The Consequences Of Sin In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Mahatma Gandhi, a civil rights activist, once stated, “I do not seek redemption for the consequences of my sin. I seek to be redeemed from sin itself. Until I have attained that end, I shall be content to be relentless.” Gandhi, similarly to Hawthorne, believed that sin had to be penanced and redeemed in order to learn from a misdeed, and hopefully, not to be repeated. Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter, clearly integrated his opinion on sin through his writing. The two characters are seen to experience different results based on the same crime. Hester Prynne, eventually redeemed, suffered the consequences derived from the community, whom shut her out, for many years. The harsh punishment she endured made her closer to the townspeople. Out of the shame she became proud and strongly accepting of others faults, but through her willingness to accept her consequences, Hester grew to love herself; removing herself from her sin, she gained her freedom. Contrastingly, Dimmesdale, a minister of the town, who committed an identical sin to Hester's, became removed from

The contrast between Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, who both committed the same crime, is how they dealt with the consequences. Dimmesdale chose to hide his sin in order to remain a part of the community. Hester Prynne had no choice but to express her sin, and in doing that, she was excluded from the community. However, after years of penance to make up for her crime, Hester's allowance back into the community had been do to their understanding and forgiveness. The only thing Dimmesdale wanted was to be forgiven and accepted, all of which Hester Prynne experienced from the townspeople; in not revealing his sin and undertaking the consequences, Dimmesdale was lonely and bleak. Within the context of these characters, their different responses to their crime