The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is about an adulterer named Hester Prynne, who, through her actions is being forced to be publicly humiliated everyday through the wearing of the Scarlet Letter (an embroidered red letter) that depicts an ”A”. In addition, Hester also is forced to stand upon a scaffold for hours on end, while everyone from her town watches and ridicules her for being a sinner. Subsequently, she refuses to give her spouses’ name in fear of getting him in trouble; however later in the book it is revealed to be the not-so-innocent Reverend Dimmesdale (who is always considered to be a pure soul). Similarly, Calvin’s idea of perseverance of the saints can relate to Dimmesdale’s not-so-innocent soul in that Dimmesdale also battled with his own guilt until it eventually destroyed him, and that the guilt killed him, but also transformed him.

Throughout the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne develops Reverend Dimmesdale into a character of meaning, at first Dimmesdale starts as a character who is morally degenerate but then eventually starts to become someone that is full of anguish, desperately seeking repentance for his sin. Additionally, Hawthorne portrays Dimmesdale as a pure soul without pureness, in that he is supposed to have a pure soul since he is a Reverend, but does not through his careless sinning. Unnoticeabley, Dimmesdale goes through a series of personal struggles that ultimately shape into his true morality, just as Hester Prynne goes through her suffering of public guilt, which in turn shapes her true morality. Although Dimmesdale does not confess to his sin, he still goes through as much hardship as his adulteress through the unbearable guilt he must bear. The scaffold scenes are far most one of the best scenes to depict the personal struggles that each main character goes through. From each scaffold scene to the next, there are distinct physical or emotional changes between Dimmesdale, as he fights his own...