Regret is a very strange emotion. It can build you up or it can break you down; it can vanish in an instant if it is just a small ordeal or it can hound you for years if it is something important. Depending on who you are or what you’ve done, regrets can be the best or worst things to happen to you. Regrets can impact people in a myriad of different ways. But regrets are not forever. Regrets are temporary emotions that are meant to test the strength of your will. If all goes well, you’ve learned and improved. If not, that regret festers in you until you can’t handle it anymore and you live in a constant state of shaming yourself and feeling too much guilt to fix the problem. This is no longer regret, this is now something deeper. That feeling
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Understanding exactly what the characters were feeling can lead us to understand some of their actions and how they lived their lives. Hester never left with Pearly because she only had regrets. She didn’t care about the townspeople and only focused on making herself a better person. Dimmesdale was filled with remorse of what happened. He had done a bad thing but he also had an image to keep, and knowing he was a hypocrite tore him apart. Where Dimmesdale received admiration and praise, Hester got hatred and scorn. But where Hester had peace and acceptance, Dimmesdale had agony and sorrow, and that is the very thin line that separates regrets from remorse.
“One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.” (Proverbs 13:7) or as my pastor interpreted it, “The man who has everything, has nothing.” Dimmesdale was the best minister, the talk of the town, the guy everyone wants to be like. Dimmesdale could (and did) call for a church session late at night without complaint from one townsperson. Dimmesdale was the man who had everything, yet with all of the people he could influence and all of the lives he could (and probably did) change, Dimmesdale …show more content…
For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest (Luke 9:48).” A bit funny how a very religious town forgets a verse like this one isn’t it? Hester was scum, the town slut, the person every parent prays their child becomes nothing like. If not for a last minute intervention, Hester would have been executed and little to no one would have batted an eye. She was branded a whore and forced to live out in a cottage or leave town, they didn’t care. Hester was the woman who lost everything, and despite all of the people who hated her and all of the lives she was no longer a part of, she was happy. Hester wasn’t proud of what she had done, but she dealt with it headfirst and worked to regain respect among the townspeople. She couldn’t wash the sin away, and she knew she might go to hell for what she had done, but Hester was determined to make sure her time on Earth isn’t a living hell too. Hester refused to let herself or her daughter have a bad life, so she stayed in the town and dealt with the abuse in order to eventually guarantee herself a place back. She didn’t have the fancy house of Dimmesdale, or the respect that Dimmesdale had, but she had acknowledged her sins in front of the town and had nothing to hide. She lived freely and with hard work, she slowly turned the town in her favor. She was humiliated and blamed for half of
Understanding exactly what the characters were feeling can lead us to understand some of their actions and how they lived their lives. Hester never left with Pearly because she only had regrets. She didn’t care about the townspeople and only focused on making herself a better person. Dimmesdale was filled with remorse of what happened. He had done a bad thing but he also had an image to keep, and knowing he was a hypocrite tore him apart. Where Dimmesdale received admiration and praise, Hester got hatred and scorn. But where Hester had peace and acceptance, Dimmesdale had agony and sorrow, and that is the very thin line that separates regrets from remorse.
“One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.” (Proverbs 13:7) or as my pastor interpreted it, “The man who has everything, has nothing.” Dimmesdale was the best minister, the talk of the town, the guy everyone wants to be like. Dimmesdale could (and did) call for a church session late at night without complaint from one townsperson. Dimmesdale was the man who had everything, yet with all of the people he could influence and all of the lives he could (and probably did) change, Dimmesdale …show more content…
For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest (Luke 9:48).” A bit funny how a very religious town forgets a verse like this one isn’t it? Hester was scum, the town slut, the person every parent prays their child becomes nothing like. If not for a last minute intervention, Hester would have been executed and little to no one would have batted an eye. She was branded a whore and forced to live out in a cottage or leave town, they didn’t care. Hester was the woman who lost everything, and despite all of the people who hated her and all of the lives she was no longer a part of, she was happy. Hester wasn’t proud of what she had done, but she dealt with it headfirst and worked to regain respect among the townspeople. She couldn’t wash the sin away, and she knew she might go to hell for what she had done, but Hester was determined to make sure her time on Earth isn’t a living hell too. Hester refused to let herself or her daughter have a bad life, so she stayed in the town and dealt with the abuse in order to eventually guarantee herself a place back. She didn’t have the fancy house of Dimmesdale, or the respect that Dimmesdale had, but she had acknowledged her sins in front of the town and had nothing to hide. She lived freely and with hard work, she slowly turned the town in her favor. She was humiliated and blamed for half of