Guilt In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Guilt can play a major role in anyone’s life, for being such a minor factor. The Scarlet Letter does an excellent job at demonstrating the role of guilt, a scourge, which breaks both spirit and health, perfectly, on two well-defined characters. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, readers can see the disastrous effects of guilt on a person’s spirit and health, as shown in Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale 's own private struggles; as they try to hold themselves together after an affair, which is frowned upon by the the people of this time period. This effect of guilt is shown near perfect in the different scenes that all take place on a scaffold, a public platform where criminals are condemned to their punishment. During the first scaffold scene, Hester Prynne and her baby, Pearl, are on the scaffold as a punishment, while the rest of the town stands below, criticizing and judging her. This is the revealed guilt shown in full detail. The second scaffold scene shows Dimmesdale’s concealed guilt, as he travels to the scaffold in the middle of the night, to stand with Pearl and Hester.The final scaffold scene shows the transition from concealed to revealed guilt in Dimmesdale, when he finally confesses to his sin, while standing on the scaffold. In the below paragraphs, the three scaffold scenes will be shown in full detail, and how it connects to the guilt of the characters.

Hester Prynne, as a punishment, is forced to stand on the scaffold in front of her fellow citizens as they criticize her and talk badly of her. The …show more content…
The effects of concealed guilt are blatantly displayed as Dimmesdale can no longer take his guilty conscious and reveals his sin. Revealed guilt, although bad at first, can become better on a character 's health, as shown with Hester Prynne as she handles it the right