Scarlet Letter Essay PDF

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Scarlet Letter insight on Puritan life
-Character analysis: Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth ...

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The Devil’s Dissatisfaction Around the 16th century, a group of English protestants decided to live by their own rules based primarily on religion. Escaping religious persecution, the Puritans started new lives in Massachusetts Bay, living by disciplinary rules. What they seek is to be a “city on the hill” (which John Winthrop states) giving them the freedom to practice their beliefs in peace. Unlike today, the powers of church and state are separated but the higher members of the church rose towards the top of the social status during the time. Focusing more on the topic of sin and punishment, Puritans make sure to give harsh punishment to those who were out of line.  They believe that when a person is born, he or she is immediately a sinner which goes back to Adam and Eve; this is original sin. The severity of the punishment depends on the wrongdoings that someone commits. For example, the Salem witch trials involves the punishment of mainly a number of women who are suspected to be witches, ending up with execution by hanging as a punishment.  Those who did not hold the same religious beliefs as the Puritans such as the Quakers and the Native Americans are treated harshly, despite being holy people. During the Salem witch trials, one of the judges happens to be the grandfather of Nathaniel Hawthorne, which eventually leads to The Scarlet Letter .  Instead of having the witches under punishment and persecution in the book, a woman named Hester Prynne is the one facing public humiliation and shame for the rest of her life. Hester  is not the only one guilty of adultery; her partner along with her husband are sinners as well which leads to this question: who commits the greatest

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transgression?  It is Chillingworth who is the worst sinner of them all since he lives a life consumed by vengeance, leading to subsequent demise of Dimmesdale Being a sinner starts right at birth; however, since God is so merciful, he decides to save a few people from the burning pits of hell. Hester Prynne commits adultery, influencing the reader to immediately label her as unfaithful to her poor husband and question why she would do such a thing in the first place. Some people may say Hester Prynne is the worse sinner, but there are legitimate reasons as to why she would commit adultery in the first place. Roger Chillingworth is or was supposed to be Hester’s husband. The two are still bonded by marriage, but Chillingworth does not take on his role as husband throughout the book; instead he torments Hester. The reason why Hester fornicates with another man outside of her marriage is because of the absence of her so called husband. What kind of a husband leaves his wife for two years, expecting her to go board a ship and sail across the ocean on her own? Nathaniel  Hawthorne gives background information on this from one of the townsmen that Roger speaks to, who clearly states: “Yonder woman, Sir, you must know, was the wife of a certain learned man, English by birth, but who had long dwelt in Amsterdam, whence, some good time agone, he was minded to cross over and cast in his lot with us of the Massachusetts. To this purpose, he sent his wife before him, remaining himself to look after some necessary affairs. Marry, good Sir, in some two years, or less, that the woman has been a dweller here in Boston, no tidings have come of this learned gentleman, Master Prynne; and his young wife, look you, being left to her

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own misguidance—” (Hawthorne 59-60) If Chillingworth accompanied her on the ship instead of abandoning her, their marriage might not have been breached.  Sins can be characterized depending on the sinner’s actions, like committing sins of commission and omission. The  sin of omission is failure to something when one should have which is equally destructive as the sin of commission. Committing a sin of commission is when a person does something he or she should not have done like lying for example. Hester commits a large number of omission sins mainly involving her not revealing the identities of the significant people in her life but also the sin of commission since she refuses to name anyone.  During the public shaming at the scaffold and when she is questioned by beadle (and townspeople) their efforts are in vain since Hester refuses to tell them whom she commits adultery with.  Even as Hester’s child Pearl gets older, Hester does not reveal to her who her true father is which is another addition to her sins of omission. Having  to withhold all that knowledge without uttering a word affects Hester’s life greatly, already piling on the massive weight that was already bestowed upon her breast in the form of the scarlet A. Furthermore, Hester does atone to her sins by living her life in shame. There  is proof within this quote, accurately depicting the misery that Hester faces with each passing day: “The very law that condemned her—a giant of stern features, but with vigor to support, as well as to annihilate, in his iron arm—had held her up, through the terrible ordeal of her ignominy. But now, with this unattended walk from her prison-door, began the daily custom, and she must either sustain and carry it forward by the ordinary resources of her nature, or sink beneath it. She could no

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longer borrow from the future, to help her through the present grief. To-morrow would bring its own trial with it; so would the next day, and so would the next; each its own trial, and yet the very same that was now so unutterably grievous to be borne (Hawthorne 75-76) She is isolated from her hometown with little Pearl, dealing with the immense pain and shame of the scarlet letter which scorches her skin to leave wounds that will never fully heal. Each day is a struggle for her and there is never a time where she feels at ease.  Even if the day passes by, she would wake up to another day of anguish. Along  with living under these harsh conditions, Hester even puts her embroidering talent to good use by “making coarse garments for the poor” (Hawthorne 80). Even if Hester has sinned greatly against the Puritan society, she makes sure to repent for these sins by doing charitable things along with accepting her faults.  Through these tasks, Hester portrays the Seven Heavenly Virtues which includes kindness and diligence. Towards the beginning of The Scarlet Letter , there are several sins committed by Dimmesdale right off the bat, but as time passes, he makes amends for the sins proving that he is not the worst sinner of the three. As  Hester faces the entire town at the scaffold to be publically shamed, he stands above her acting as if he did not partake in the committing adultery as well. As a minister, Dimmesdale represents the church making a contract with God. Despite his position in society, he portrays parts of the Seven Deadly Sins such as sloth, lust, and pride. The deadly sin of lust under commission is what caused all the suffering in the beginning. Hester was a married woman while Dimmesdale was not, yet he chooses to fornicate with her leaving

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her with a child. His higher status add extra weight to the seriousness of his sins which destroys him from the inside. Breaking the contract with God, Dimmesdale commits the sin of sloth. Dimmesdale’s sin of omission for letting Hester take the blame is influenced by his fear in how the townspeople would react if they found out about his dark secret. This also shows the deadly sin of pride since clearly, he is unwilling to step down from his position joining Hester to be isolated from the town. Even  if he is exhibits all these sins, like Hester, Dimmesdale feels great remorse for what he did wrong throughout his life. Though  there is no visible scarlet letter, it burns in his heart every day, worsening when Chillingworth comes along. Without  feeling guilt, he would have been bumped down towards Chillingworth’s level of sinfulness. When  Dimmesdale whips himself or fasts for days while praying, it demonstrates the amount of guilt weighing his heart down. Furthermore,  Dimmesdale does not completely abandon Hester like Chillingworth. Yes, he does leave her alone at the scaffold, but he assists Hester by convincing the governor to let Pearl stay with her. Dimmesdale supports Hester stating this reason: “It must be even so,” resumed the minister. “For, if we deem it otherwise, do we not thereby say that the Heavenly Father, the Creator of all flesh, hath lightly recognized a deed of sin, and made of no account the distinction between unhallowed lust and holy love? This child of its father’s guilt and its mother’s shame hath come from the hand of God, to work in many ways upon her heart, who pleads so earnestly, and with such bitterness of spirit, the right to keep her. It was meant for a blessing; for the one blessing of her life! It was meant, doubtless, as the mother herself hath told us, for a retribution too; a torture, to be felt at many an unthought of

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moment; a pang, a sting, an ever-recurring agony, in the midst of a troubled joy!” (Hawthorne ) The intense shame and internal turmoil Dimmesdale feels and expresses to Hester combined with his assistance to her outweighs the greater sin that Chillingworth commits. Among the Seven Deadly Sins, Roger Chillingworth is the very embodiment of wrath. Chillingworth’s actions can also reflect on envy, lust, and greed as well. All  of these Seven Deadly Sins put together exceed that of Hester’s or Arthur’s for a number of reasons. Chillingworth immediately shows signs of lust when he displays his eagerness to see Hester continue living the rest of her life, feeling the unending burn of shamefulness from the scarlet letter. His anger is justified when Hester fornicates outside of the marriage but he commits the sin of omission for not being there with Hester, absent in the role of being her husband. Ultimately, the neglect strengthens the temptation to fornicate with another man. In  relation to that sin, Chillingworth also has sins of commission which is selfish ambition; Hester  makes it clear that she does not truly love him, but he decides to marry Hester anyway despite knowing this fact. This  will only contribute to their relationship’s downfall in the end, so Hester is not completely at fault for choosing Dimmesdale over him. Adding  on to Hester’s sin, Chillingworth makes her swear to conceal his true identity from Arthur and everyone else. He want to see Hester suffer, but his priorities are focused on ruining Dimmesdale to the point where he obsesses over it, causing him internal turmoil. In chapter nine of The Scarlet Letter , it reveals Roger’s true motives and willingness to destroy Dimmesdale. That chapter is called “The Leech” which points out the fact that Chillingworth signified the leech, feasting on

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Dimmesdale’s weaknesses and life force to make himself stronger. Hawthorne  even points out the townspeople’s suspicions of the mysterious doctor, that become more obvious with each passing day upon closer inspection: “A large number—and many of these were persons of such sober sense and practical observation, that their opinions would have been valuable, in other matters—affirmed that Roger Chillingworth’s aspect had undergone a remarkable change while he had dwelt in town, and especially since his abode with Mr. Dimmesdale. At first, his expression had been calm, meditative, scholar-like. Now, there was something ugly and evil in his face, which they had not previously noticed, and which grew still the more obvious to sight, the oftener they looked upon him” (Hawthorne 124) Roger becomes the devil due to the accumulation of spite that he holds in his hollow heart, which slowly morphs his seemingly innocent appearance into something more sinister and dark. The  ugliness of Roger’s true intent continues to spread throughout his body which makes him even more deformed than before since it reflects his inner self. It is strange how the townspeople notices these things right away, but either way, Chillingworth and Dimmesdale end up living under the same roof for seven years without much disturbance from them. Going back to the sin of wrath, obviously throughout the course of the novel, Roger is hell bent on getting his revenge which is a characteristic of wrath. He  obsesses over inflicting vengeance upon Dimmesdale and he stops at nothing to achieve this goal. Chillingworth does not use his powers as a physician restore health and stability in Dimmesdale’s life; instead, he wreaks havoc instead. Technically,

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his life depends on Dimmesdale (stressing the fact that he is a leech) solely for the purpose of punishing him for taking his wife away. Furthermore,  while Dimmesdale is portrayed as the a holy minister of part of the highest ranks in society (though he sinned) Roger is envious of this. He is also envious of Dimmesdale since he was the one that managed to capture Hester’s heart. On the other hand, she held no such feelings for him whatsoever during their marriage. Bringing in the factors of lust and greed,  he has the intense desire to take back what was his (Hester) and to make Hester and Dimmesdale suffer and well as. His everlasting greed for knowledge plays a key role among the rest of his sins. He wants to find out which man Hester chose over him so that he could uncover all his weaknesses to use against him. Even  towards the end when Dimmesdale finally dies, this accomplishment of Chillingworth’s does not do much good for him anyway. A  year after Dimmesdale’s death, he loses his will to live since his goal on wreaking revenge is gone. Not all sinners are considered to be the same; there are differences that are categorized and measured by the magnitude of the sinner’s wrongdoings. Even if people choose to sin, there are ways to repent and atone for what he or she has done.  When a person has sinned against the another, it is important to remember that living in the past mistakes will only pull the person deeper into a deep, dark abyss. Although Hester commits a serious sin worthy of public shaming for the rest of her life in Puritan Society, she embraces that sin burnt into her chest every day along with Dimmesdale. The  internal turmoil that slowly consumes Chillingworth from the inside out eventually turns him into the devil, out for vengeance. The  rest of his life held no

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meaning except to seek vengeance, which only proves that he is the worst sinner of them all.

Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter .  USA: Perma-Bound Classics, 1987....