In Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne must wear a scarlet A to mark her shame. Her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains unidentified and is wracked with guilt, while her husband, Roger Chillingworth, seeks revenge.
Hester Prynne is forced to suffer under the staring of the townspeople because of the scarlet letter that she wears upon her breast. Hester committed a sin, that in those times, were unforgivable and her punishment was to be known for what she did and to be humiliated. To elaborate, “The Scarlet Letter” tells the severity of public humiliation:
“But the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer—so that both men and women who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time—was that …show more content…
The Reverend health was not in the greatest condition as he was aging, so Roger Chillingworth sought an opportunity to get revenge by becoming his physician and moving in with him to check up on his health. For seven years he prolonged the minister’s miserable life, and never missed a chance to stab at Dimondale’s internal wound, his secret pain. Driven mad by his suffering, Dimmesdale made his last appeal both to the public and to God as he stood upon that scaffold of shame, hand and hand with Hester and his little Pearl. It was there that he died on that fateful day. It was only then that Roger Chillingworth’s revenge was complete. One realizes that justice, no matter how just and honorable the original intent, can be taken too far. Despite the fact that what Hester and Dimmesdale did was, admittedly, wrong, the suffering they endured was unfair - Hester with her isolation and embarrassment, and Dimmesdale with his silent agony. Every day he was forced to torment himself with his unvoiced shame. Chillingworth’s revenge only added to this pain, and allowed one to realize that a soul can only undergo so much misery
Hester Prynne is forced to suffer under the staring of the townspeople because of the scarlet letter that she wears upon her breast. Hester committed a sin, that in those times, were unforgivable and her punishment was to be known for what she did and to be humiliated. To elaborate, “The Scarlet Letter” tells the severity of public humiliation:
“But the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer—so that both men and women who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time—was that …show more content…
The Reverend health was not in the greatest condition as he was aging, so Roger Chillingworth sought an opportunity to get revenge by becoming his physician and moving in with him to check up on his health. For seven years he prolonged the minister’s miserable life, and never missed a chance to stab at Dimondale’s internal wound, his secret pain. Driven mad by his suffering, Dimmesdale made his last appeal both to the public and to God as he stood upon that scaffold of shame, hand and hand with Hester and his little Pearl. It was there that he died on that fateful day. It was only then that Roger Chillingworth’s revenge was complete. One realizes that justice, no matter how just and honorable the original intent, can be taken too far. Despite the fact that what Hester and Dimmesdale did was, admittedly, wrong, the suffering they endured was unfair - Hester with her isolation and embarrassment, and Dimmesdale with his silent agony. Every day he was forced to torment himself with his unvoiced shame. Chillingworth’s revenge only added to this pain, and allowed one to realize that a soul can only undergo so much misery