concept of sin, punishment and redemption in The Scarlet Letter
Sin, Punishment and Redemption in The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter is a book about sin, punishment, and the hope of redemption. The book is about the life in colonial Boston of Hester Prynne, Her husband Roger Chillingworth, and Hester’s lover Arthur Dimmesdale. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a very complex and can be interpreted in many ways. Throughout the novel the Concept of sin, punishment, and redemption was portrayed through Hester Prynne, Aurthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth on many ways and on many levels.
An element of this theme is sin. The whole bases of the novel are on the sin of Hester and Dimmesdale committed. The sin of adultery had great consequences and haunted both of them until the day they died. In the time this novel was written adultery should have been condemned with murder, but some of the town’s people took pity on Hester because no one knew what happened to her husband. Although the women of the town did not agree with the decision. In this novel, Chillingworth is considered as worst sinner.
In the case of The Scarlet Letter the wrong, or sin, is adultery: a very serious breach of Christian morality. A young woman, Hester Prynne, has been found guilty of adultery and must wear a scarlet letter “A” on her dress as a sign of shame. Furthermore, she must stand on the scaffold for three hours, exposed to public humiliation.
Hester's punishment is purely social. She has to stand on the platform of the pillory, with the people gazing curiously at the scarlet letter on her breast. Society has decreed that she shall wear throughout her life a scarlet letter on the boson of her gown. This is the stigma that Hester has to carry always. She becomes a social outcast. Children follow her and shout at her. Strangers gaze at the scarlet on her bosom and make no secret of their contempt for her. She is cruelly treated by society. Her numerous acts of service as a Sister of Mercy do soften the world to some extent, but
The Scarlet Letter is a book about sin, punishment, and the hope of redemption. The book is about the life in colonial Boston of Hester Prynne, Her husband Roger Chillingworth, and Hester’s lover Arthur Dimmesdale. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a very complex and can be interpreted in many ways. Throughout the novel the Concept of sin, punishment, and redemption was portrayed through Hester Prynne, Aurthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth on many ways and on many levels.
An element of this theme is sin. The whole bases of the novel are on the sin of Hester and Dimmesdale committed. The sin of adultery had great consequences and haunted both of them until the day they died. In the time this novel was written adultery should have been condemned with murder, but some of the town’s people took pity on Hester because no one knew what happened to her husband. Although the women of the town did not agree with the decision. In this novel, Chillingworth is considered as worst sinner.
In the case of The Scarlet Letter the wrong, or sin, is adultery: a very serious breach of Christian morality. A young woman, Hester Prynne, has been found guilty of adultery and must wear a scarlet letter “A” on her dress as a sign of shame. Furthermore, she must stand on the scaffold for three hours, exposed to public humiliation.
Hester's punishment is purely social. She has to stand on the platform of the pillory, with the people gazing curiously at the scarlet letter on her breast. Society has decreed that she shall wear throughout her life a scarlet letter on the boson of her gown. This is the stigma that Hester has to carry always. She becomes a social outcast. Children follow her and shout at her. Strangers gaze at the scarlet on her bosom and make no secret of their contempt for her. She is cruelly treated by society. Her numerous acts of service as a Sister of Mercy do soften the world to some extent, but