Sin In The Scarlet Letter

One of the main ideas Hawthorne presents in The Scarlet Letter, is the nature of sin. The main three characters--Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth--all commit a great sin, some resulting worse than the others. Sin can be and is committed by anyone and everyone at some point in their lives. Although in God’s eyes all sin is equal, I believe some sin has greater consequences than other sin. As humans, we look at sin on different levels. For example, murder being worse than theft. Each person throughout the novel received some sort of consequence for the sin they had committed. Some of them accepted it and lived with what they had done while others turned it into their whole life.

Hester’s sin in The Scarlet Letter is obvious.

The novel starts out with her being pushed out of the prison entrance by the guard. She held her head high and wore the scarlet letter ‘A’ proudly as she carried her sin in her arms, her daughter Pearl. “...he laid his right upon the the shoulder of a young woman, whom he this threw forward; she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into open air, as if by her own free will.” (Hawthorne 50). The Puritan community mocked and shamed her as she moved from the entrance of the prison to the scaffold. The whole community knew what she had done but not whom she had done it with. She refused to tell anyone out of respect for the father even though many asked. Hester’s sin was publically displayed everyday because of the scarlet letter ‘A’ on her breast. Pearl also was a constant reminder of her sin to her and everyone around her. Her sin affected more than just herself and her ex husband, it affected many people in the Puritan community. Because of her sin, Chillingworth went mad and wanted revenge on Dimmesdale and her. This ultimately resulted in Chillingworth slowly killing Dimmesdale.
Arthur Dimmesdale’s sin was not publicised like Hester’s.

“Happy are you, Hester, that you wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!” (Hawthorne 188). Throughout most of the novel, you don’t know what his sin is. He was looked up to as a beloved and holy pastor but only he knew what he had done. When preaching to the community, he talked about how to confess your sin so you can be forgiven. He began to feel the guilt of his hidden sin and hypocrisy so much he became very sick and weak. He wanted to confess what he had done but didn’t know how because of his position in the community. “Why should a wretched man, guilty, we will say, of murder, prefer to keep the dead corpse buried in his own heart, rather than fling it forth at once, and let the universe take care of it!” (Hawthorne 128). However, after meeting with Hester in the forest and deciding to run away with her after he gave the election day speech, he decided to confess to the community. “Hester, come hither! Come, my little Pearl!” (Hawthorne 247). Hester and Pearl assisted him in climbing the scaffold where the community saw what he done so long ago. Even after he confessed his sin, Dimmesdale’s life ended because of the pain and guilt he had put himself

through.
Despite the fact we don’t know Roger Chillingworth before Hester’s sin is committed, we know that he was a man focused on gaining wisdom and the good of others.

After discovering what is wife had done, he visited her in the prison as the physician and requested she didn’t tell anyone they were once married. “Thou hast kept the secret of thy paramour. Keep, likewise, mine!” (Hawthorne 73). Because of the sin Dimmesdale and Hester committed, it drove Chillingworth to want revenge. In chapter 9, Chillingworth moved in with Dimmesdale. He had many health problems and Chillingworth, being the only doctor in the community, moved in to take care of him, but Dimmesdale became more and more sick throughout the novel. Chillingworth was referred to as the leech because he slowly sucked the life out of Dimmesdale. Although we knew that Dimmesdale was physically and emotionally killing himself because of the guilt he felt, Chillingworth made it worse. At the end of the novel when Dimmesdale climbed up the scaffold to confess his sin, Chillingworth begged him not to do it. “There was no place so secret--no high place nor lowly place where thou couldst have escaped me--save on this very scaffold.” (Hawthorne 248). He then knew that he could no longer torture Dimmesdale and his will to live was no longer

there.
I believe Chillingworth’s sin came with the greatest consequence. I think this because regardless of the fact they each chose their sin, Chillingworth had the opportunity to forgive Hester and Dimmesdale but instead he spent his life torturing Dimmesdale as much as possible. Because of this, when Dimmesdale died in the end of the novel, Chillingworth did as well. He put so much effort and time into making his life miserable that when he no longer could do that, he had no reason to live. Hester made the decision to cheat on her husband and Dimmesdale helped her with that but Hester wore the scarlet letter ‘A’ proudly and accepted the consequences as they came. Even though Dimmesdale hid his sin from the start of the book he felt the guilt of it the whole time. Chillingworth never felt guilty nor did he ask for forgiveness at any time. He was okay with living in his sin while Dimmesdale and Hester felt guilty and accepted the consequences. I think this showed the difference between Dimmesdale and Hester’s sin versus Chillingworth’s sin proving that his sin provided more of a consequence than theirs.