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Guilt Vs. Judgment In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

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Guilt vs. Judgment in The Scarlet Letter In The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is judged by everyone in 17-century Boston, where everyone knows the crime that she has committed with her paramour Arthur Dimmesdale, who also is the town's Reverend. The townspeople are very harsh in their personal opinions of Hester. Some even go as far as to say that she should be branded by “the flesh of her forehead.” (Hawthorne 59) Throughout this paper you will see that guilt and judgment are not resolved without reoccurring conflict. Whether it be internal conflict or external conflict. The Puritan use of ignominy and blame was meant to initiate guilt in a person's mind. When you would commit a crime the punishment was usually equally yoked between man and woman. Marvelous it may be to see and consider how some kind of wickedness did grow and break forth here, in a land where the same was so much witnessed against and so narrowly looked unto, and severely punished when it was known, as in no place more, or so much, that I have known or …show more content…

The townspeople want justice, even if they have to overlook the truth. Some may see Hester Prynne as a heterodox or maybe even petulant, but still many people continue to judge her. The townspeople show asperity toward Hester Prynne and also little pearl. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is a prime example of self-judgment. “...I witheld myself from doing seven years ago, come hither now, and twine thy strength about me!...Come, Hester, come! Support me up yonder scaffold! [sic]” (Hawthorne 235-236) Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, finally, after seven years, is able to tell the truth. His punishment, unlike Hester Prynne's, is not cruel or unusual at all. Yes, Dimmesdale tortured himself for seven years because he did not want to step up and face his true punishment and whom also was the town

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