Theme Of Shame In The Scarlet Letter

Arthur Dimmesdale was a character with plenteous authority and a vast following from the puritan people which admired him, but he lost all of the power. The sin he committed mentally and physically exhausted himself which consequently lead him body to death. Dimmesdale receives brutal punishment because Nathaniel Hawthorne wanted to use him to teach a moral lesson that sin doesn’t have to be the event that defines how to live a life. Although Dimmesdale fails to move past his sin, Hawthorne presents the reader with an offering that would have free Dimmesdale of his crime to show redemption was still possible. Dimmesdale could not move past the emotional chain of events that were a result of sin, and therefore, he could not live a life of happiness as he did before his crime.

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, a brilliant spokesperson and a devout and wise Puritan minister in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, is the lover of a woman who commits adultery, Hester Prynne. Hester, a recognizable adulteress, wears the scarlet letter and lives as an outcast. Contradicting, Reverend Dimmesdale’s sin stays hidden from the Puritan community, know only to Hester and himself. As a minister, Dimmesdale believes he should suffer from punishments the way Hester did for committing the same crime, which leads him to fall into a terrible mental and physical state.

The hardships these characters endure give them a new insight into their own

These themes can be seen throughout the story as Mr. Hooper, the main character as a Reverend, punishes himself over a sin that is never revealed. He punishes himself to the utmost ability by blocking himself from the rest of the world, which in turn causes him to lose his social status and soon become a dark and mysterious man. Although society often frowns upon unexplained or uncommon beliefs, one should still be bound to them even if there are those who greatly oppose it, like Reverend Hooper had done in “The Minister’s Black Veil”. Even though Mr. Hooper is in a healthy relationship with his wife, he says, “Know, then this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes, and as with strangers, so with my familiar friends.

Dorian however caught up in his vanity, refuses to confess any of his sins. Even after committing the most heinous of acts in murder, Dorian resorts to opium addiction to cure his sole. He wishes to erase the act from his memory rather

Since Dimmesdale feels guilty for having relations with Hester and then not claiming Pearl as his own child, he physically tortures himself. Notably, he carves the letter A on his chest. Since the Puritan Society would outcast him for this mistake, he does not wear the letter on his clothing like Hester. Also, he does not affiliate himself in Public with Pearl. This upsets Pearl because she will never be able to have a father unless Dimmesdale puts the A on his chest and shows the town that Pearl is his

The novel scarlet letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He wanted to expose the immorality that was committed by two parents of a daughter called Pearl. Nathaniel's novel explores the hypocrisy in puritan societies. The novel tells a story of Hester Prynne and her daughter. Hester having committed adultery and tries all what she can so as to ensure that she live of repentance and dignity.

Sin is a prevalent theme throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. The main character, Hester Pryne’s sin of adultery instigates the entire novel. The novel follows Hester’s journey in dealing with her sin in a strict Puritan town. Nathaniel Hawthorne provides an example of how someone’s sin can affect many individuals.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne explores recurring themes of suffering surrounding the main characters, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester and Dimmesdale both commit adultery with each other, and, as a result of this, both experience gruesome and occasionally unbearable forms of suffering. Though they undergo different forms of pain, both of their experiences are highly reliant on how the Puritan society treats them. Hester 's pain stems from the shame and estrangement she receives from the community, while Dimmesdale’s is due to the reverence with which the community regards him. Although, in spite of the fact that both Hester and Dimmesdale receive harsh penalty for their sin, by the end of the book, Hawthorne shows how their suffering is, in fact, the key to their salvation.

Pick a Punishment In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale are plagued by “The Grass is Greener” Syndrome. Hester must bear her shame publicly while Dimmesdale is stricken silent of his misdoings. Because Hester is forced into penance for her adultery, she is afforded the opportunity to eventually work through her shortcomings and the emotions associated with her shame and guilt. Dimmesdale has not had such a luxury and becomes the sufferer of much anguish while thinking that his anguish would disappear if only he could confess.

The minister and Hester both fail to let the rest of the colony know that it was the two together who brought a wicked sin into their Puritan lifestyle. Instead of being honest with himself and everyone around, Dimmesdale and Hester cover up their secret until it is physically impossible for him to resist confessing against the wish of his lover. Living a lifestyle of purity and honesty are both very important throughout Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne places heavy emphasis on the fact that living a life away from honesty and purity is hard on not only the body, but also the soul, when one is not honest with the mistakes they have made.

Because of her crime against the Puritan society, Hester bears a scarlet “A” upon her bosom to eternally mark her with shame and agony. Hawthorne utilizes the scarlet letter as a sign of shame by stating, “In all the seven bygone years, Hester Prynne had never before been false to the symbol on her bosom. It may be that it was the talisman of a stern and severe, but yet a guardian spirit...” (149). The letter “A” is a sign of shame and allows all to identify as a evildoer; additionally, it identifies her acts of adultery and labels her as an outcast, burdening her conscience with loneliness and misery.

Hawthorne uses many forms of rhetoric to portray his characters, but relies heavily on pathos in the instance of Hester Prynne. She’s a member of an inherently misogynistic society, and because she’s a woman, her every act is scrutinized. As punishment for her act of adultery, Hester is ordered to adorn her chest with a permanent scarlet letter. Although the audience is well aware of the atrocity of the sin she’s committed, Hawthorne’s writing sparks a feeling of empathy within the reader. Throughout the novel, the reader is exposed to several clear uses of pathos.