Who Is The Prisoner's Dilemma In The Scarlet Letter

Throughout the first nineteen Chapters of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes The Prisoner’s Dilemma within Hester Prynne and Roger Chillingworth’s relationship. Hawthorne avers his knowledge of the dilemma through the chapters titled “The Interview” (Ch 4), as well as “Hester and the Physician” (Ch 14). Both of these chapters regard the relationship between Hester and Roger. The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a hypothetical idea encompassing four matrix scenarios. In each scenario two prisoners have committed a crime together, yet whether they choose to confess or remain silent determines each other's punishment. If prisoner A and B both confess, they are each sentenced to five years in prison. If they both remain silent, each of them is given 1 year in prison. However, if one of the prisoners were to confess, while the other remains silent, the one who confesses does not have to serve any time in prison and the one who remains silent receives a sentence of twenty years in prison. In The Scarlet Letter, the crime Hester and Roger were both involved in was infidelity. Hester had committed adultery, yet Roger had abandoned Hester. Hawthorne uses principles that align and contradict with The Prisoner’s Dilemma to …show more content…
Hester is considered an outcast in the Puritan Community because of the scarlet letter on her breast (Ch 2, Pg 47), yet if the community is made aware of her extant husband, her punishment will be exacerbated. She would then be executed. However, if Roger confesses before attaining the appellation “Roger Chillingworth”, he will receive no punishment at all because the community doesn’t have any standard to hold him to (Ch 3, Pg 53). Hawthorne uses this potential situation to express how Roger Chillingworth has manipulated Hester into remaining