What Is The Nature Of Sin In The Scarlet Letter

In his romantic novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the nature of sin and it’s effects on those who commit it. Although at the beginning of the book, it is made known that the main sin that the story revolves around is adultery, Hawthorne explains the true sins of each of the characters, which slightly disagree with the Puritan’s views on sin. During the time period when the story takes place, Puritans believed that all sin is equally evil and should be punished, however Hawthorne makes it clear that he believes there are different levels and intentions behind those wrongdoings. Not only does Hawthorne explain the sins of Chillingworth, Dimmasdale, and Hester against themselves, others, and both the natural and human law, …show more content…
After Hester’s conversation with Chillingworth at the beach, when she asked him to leave Dimmasdale alone, she was astonished at “how she could ever have been wrought upon to marry him! She deemed it her crime most to be repented of, that she had ever endured, and reciprocated, the lukewarm grasp of his hand, and had suffered the smile of her lips and eyes to mingle and melt into his own.” Despite the fact that she once agreed to marry the old man and even looked back on that day as a joyful one, she soon realized that she was not in love with him and that she didn’t know true love until she met Arthur. Even though this was essentially an act that caused Hester to be untrue to herself, she also felt as if she sinned against nature which wanted her and Dimmasdale to be together. When she married Chillimgworth, she gave up her future possibilities of finding true love as Puritans looked down upon divorce and believed it should only happen in case of the death of a spouse or desertion by a non-believing spouse. She was aggravated and angry with herself for passing up her chances at a happy life with Dimmasdale where they could have gotten married and had a public relationship. Substantially, Hester was convinced that it was her fault that her relationship with Arthur was forbidden by the society she lived in, caused by her previous marriage to Chillingworth. If she had stayed true to her feelings and not married the doctor, the sin between her and Dimmasdale would no longer be considered a sin and the people around her would not have shunned her. Hester also showed the sin of un-trueness towards others. When she kept the