letter shows many types of sin. Some is only sin in the Puritan eye, some is internally doomed sin and some is sin only defined back in the time period of pre-Romanticism. Three main characters Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth are the sinners of the Nathaniel hawes The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorn gives each one very different a consequence and remedy for each ones sin. Hester is publicly punished right away, Dimmesdale has to dwell on his sin for age and Chillingworth is punished abruptly when his sin comes to an end. Each punishment is different and holds its own lesson.Hester was forced into the marriage of a man she did not love, and after being separate for a long amount of time, she became attracted to another man. She then falls into a spell of passion with Reverend Dimmesdale. She then becomes pregnant with Dimmesdales baby, obviously revealing her sin. She is send to the Scaffold to be mocked by all and is forced to re veal the father of the child. She refuses and then for her sins, received a scarlet letter, "A" which she had to wear upon her chest for the bear of her life in Boston. She wondered the streets and was given bitter looks from all. This was the Puritan way of punishing her for her then criminal action of adultery. The Scarlet Letter on her bosom does the hire opposite of that which it was meant for. Eventually, Hester upsets all the odds against here due to her courage, pride and effort. Hester goes beyond the letter of the law and does everything asked of her in order to prove that she is "able"(158).Hester, even though she was more appreciated by the Puritans, she still was not respected and her life was never the same. This in conclusion caused so much mental and physical anguish that she eventually questioned why she should live if it werent for her Pearl. Pearl was a bundle of life sent from god to remind her of her wrong doing each and every moment and as a w alking sermon to preach against sin for others. The symbolic Pearl helped Hester overcome her guilt. Hester becomes a highly respected person in a Puritan order of magnitude by overcoming one of the harshest punishments, the scarlet letter. After Dimmesdales passing away, she remains in the small Boston town as payment of her sin and more importantly as an example to other future women of the town.