Theme Of Forgiveness In The Scarlet Letter

In the novel The Scarlet Letter written Hawthorne there are 4 main characters, Hester Prynne, Pearl Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale. They each have to come face to face with being able to someone or themselves. Some were able to forgive, like Pearl Prynne while others were unable like Roger Chillingworth. Each had different outcomes.

One Person that had to deal with forgiveness in The Scarlet Letter was Chillingworth. Who was unable to deal with forgiveness in The Scarlet Letter. Chillingworth has to deal with whether or not to forgive Dimmesdale, who is the man who made Chillingworth’s wife, Hester Prynne, pregnant. In the novel, it is clear that Chillingworth will not be able to forgive Dimmesdale. As we see him torturing Dimmesdale throughout the course of the novel. As Chillingworth continues to torture Dimmesdale it starts to become an obsession that consumes Chillingworth. An example that shows this in the article where it is stated, “that old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart” (Pg. 71 Wagenknecht). The obsession Chillingworth has is eventually what aids in his demise.

The second character in The Scarlet Letter who was faced with forgiveness was Arthur Dimmesdale.

He had to decide whether or not to forgive Chillingworth for torturing him after all these years. When it comes to his decision on whether or not he should forgive the foe of The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth, he comes to the conclusion he must forgive him. Dimmesdale decides as he is nearing death that he needs to forgive Chillingworth for what he has done, so that he can die without any regrets. We know he has forgiven Chillingworth because as he is climbing the scaffold he says, “ May God forgive thee” (Pg. 281 Hawthorne). The result of Dimmesdale’s forgiveness to Chillingworth let him die

peacefully.
In the third character in The Scarlet Letter that has to deal with forgiveness throughout the course of the novel is Pearl Prynne. She has to come face to face on whether or not she will forgive Dimmesdale for not publicly acknowledging her and Hester. Pearl comes to the conclusion that she will forgive Arthur Dimmesdale now that he has come to the scaffold with her and Hester and claimed Pearl as his child. We are shown her forgiveness to Dimmesdale when it is said in the novel, “Pearl kissed his lips” (Pg. 282 Hawthorne). The result of Pearl kissing Dimmesdale is that she is no longer a wild child, instead she will grow up to be mature adult.
Our final character in The Scarlet Letter that deals with forgiveness is Hester Prynne. She needs to come to a decision on whether or not to forgive herself for committing adultery and letting Chillingworth torture Dimmesdale throughout the course of the 7 years without him knowing Chillingworth's true identity. From beginning to end of the novel we learn that Hester will not be able to forgive herself for committing adultery. It is seen in the article when it says, “ Struggled to believe that no fellow mortal was guilty like herself” (Pg. 65 Wagenknecht). We also learn that Hester’s inner struggle finally ends and she comes to the the conclusion that she can not forgive herself for letting Chillingworth torture Dimmesdale for 7 years. We are shown this in The Scarlet Letter when it states, “ Hester could not but ask herself, whether there had not originally been a defect of truth, courage, and loyalty on her own part, in allowing the minister to be thrown into a position where so much evil was to be forboded and nothing auspicious to be hoped” ( Pg. 183 Hawthorne). The product of her guilt was she could never rest peacefully and always felt guilty for what happened with Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Another thing that contributed to her unableness to forgive herself was that she returned to her cottage where everything first began and lived her life wearing the scarlet letter as punishment to herself.
In conclusion each character of The Scarlet Letter had a different end result. Chillingworth who was unable to forgive Dimmesdale for sleeping with his wife eventually met his demise when Dimmesdale died and he no longer had anything to obsess about. However Arthur Dimmesdale did forgive Chillingworth, because of this he died with no regrets and died peacefully. The third character Pearl was also able to forgive and because of her ability to forgive Dimmesdale she was no longer a wild child and will grow up to be a mature adult. The Final Character who like Chillingworth could not forgive was Hester. She could not forgive herself for her adultery crime or the fact that she let Dimmesdale suffer the wrath of Chillingworth for so long. Each character had different reasons to be able or unable to forgive someone and each ended differently.