In the historical fiction novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathanial Hawthorne the story of a couple split by the simple fact that their interaction occurred out of wedlock. Hester Prynne, a new member with the unknown whereabouts of her husband, falls in love with a handsome talented reverend named Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester has a child, a product of their love, but receives shamed by the town for having a child out of wedlock and with a man whose identity she willingly kept unknown. This, in a puritan society, called for the worst of punishments unto the sinners. Fortunately for Hester she only needed to wear a scarlet letter A, representing her sin of adultery. This singled her out among the town as the lowest of the low. As the novel
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Arthur, the town reverend, respected and admired by everyone, unfortunately begins to die little by little from the inside out because of his guilty conscience. Arthur displays his guilty conscience as Nathanial writes,” Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!” Arthur knows how hypocritical it stands that he sinned and didn’t confess it. It went on for so long that Arthur kept pushing physiological limits and the development of his guilt only grew worse. One night he couldn’t take it any longer and after 7 years of accumulating more guilt runs out to the scaffold where he too confesses in the middle of the night in the same spot where Hester embraced the peoples judgements. The author writes, ”Whom would they discern there, with, with the red eastern light upon his brow? Whom, but the Reverent Arthur Dimmesdale, half frozen to death, overwhelmed with shame, and standing where Hester Prynne had stood!” His remorse for his action and his lack of enthusiasm to step up cause him to go back to the same place where Hester h received the shame of the town wanting the same to happen to him. Arthur begins to feel the guilt directly impact his health, and although his sermons and teachings do not express his pain it remains visible to the people in his way of animation. Arthur’s journey of
Arthur, the town reverend, respected and admired by everyone, unfortunately begins to die little by little from the inside out because of his guilty conscience. Arthur displays his guilty conscience as Nathanial writes,” Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!” Arthur knows how hypocritical it stands that he sinned and didn’t confess it. It went on for so long that Arthur kept pushing physiological limits and the development of his guilt only grew worse. One night he couldn’t take it any longer and after 7 years of accumulating more guilt runs out to the scaffold where he too confesses in the middle of the night in the same spot where Hester embraced the peoples judgements. The author writes, ”Whom would they discern there, with, with the red eastern light upon his brow? Whom, but the Reverent Arthur Dimmesdale, half frozen to death, overwhelmed with shame, and standing where Hester Prynne had stood!” His remorse for his action and his lack of enthusiasm to step up cause him to go back to the same place where Hester h received the shame of the town wanting the same to happen to him. Arthur begins to feel the guilt directly impact his health, and although his sermons and teachings do not express his pain it remains visible to the people in his way of animation. Arthur’s journey of