Tha Nature of Sin

As the cold, metal bar inches closer and closer to my face, the eminent threat of the 250 lb weight becomes insistently more overbearing. My chest is concaving from the excruciating pressure and it’s all I can do to not give in and fall prisoner to the weight. However, the end result is undeniably inevitable: the weight will crush me completely. This feeling of intense pressure and the struggle bench pressing ensues is highly comparable to the overwhelming effects that sin can cause in one’s life. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the complicated nature of sin is revealed through the way that sin affects multiple characters’ souls and entire lives. This is more specifically demonstrated by Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, and Hester. Throughout the novel, Roger Chillingworth’s form of sin shows how sin can cause the evil nature of mankind to be brought out and how sin can consume someone’s entire life. Similarly, Dimmesdale’s character reveals how sin can deplete even the strongest human being by way of guilt. The complexity of sin is demonstrated even more thoroughly by Hester’s sin that causes constant ignominy, but ultimately has a more positive affect on her life. All of these three characters are examples of the major impacts that sin can have on your life. Chillingworth’s encounter with sin caused him to turn his whole self in to the devil and undergo a dramatic transformation of his heart and soul.

One of the many aspects to the complicated nature of sin is reveling in sin and allowing it to engulf one’s whole soul, as displayed through Roger Chillingworth throughout the novel. It is demonstrated again and again in The Scarlet Letter how Chillingworth undergoes a drastic change, what causes that transformation, and w...

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...ee characters in the novel. A life may be consumed by the evil nature of sin and lead someone into the fold of the devil, as shown through Chillingworth. Or, sin may utterly destroy someone’s whole soul and existence through guilt, for example Dimmesdale. But fortunately, sin can bring about positive consequences in the life of a sinner, depending on the strength of that person and how they grow, such as the character of Hester. Through the novel and these characters, sin and its effects are proven to be varied. Sin can be excruciating and soul-crushing like a massive weight if you are not strong enough to lift it. Or it can allow you to grow stronger and stronger depending on your strength prior to experiencing the effects of sin. Every single person who has ever lived has sinned, so it all comes down to whether or not you let the effects of sin make or break you.