In The Scarlet Letter the third scaffold theme develops the vital theme of embracing your true identity; Dimmesdale confesses his sin, Chillingworth realizes that his life is pointless with out someone to torture, and Hester stay’s true to her life in the past. The Election Day sermon has all of New England praising Dimmesdale, his words have moved them. Dimmesdale, however, has been hiding his sin for what seems a life time. The secretiveness has had a torturing affect on him. Dimmesdale decides to open the doors to his secret life with Hester, “He bids you look again at Hester’s scarlet letter! He tells you, that, with all its mysterious horror, it is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast, and that even this, his own red stigma,
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He also owes it to Hester and Pearl, who he was ashamed to be seen with in the public eye, to embrace his commitment to their relationship. The overarching theme of embracing your identity is seen when Chillingworth realizes that his life is pointless without someone to torture. Fuel was added to the fire when Chillingworth was torturing Dimmesdale, it brought purpose to his life. Chillingworth’s life of seeking revenge dramatically changed with Dimmesdale’s death, “all his strength and energy—all his vital and intellectual force—seemed at once to desert him; insomuch that he positively withered up, shriveled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun” (177). This passage proves that Chillingworth has been living off the pain and suffering of Dimmesdale and now that he’s dead, Chillingworth may as well be dead too. Hester also embodies the theme of embracing one’s identity. She accomplishes this by staying connected to her sin and accepting her actions, not running away from them. Hester’s life was in New England, “here had been her sin; here, her sorrow; and here was yet to be her penitence
He also owes it to Hester and Pearl, who he was ashamed to be seen with in the public eye, to embrace his commitment to their relationship. The overarching theme of embracing your identity is seen when Chillingworth realizes that his life is pointless without someone to torture. Fuel was added to the fire when Chillingworth was torturing Dimmesdale, it brought purpose to his life. Chillingworth’s life of seeking revenge dramatically changed with Dimmesdale’s death, “all his strength and energy—all his vital and intellectual force—seemed at once to desert him; insomuch that he positively withered up, shriveled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun” (177). This passage proves that Chillingworth has been living off the pain and suffering of Dimmesdale and now that he’s dead, Chillingworth may as well be dead too. Hester also embodies the theme of embracing one’s identity. She accomplishes this by staying connected to her sin and accepting her actions, not running away from them. Hester’s life was in New England, “here had been her sin; here, her sorrow; and here was yet to be her penitence