The Scarlet Letter Analysis
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter has many themes that resonate throughout the book, but the theme that resonates the most is sin. Analyzing sin as a major theme, you can see who sin has affected in The Scarlet Letter and see how each character has developed through sin. Sin consumes everyone, but only the people who do something bad are the ones that get shamed. Which is what happened to Hester. Yes we all know that Hester did a bad thing, but everyone has done something that is bad. The Puritans believed that every person is born a sinner. The Puritans are supposed to be this embodiment of the perfect civilization. That is why they watched over themselves and their fellow community member. Most sins, like adultery, were punishable by death. The …show more content…
From the beginning of this book, he is just an old man that is out for revenge on Dimmesdale. After he figures out that Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl, he poses as a doctor. Since he is a doctor, the puritans think he can help Dimmesdale out with his sickness. Chillingworth has other plans though. Since Chillingworth moves in with Dimmesdale, his plan is to cause as much pain onto Dimmesdale as possible. Chillingworth makes Dimmesdale’s life a living hell. “Then why not reveal them here?” asked Roger Chillingworth, glancing quietly aside at the minister. “Why should not the guilty ones sooner avail themselves of this unutterable solace?” (Hawthorne). Chillingworth asked Dimmesdale these kinds of questions to try to make him feel guilty. He wanted to know if his hunch was right. This eventually made Dimmesdale hate himself even more for hiding the truth. Chillingworth not only did this to Dimmesdale, but he made Hester keep his real identity a secret. This is what led him to do these things to Dimmesdale. If Dimmesdale would have known from the beginning then he wouldn’t have wanted the doctor’s
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter has many themes that resonate throughout the book, but the theme that resonates the most is sin. Analyzing sin as a major theme, you can see who sin has affected in The Scarlet Letter and see how each character has developed through sin. Sin consumes everyone, but only the people who do something bad are the ones that get shamed. Which is what happened to Hester. Yes we all know that Hester did a bad thing, but everyone has done something that is bad. The Puritans believed that every person is born a sinner. The Puritans are supposed to be this embodiment of the perfect civilization. That is why they watched over themselves and their fellow community member. Most sins, like adultery, were punishable by death. The …show more content…
From the beginning of this book, he is just an old man that is out for revenge on Dimmesdale. After he figures out that Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl, he poses as a doctor. Since he is a doctor, the puritans think he can help Dimmesdale out with his sickness. Chillingworth has other plans though. Since Chillingworth moves in with Dimmesdale, his plan is to cause as much pain onto Dimmesdale as possible. Chillingworth makes Dimmesdale’s life a living hell. “Then why not reveal them here?” asked Roger Chillingworth, glancing quietly aside at the minister. “Why should not the guilty ones sooner avail themselves of this unutterable solace?” (Hawthorne). Chillingworth asked Dimmesdale these kinds of questions to try to make him feel guilty. He wanted to know if his hunch was right. This eventually made Dimmesdale hate himself even more for hiding the truth. Chillingworth not only did this to Dimmesdale, but he made Hester keep his real identity a secret. This is what led him to do these things to Dimmesdale. If Dimmesdale would have known from the beginning then he wouldn’t have wanted the doctor’s