Shame In The Scarlet Letter

Shame for you Sins In The Scarlet Letter the main themes of the story are sin, guilt, and shame. Shame has a way of punishing oneself. Shame may be an extreme form of punishment, but in the book it worked, and it had a lasting effect on the characters. In The Scarlet Letter the characters of Hester and Dimmesdale show that shame as a form of punishment is good for the individual and the people around them. In our society today, many things such as racism, slavery, and sexism that were once accepted are not acceptable anymore. Another one of those things is forms of punishments for criminals and or sinners. Of course, cruel and unusual punishments like hangings, beatings, flogging, or any form of physical punishment are practices that have been stopped long ago, …show more content…
Arthur Dimmesdale is another great example of shame as punishment. The main difference between Hester and Arthur is that her shame was public, and Arthurs was not public shame. It is arguable whether Hester's or Arthurs shame was worse, but it is not arguable that they both have an overall positive effect on the two. Arthur made himself physically sick because of the secret he and Hester had been hiding all of these years. He did not want to be shamed by all of the community, but knew that all of the shame he was feeling for this sin was actually killing him (Hawthorne). He waited so long to tell of his sin that when the truth came out Roger Chillingworth already knew about it. The shame that Arthur Dimmesdale felt was so great that he wanted to run away with Hester and Pearl and leave their old life of shame and guilt behind. It is clear in The Scarlet Letter that Dimmesdale and Hester did not want to sin again because of the shame that inflicted them (Hawthorne). Just like them the son whose mother made him stand outside of the school with a sign saying he stole made him feel the shame of his sin and not want to do it