Forgiveness In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Chillingworth’s gravitation towards evil stimulates his lost of humanity, ultimately forcing his fate to become dependent on Dimmesdale’s public confession. When he arrives in the Puritan society in Boston, Chillingworth encounters his wife, Hester, enduring the consequences of public humiliation for an adulterous crime. Due to Hester’s defiant nature and her desire to conceal her partner’s name, Chillingworth was compelled to privately seek the identity of Hester’s partner. During his mission, Chillingworth earns the trust of Reverend Dimmesdale, whom he later identifies as Hester’s partner after discovering marks on the clergyman’s chest that closely resembles the shameful scarlet letter that Hester bears as punishment. Upon his discovery,

I think that Hawthrone’s account of the Puritan’s harsh religious ways in his book, The Scarlet Letter, was not just an observation but a critique of their beliefs. The Scarlet Letter, in a New England town, points outs many ways where woman are treated in the Puritan society and the way their earthly sins were extremely punished. In Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” the narrator has a negative attitude toward Puritan America beacuse of the diction chosen to describe Hester’s torment on top of the Scaffold, the way the towns people treat Pearl, and the way they treat Hester. In the Scarlet Letter the narrator talks about Adultry in a negative way because of the symbolism used in the scaffold. Hawthorne tone he uses reveales what his true feelings

Sin in The Scarlet Letter “Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.” Saint Catherine of Siena once said. Silence through fear is something that Nathaniel Hawthorne explores in his works, especially the scarlet letter where he shows the contrast of keeping a sin inside, and wearing your sin on your sleeve, “proclaim the truth.” Coping with sin is something that all humans must do because of our inherent flaws; in Hawthorne’s stories he shows through several characters, the ways to cope with sin. “Young Goodman Brown”, another one of Hawthorne's more famous works also explores sin. The main character learns that all people sin and are naturally evil. He refuses to accept this and chooses to not cope with sin at all because he doesn't want to believe that it's there.

Evolution is defined as a “process of change” and sin leads to changes in a person’s life. Hester Prynne was guilty of adultery. She committed the sin with Arthur Dimmesdale. In addition, Hester wears a scarlet letter in the form of an A on her dress as a sign of shame, but Dimmesdale has a burnt A on his chest, that is not visible to the public. Although they bear some minor similarities, the differences between Hester’s and Dimmesdale’s responses to their guilt are pronounced.

The ability for a person to transcend from stereotypes and labels comes from the support from others. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne a respected woman and seamstress hiding in the shadows of society, is soon throw in the spot light when she is publically convicted as an adulterer. This crime comes with a loaded punishment; she is sentenced to a life of shame where she must a wear a scarlet “A” on her chest, in order to publically humiliate her and provide an example of what not to grow up to be. The story begins by introducing Hester and her beloved daughter Pearl, and how they cope with the new labels of an adulterer and a daughter of an illegitimate marriage. Overtime, Hester rises above this life of misery she has to deal with, and learns to cope with it by showing pride into who she really is and her ability to withstand this scrutiny of the judgmental peering eyes of society.

Nathaniel Hawthorne writes The Scarlet Letter and demonstrates the controversial topic through the scarlet letter “A”, which is owned by Hester Prynne. The scarlet letter represents sin, adultery, righteousness, and able throughout the story. Besides the major theme, there is the significance of Mother Nature expresses the essential relationships between main characters, the contrast to the Puritan society, and changes in several different situations. It makes the society lightened and brought honesty back. Hester has imprisoned, and there is the rosebush on the outside of prison-door.

Even if one make a regret able mistake, should that person be shamed for a past human error? Scarlett Letter takes place in Salem Massachusetts around the time frame where if something seemed strange to others you were accused of being a witch by all the Puritans and Quakers. If a person was accused of such accusations they were usually hung or stoned. Miss Hester Prynne’s is an independent mother who is doing all she can to make sure she keeps her child since it her against the world. In Nathaniel Hawthorne 's book, “The Scarlett Letter” the story ranges from compassion to forgiveness with Little Pearl as the symbol of savior in Miss Hester Prynne’s life.

He gives Hester Prynne as a positive example to follow and Arthur Dimmesdale as a negative example to avoid. Hester after her punishment took several actions in attempts for penance, including bestowing “all her superfluous means in charity” (Hawthorne 108) and wearing the constant indicator of her sin at all times: “the scarlet letter, which it was her doom to wear” (Hawthorne 107), among other actions. By these actions, she recognizes and accepts her sin while showing remorse and charity. Hawthorne extends this further with the use of Pearl Prynne, an embodiment of her mother’s sin herself. In the forest, when Hester, who had recently “undid the clasp that fastened the scarlet letter, and ... threw it to a distance among the withered leaves” (Hawthorne 219), summons Pearl, Pearl subsequently refuses to come until Hester “[takes] up the scarlet letter, and [fastenes] it again into her bosom” (Hawthorne 227).

Characters were portrayed as what society wanted them to be, not who they really were, and they have caused themselves pain because of that. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism, to show how guilt can destroy someone. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale has caused himself pain mentally and physically. “His brain often reeled and visions seemed to flit before him." (Hawthorne 100).

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet  Letter, Hawthorne illustrates the importance of identity in Puritan society. Hawthorne’s use of symbols, metaphors, and other kinds of figurative language allow the reader to feel sympathetic towards the main characters, especially Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne is introduced as a sinner, the most disgusting thing a person could be in Puritan world, and as a result, Hester is forced to wear the scarlet ‘A’. The ‘A’  was originated to stand for adultery, but as time went on Hester realized that the ‘A’ stood for something positive instead of something negative. Hester changed the definition of the letter from adultery to able and angel because that is how she saw herself as.