Examples Of Falseness In The Scarlet Letter

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, there is a lot of falseness that takes place between some of the main characters. Hidden identities are the main source of untruthfulness in the novel, while the masking of a certain sin also plays a big role. It is said that, in most cases, the truth always comes to light, and it’s no different in this case. Ultimately, by the end of the novel, the truth is reveals in each of these situations.

The first sense of dishonesty was when Hester and Dimmesdale chose not to tell Chillingworth who the father of Hester’s child was. Chillingworth’s mind is set on getting revenge on her unknown lover. While in the prison cell with Hester, he tries to get her to tell him who it is by saying that he will eventually be able to tell anyway. Hester is still not convinced enough to reveal the man’s identity. This section of the story is ironic because Dimmesdale sort of pleads with

Hester to reveal who she committed adultery with, when in fact; it is revealed to us that Dimmesdale himself is the baby’s father. It isn’t until more towards the middle of the novel that Chillingworth finds something that makes him believe he knows who the father is.
Just as Hester and Dimmesdale were hiding something from Chillingworth, Hester and Chillingworth was practically doing the same with Dimmesdale.

It wasn’t until the end of the novel that Dimmesdale actually found out for sure that Chillingworth was Hester’s husband. Chillingworth asked Hester to conceal his identity and no one other than those two knew of the truth. The townspeople believed that her husband is an Englishman and was previously living with Hester in Amsterdam but decided that they should move to America. Once sending Hester to America first, he never joined her. Not only does Chillingworth hide his identity as Hester’s husband, he also sort of gains another identity as being the “Black Man.” This identity grows on him more and more as the novel progresses. While Dimmesdale and Hester are in the forest together, Hester finally decides to tell who Chillingworth really is. By this part though, it was made obvious that Dimmesdale had sort of a suspicion of it. He doesn’t too much worry about it since he has plans for him, Hester, and Pearl to leave for

England.
The third major sense of falsehood in the novel was the fact that Dimmesdale kept his sin a secret from the community. At first, the identity of Pearl’s father was unknown to the reader and Hester refused to give up the mystery man’s identity. As stated before, we later find out that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father. Since he is a reverend, he doesn’t want the community to know of his sin, at the same time, he helps Hester and Pearl in multiple situations in the novel. At one point, Pearl is almost taken from Hester but Dimmesdale is able to convince the governor that it was God’s will for Pearl to be in Hester’s life. The fact that Dimmesdale covers his sin affects Pearl in a way. Although she is obviously attracted to him, there are moments when Pearl exclaims how she wants Dimmesdale to not deny her and Hester within the community. Once hearing of their plans to go to England, Pearl even asks Hester if Dimmesdale will cover his chest where the “A” is concealed on him. It is ironic because there are so many obvious sins given to the community, yet they are blind to all of them and insist on making excuses for the reverend. Even in the last scaffold scene where he admits his sin to the people, some still say that they didn’t see the “A” on his chest and still believe he did no wrong. Pearl however, finally gets what she’s been wanting out of Dimmesdale when he admits his sin. She even leans over and kisses him willingly for the first time.
In conclusion, it is quite evident that identities were arguably the biggest theme in the novel. Having false identities as well as revealing the truth to other characters shaped the way that the novel played out. It is also worth stating that in each case, although the characters may not have had any intentions on telling the truth about their true identities, that is ultimately what happened.