Free Essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter - The Sins

Analysis of Sins in The Scarlet Letter

The story begins with an unfortunate marriage between Hester and Roger Prynne, wich leads to adultery and revenge. The Scarlet Letter, is the title of Nathaniel Hawthorne's book. The book is mainly focused on Hester Prynne, her sin, and the people who got caught in the midst of it. Firstly and most importantly is Hester Prynne. As stated before, she was the main character, and the one who leads others to sin. She committed the sin of adultery, the sin that back in those days was punished with death. The only reason why they speared her life was because she did not want to name the father of the baby, and her baby "the elf-child" could not live alone without a mother or a father. Therefore, in order to still practice their authority, the magistracy decided to punish her by making her wear the scarlet letter "A"on her bosom, and to stand in the scaffold for three hours every day. "But in their great mercies and tenderness of heart they doomed mistress Prynne to stand only a space of three hours on the platform of the pillory, and then and thereafter, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom". ( P.42 )

On the other hand, we find Rev. Arthur Dimsdale, who was the father of the baby. It appears that he could not resist temptations of the flesh , even being a minister, he still fell into sin and adultery. Unlike Hester, Dimsdale did not have to pay consequences as far as to the outside world refers, due to the fact that Hester did not tell a soul that he was the father of the baby. Despite this, he still received his punishment, an internal punishment. "A well hidden secret , looking pure as a new fallen snow, while their heart is spoitted with inquity of wich they cannot rid themselves".(p. 88)

Finally, the last sinner was Roger Chilingworth, or Roger Prynne. Even though he did not commit a sin that deserved death in that time, his sin was worse than any other. Not only did he destroy Rev. Dimsdale's life, by torturing him with his analogies and indirect stories. He also destroyed his own life by making himself the one thing he hated the most, a fiend. "I have already told thee what I am , a fiend!".