Scarlet Letter Theme In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne the main characters Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale both committed the same sin, adultery. Hester became pregnant and was publicly shamed; however, none of the Puritans of Boston were the wiser about Dimmesdale’s sin. He alone lived with the constant knowledge of his sin. Whereas, Hester had everyone to share it with. Sin must be brought to light in order to be redeemed. Dimmesdale received many opportunities to confess his sins. At the scaffold, at the very time of Hester’s most public humiliation, he went as far as to ask Hester who she slept with (Hawthorne 70). After a few more opportunities to reveal himself, he began to fall ill. This was due to the shame that was
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She was shamed by the preacher’s of her own religion and society (Hawthorne 169). Slowly but surely the people of the town, through regular exposure, became all together used to Hester’s sin. The question was even raise, “Is Hester Prynne the less miserable, think you, for that scarlet letter on her breast?” (139). This shows that by having her sin brought to light was beginning to be redeemed. She began to help the poor and live a sinless life, “Then, also, the blameless purity of her life during all these years in which she had been set apart to infamy, was reckoned largely in her favor … it could only be a genuine regard for virtue that had brought back the poor wanderer to its paths” (166-167). Having her sin brought to light set her on the course to it’s redemption.
In the final chapter of the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals to the reader a moral of Dimmesdale’s situation, “Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred” (Hawthorne 270). This moral was realized when Dimmesdale went onto the scaffold with Hester their daughter Pearl in the final chapters. He used his last breathes to finally kiss his daughter and to describe how his public shame has helped him with his sin (267). He died finally being redeemed after a life of keeping his sin in the dark, when he finally brought it to the
She was shamed by the preacher’s of her own religion and society (Hawthorne 169). Slowly but surely the people of the town, through regular exposure, became all together used to Hester’s sin. The question was even raise, “Is Hester Prynne the less miserable, think you, for that scarlet letter on her breast?” (139). This shows that by having her sin brought to light was beginning to be redeemed. She began to help the poor and live a sinless life, “Then, also, the blameless purity of her life during all these years in which she had been set apart to infamy, was reckoned largely in her favor … it could only be a genuine regard for virtue that had brought back the poor wanderer to its paths” (166-167). Having her sin brought to light set her on the course to it’s redemption.
In the final chapter of the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals to the reader a moral of Dimmesdale’s situation, “Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred” (Hawthorne 270). This moral was realized when Dimmesdale went onto the scaffold with Hester their daughter Pearl in the final chapters. He used his last breathes to finally kiss his daughter and to describe how his public shame has helped him with his sin (267). He died finally being redeemed after a life of keeping his sin in the dark, when he finally brought it to the