Hester's Sin example essay topic

Sin is defined in Webster's New World Dictionary as, "any offense, fault, or the willful breaking of religious or moral law". We are all prone to some kind of sin, it is something that can't be avoided. In the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the greatest sinner could be viewed as being Reverend Dimmesdale. Hester Prynne's sin was a sin of passion.

It was openly acknowledged as she wore a scarlet "A" on her chest for the rest of her life. However, Hester did not commit the greatest sin of the novel. She also didn't deliberately mean to commit the sin or to hurt others. Hester's sin is that her passions and love were more important to her than the Puritan code. Hester fully acknowledged her guilt and displayed it with pride to the world. This was obvious by the way she wore the scarlet letter.

It was designed as if she was proud. While she was standing on the scaffold with Pearl bearing the scarlet letter, Hester refused to let the crowd know who the father of Pearl is. She says", I will not speak! And my child must seek a heavenly father; she shall never know an earthly one!" (Ch 3, Pg 66) Her sin did not bring her evil, but brought her good. Her charity to the poor, her comfort to the broken-hearted, and her presence in times of trouble are all direct results of her sin.

She tells Dimmesdale who Chillingworth really is to aid her salvation. Even though the sin Hester commits is the one the book is titled after, it is not nearly the worst sin committed. Hester learns from her sin, and grows strong from it. Arthur Dimmesdale's sin was the same as Hester's.

He is Hester's lover, a man to weak to confess his guilt. By hiding his sin it becomes even worse. Dimmesdale tries to get Hester to confess his guilt while she is on the scaffold. "I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow- sinner and fellow-sufferer! Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him - yea compel him as it were - to add hypocrisy to sin?" (Ch.

3, Pg 65) Dimmesdale's emotions emerge from the inside out. From keeping the truth bottled inside him, he lets his emotions out while he is preaching. He starts to become well known for his sermons. Dimmesdale even tried to tell his congregation about the sin he committed, however he does it always in a way that they believe he is being modest. This causes the reverend more anguish, because now he believes he is also lying to his people.

Reverend Dimmesdale is his own worst enemy. He hates himself and inflicts physical pain upon himself to make himself feel better about his sin. "He thus typified the constant introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself". (Ch 11, Pg 141) To Dimmesdale its unfavorable that Hester is shown publicly as a sinner. Dimmesdale's own cruel inner shame is far worse than the public shame that Hester experiences. Knowing what only he and Hester know, the secret eats away at Dimmesdale.

Chillingworth also experiences sin. His sin was persuading Hester to be with him when he knew she did not love him. For seven years Chillingworth searches out and torments the man who betrayed him by having a child with his wife. He becomes a leech and sucks the life out of Dimmesdale. Chillingworth is obsessed with vengeance. At first his expression was calm, and scholar-like.

Then it turned ugly and evil. Chillingworth's worst sin is violating the sanctity of the human heart. He suffers the most by dying shortly after Dimmesdale. His vengeance was the only thing that drove him forward. It was his sole purpose for living. The townspeople sinned as well.

They were guilty of hypocrisy. The worst sin the townspeople are guilty of is the isolation they put Hester through. She would not go out in the day, just to avoid the townspeople. Wearing the scarlet letter on her chest made all the townspeople isolate her. They were all being hypocrites because they were the same people who went to church weekly, to repent their own sins.

Hawthorne was immersed in sin and the redemption of sin. Hawthorne was a Puritan descendant. His book, The Scarlet Letter is a study of the effects of sin on the hearts on minds of its characters. Hester and Dimmesdale seek redemption, while Chillingworth never seeks redemption. Nathaniel Hawthorne has written one of the first symbolic novels in American History..