Hypocrites In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

The puritan era was designed to be a utopia but when there are sinners being judged by there one mistake and leaders who are hypocrites the puritan era turned out to be anything but a perfect society. If sinners weren’t judged by hypocrites then the puritan era would have been more successful in creating a utopia. Hypocrites were hidden throughout the puritan era. In the novel The Scarlet Letter many of the great leaders were unknown hypocrites. The puritans may not have known it but their own governor was a hypocrite. Puritans were expected to be perfect all the time, so that they would have a chance of going to heaven. This meant that they couldn’t be selfish and have luxuries but some of the puritan leaders broke all these rules. Governor Bellingham is a hypocrite, “…they reached the dwelling of governor Bellingham. This was a large wooden house…it had indeed a very cheery aspect; the walls being overspread with a kind of stucco, in which fragments of broken glass were plentifully intermixed; so that…it glittered and sparkled as if diamonds had been flung against it…” (94). Governor
Roger Chillingworth is Hester Prynne’s husband he wants to ruin Dimmesdale’s life for what happened with Hester. Chillingworth is a hypocrite, “old Roger Chillingworth knelt down beside him, with a blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to have departed. “Thou hast escaped me!” He repeated more than once. “Thou hast escaped me!”’ (236). Chillingworth’s whole life goal was to ruin Dimmesdale’s life when it really should have been about God. People saw Chillingworth as a hero for helping Dimmesdale but really he was like the devil. When Dimmesdale dies Chillingworth’s whole life motivation is gone and it’s like the life is drained out of him. Chillingworth made it seem like he was a hero but his true self was anything but