The Scarlet Letter: Effects of Guilt and Sin
The underlying and most prominent theme throughout The Scarlet Letter is the theme of guilt and sin. While the main characters in this novel, Hester Prynne and the Reverend Dimmesdale, are connected through their guilt and sin, their reactions to it, and their handling of it, are entirely different. The effects of guilt and sin on these characters, the very thread that binds them, determine their character’s ultimate growth and/or demise. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester embraces her sin and forms her identity while wearing the scarlet letter on the outside. Conversely, Dimmesdale denies his sin and imprisons his identity, like the mark he conceals on his chest, on the inside. Hawthorne
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Hester has been sentenced to prison as a result of her transgression. Upon emerging from the prison door, Hester carries the product of her sin, her baby daughter Pearl, in her arms on her way to the marketplace, “the place appointed for her punishment” (pg. 83). It is here that she is to endure the ridicule and mockery of the community, with the scarlet letter “A” (symbolizing her adultery), sewn into her dress. The rude market-place of the Puritan, settlement, with all the townspeople assembled, and levelling their stern regards at Hester Prynne—yes, at herself—who stood on the scaffold of the pillory, an infant on her arm, and the letter A, in scarlet, fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom. (pg. …show more content…
Dimmesdale, a devout man, is held in the highest of regard within their Puritan community. He is a learned man, schooled in university in England. “His eloquence and religious fervour had already given the earnest of high eminence in his profession” (pg. 100). His position in the church, and his sermons, held sway over his flock, affecting them “like tile speech of an angel” (pg. 101). Yet Dimmesdale, this religious man of character and stature, is unable to admit to his sin and ultimately turns away from it. ‘Good Master Dimmesdale,’ Governor Bellingham declared, ‘the responsibility of this woman’s soul lies greatly with you. It behoves you; therefore, to exhort her to repentance and to confession, as a proof and consequence thereof ‘(pg. 100). Yet while knowing her soul’s fate lies in his hands, when Hester refuses to name him as the father, Dimmesdale, hand clutching his heart, simply murmurs ‘she will not speak’ and draws back “with a long respiration” (pg. 104). While imploring Hester to reveal the father’s child, Dimmesdale exclaims “though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so than to hide a guilty heart through life” (pg.102). So while again he nervously beseeches Hester to reveal the father’s name, when she refuses, he remains silent. Dimmesdale denies his responsibility and sin, and
Hawthorne proves through Dimmesdale that no matter where one stands in society, a life of lies and isolation from the truth would surely lead to suffering. In the book, Dimmesdale is referred to in society as “... a young clergyman who had come from one of the great English Universities,” (48) a highly respected figure in the community that Hester lives in who manifests magnificent qualities, but who, however, lacks the most essential quality: happiness. Consequently, on the outside Dimmesdale is shown to be a highly respected and content man. Meanwhile, on the inside, the nature of his sin haunts him as he chooses to isolate the truth he holds.
Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a multitude of imagery and symbolism to serve as metaphors for different themes in his novel The Scarlet Letter. The theme sin versus guilt, appears often throughout the novel. It is often accompanied by the symbol of the scarlet letter, serving as a constant reminder of the guilt each of the main characters carry, as a result of the sins they have committed. Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale each carry the burden of living a tainted life, being that they have all committed a sin. Hester and Dimmesdale both committed the ultimate sin of adultery.
She receives three punishments from the townspeople, who claim they will free her from her sin. The community orders Hester to go to jail, wear a scarlet letter on her chest, and stand on the town scaffold for hours. Hester wears her scarlet letter proudly on her chest, and endures much suffering because of her public ridicule. Hester is “kept by no restrictive clause of her condemnation within the limits of the Puritan settlement” after she was released from prison, but she chooses to stay (Hawthorne 71). Later, Hester’s child, Pearl, symbolizes the Puritan view of Hester.
In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the illustration of guilt as portrayed as a feeling of responsibility or remorse for a wrong doing. In the novel, it exemplifies different types of guilt, such as guilt being cause by physical activity, someone doing wrong to God or religion, and a situation of something having intentions on doing harm to someone. For example, Dimmesdale commits a sinful act of adultery with Hester, who later leaves Hester and Pearl to suffer alone while he remains known as a hero in his village. By Dimmesdale not confessing his guilt and internalizing it for a long period of time, he ultimately ends up impairing his life for not confessing and admitting his deadly sin. Guilt has three attributes as to how it can
Dimmesdale attempts to inform his congregation of his terrible sin: “He had told his hearers that he was altogether vile, a viler companion of the vilest, the worst of sinners, an abomination, a thing of unimaginable iniquity... They [his congregation] heard it all, and did but reverence him the more” (114). Dimmesdale truly reveals the fact of his unholiness, but fails to reference any details to his congregation. They paint him in an even holier light, and understand that only a true saint like Dimmesdale can call himself unholy in this way. However, Dimmesdale’s conscience is wrecked, because he is unable to reveal his sin, despite his multiple public attempts, and his anguish lingers.
Hawthorne emphasizes darkness to portray the character of Dimmesdale, who suffers from his guilt internally. Out of self-conviction and guilt, the reverend decides to repent his sin on the scaffold. The passage describes
The aspects of physical suffering as a result of guilt is an essential part of Hawthorne’s plot. Due to his sin, Dimmesdale experiences a grim fate. When upon the scaffold with Hester and Pearl, he “tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed!
For example, Dimmesdale’s actions show that he has something to hide: “He keeps vigils, likewise, night after night” (Hawthorne 127). Dimmesdale fears if his furtive sin becomes exposed, that his reputation in the community would vanish as well. Fear floods Dimmesdale’s brain at the thought of losing the communities support. He pities himself for risking his reputation: “Whose great heart would have pitied and forgiven . . .” (Hawthorne 127).
While Hester has a prominent “letter of infamy wrought into… [the] garment”, Dimmesdale “bears…it on his heart” (Hawthorne 19). As Dimmesdale hides his guilt and shame to the point of mental depreciation, Hester wears her sin on her breast and weaves her guilt into her identity. The minister’s buried shame within his soul acts as “black weeds…sprung up out of a buried heart” and begins to destroy his physical body (Hawthorne 53). He tortures himself through starving, whippings, and prolonged vigils. Ultimately, Dimmesdale’s mental and spiritual health’s degradation consequently allowed for “its appropriate manifestation in… [the] bodily frame”, proving the body to have a direct link to the mind.
Furthermore, Dimmesdale had assisted Hester Prynne with the Adultery signed on her chest because he just won't confess. Nathaniel Hawthorne says,
Dimmesdale is the town's minister, as well as Pearl’s father. Because of his sexual relations with Hester, Dimmesdale lives his life in guilt causing him pain. Doing this dims his life by lying to everyone and not owning up to his sin. Hawthorne explains, “...when poor Mr. Dimmesdale was thinking of his grave, he questioned himself whether the grass would ever grow on it because an accursed thing must there be buried” (Hawthorne 130). This shows that Dimmesdale’s guilt is so powerful that it is affecting his mental health.
Which is more important, to admit one’s sins to the public or keep one’s faults to oneself? In this novel, it is better to admit to one's errors because it takes a lesser toll on one’s physical, mental, and spiritual state. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Dimmesdale, the clergyman, suffers the most pain because he hides his sin from the rest of the world. Dimmesdale shows physical signs of pain due to his inward suffering and guilt. As Hester pressures Dimmesdale to let her keep Pearl, Hester describes Dimmesdale’s appearance as, “careworn and emaciated” and “his large dark eyes had a world of pain in their troubled and melancholy depth”(133-134).
By putting his hand on his chest he is reminded of his cowardice for letting Hester take the full blame of infidelity. During the years Dimmesdale becomes tormented by the dichotomy between what he is and what people believe him to be. His parishioners are "hungry for the truth" and listen to his words as if "a tongue of Pentecost were speaking!". Even though the people listen to him and believe everything he says he still lacks the courage to tell them his sin. He bears his shame alone.
In the novel, Hester Prynne’s sin is the most obvious as she has committed adultery and as a result gives birth to a child named Pearl. Her adulterous act is extremely frowned upon in the New England Puritan society and she is forced to be publicly recognized and humiliated and decides to brand a red “A” on her
Hester Prynne is punished in front of the whole Puritan community, with her daughter Pearl. Together Hester holds baby Pearl in her arms while being publicly ridiculed on a scaffold in the center of the town. To escape the constant mockery from the society, she can easily leave and move to a place where no one knows her sin, and where she would be free to live without punishment. Hester knows she has done wrong though, so she decides to stay where her sin takes place and where her punishment is established. Hester believes “The torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul and work our another purity than that which she had lost.”