Self-Identity In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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The theme of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is love and is directly related to self-identity. Love is a very big part of the self-identity for many of the main characters. Hester Prynne, Reverend Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, and Pearl Prynne are all given their self-identity through the themes of love and self-identity. However, it does not lead to satisfaction for all of them, but misery. The affair between Hester and Dimmesdale not only affects their self-identity but Roger Chillingworth’s. Hester’s affair is made public when she has her child, because of this she wears a scarlet letter ‘A’. This makes her miserable because everyone else knows that she had the affair. Although no one knows that it was with Dimmesdale, he seems …show more content…

Dimmesdale is not limited to what he can and cannot do directly by the adultery but still becomes limited. Hester becomes disliked by the community and becomes shunned by the members. She is not trusted by anyone and has to meet in secret with Chillingworth and Dimmesdale in the woods. But, she, later on, decides that she will give back to the community to be forgiven for her sins. She helps everyone in the community, especially other women who have sinned and need her help. She also serves as a psychologist for women with these problems to help them through the tough time. So, she is able to rise above her limitations. Dimmesdale however, tries to rise above the limitations forced upon him by Roger Chillingworth. Chillingworth is a doctor and “helps” Dimmesdale by giving him medicines. However, they are not all healing and some are in fact hurtful. Along with the medicine, Chillingworth tortures him, which is a possible reason to why his also has a scarlet letter ‘A’ on his chest. He does rise above these limitations though, he delivers his most powerful sermon when he is deathly sick. He is finally able to fully rise above the limitations by dying. “Thou hast escaped me!” shouted Chillingworth as Dimmesdale fell to the ground (Hawthorne 23). Because, Chillingworth is the “black man,” the devil, and is trying to destroy Dimmesdale through his torture, the only way to rise about the limitations fully is to

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