Theme Of Shame In The Scarlet Letter

In a Puritan society, people are not considered worthy of respect if they do not have an honorable reputation. The Puritans were also people of God who did not tolerate any sin. In The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many of the characters struggle deeply with their pasts. Each character lives their lives attempting to deal with and completely understand the shame they’re feeling. The shame they all feel is provoked by the actions that cost them their respect. The two main characters that feel this shame include Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale. Hawthorne displays his belief that the Puritan’s should have been less strict and cruel through the story line of this novel and its characters. Hester Prynne’s shame and guilt resulted from her sin of adultery. Her sin had such a …show more content…
Dimmesdale’s guilt and shame began and grew within himself. His guilt led him to do terrible and violent things to himself. For example, when he would get angry, he would bring pain upon himself by hitting himself. His guilt becomes an internal conflict, between himself and his own shame. It makes him afraid and embarrassed of himself. All it would take for him to feel free of shame would be to confess, but he finds it extremely hard to confess his sins because he was considered a man of God. He also values his good reputation over his own well-being, mainly because the Puritan society is all about reputation. Although he valued his good reputation, he confessed anyways. He confessed at night for no one to see or hear. After he had finished confessing, he thought all his troubles would just wash away. But after seeing the letter “A” above the scaffold, he realized his suffering was not yet over and that he must confess in public. His persisting guilt of not being able to confess and his value of reputation over well-being eventually cost him his