Both the Scarlet Letter and The Crucible are based off of the same Puritan livelihood where adultery is a mortal sin. The main character in The Crucible, John Proctor, and the main character in The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, both share common paths that they take in life. Starting with sharing the same guilt of adultery in the beginning, keeping their secrets for the ones they love to keep them safe in the middle and then completely letting go of all guilt of their sins in the end. Their sins completely shaped their lifestyles and their lifestyles are similar because of their mistakes. In the beginning of the play and the novel, Hester Prynne and John Proctor both committed this sin with a person they could not mention. The
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In The Scarlet Letter, Hester gets tired of holding the burden and becoming a dreary person. She wants to love Dimmesdale not in the shadows anymore. Dimmesdale and Hester decide that they want to move away together with Pearl, their daughter, who also takes off the letter and becomes the beautiful person she was before. Although Dimmesdale dies from exhaustion, together has a couple they show everyone publically that they love each other and that he 's Pearl’s father. She permanently lets go of what she had been holding onto for so long. John Proctor also lets go of his sin while he admits to adultery to save his wife. The some important men of the town that dealt with the executions, Danforth and Parris, try to make Proctor sign his name on paper to prove his sins to the town. John refuses to do this because he does not want them to take both his life and his name. He had come to terms and accepted that God forgave him and saw that he was sorry for committing the mortal sin, adultery. By not signing his name, John knew that execution would await him. He was okay with this because he knew he was going to be with God. Therefore, both main characters come to terms with their mistakes, accepted them and became free. Also in Act 4 of The Crucible, John says, "Damn the village! I confess to God, and God has seen my name on this! It is enough!"(239), showing them he knew that he does not have to show the whole town to be forgiven by God. At the end of the novel, The Scarlet Letter, the author states, "At the final hour, when she was so soon to fling aside the burning letter, it had strangely become the center of more remark and excitement, and was thus made to sear her breast more painfully than at any time since the first day she put it on."(225), showing us that Hester was finally getting rid of this symbol that previously brought such sadness to her life.
In The Scarlet Letter, Hester gets tired of holding the burden and becoming a dreary person. She wants to love Dimmesdale not in the shadows anymore. Dimmesdale and Hester decide that they want to move away together with Pearl, their daughter, who also takes off the letter and becomes the beautiful person she was before. Although Dimmesdale dies from exhaustion, together has a couple they show everyone publically that they love each other and that he 's Pearl’s father. She permanently lets go of what she had been holding onto for so long. John Proctor also lets go of his sin while he admits to adultery to save his wife. The some important men of the town that dealt with the executions, Danforth and Parris, try to make Proctor sign his name on paper to prove his sins to the town. John refuses to do this because he does not want them to take both his life and his name. He had come to terms and accepted that God forgave him and saw that he was sorry for committing the mortal sin, adultery. By not signing his name, John knew that execution would await him. He was okay with this because he knew he was going to be with God. Therefore, both main characters come to terms with their mistakes, accepted them and became free. Also in Act 4 of The Crucible, John says, "Damn the village! I confess to God, and God has seen my name on this! It is enough!"(239), showing them he knew that he does not have to show the whole town to be forgiven by God. At the end of the novel, The Scarlet Letter, the author states, "At the final hour, when she was so soon to fling aside the burning letter, it had strangely become the center of more remark and excitement, and was thus made to sear her breast more painfully than at any time since the first day she put it on."(225), showing us that Hester was finally getting rid of this symbol that previously brought such sadness to her life.