Punishment In Scarlet Letter

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a character named Hester Prynne committed adultery with a man who at first was unidentified but later confirmed to be her reverend, the worshipped Arthur Dimmesdale. Since Hester became pregnant after the affair and her husband had not yet arrived in the colony, it was clear that she had committed adultery. The government of the colony demanded to know who her lover was, but Hester repeatedly refused to incriminate him. Because Hester never identified Dimmesdale as her lover and he lacked the courage to confess on his own, Dimmesdale never told anybody about what he had done and thus allowed his extreme guilt and anxiety about his moral transgression to completely consume him. Hester and the
Her honesty and openness about her sin, which readers can see in the fact that she wears it constantly for seven years, eventually allows her to redefine the meaning of the letter in the eyes of the colony’s citizens. “The letter was the symbol of her calling. Such helpfulness was found in her - so much power to do, and power to sympathize, - that many people refused to interpret the scarlet letter A by its original signification. They said it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength.” (Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 134). In this scene, the townspeople, after seven years of Hester wearing her crimson badge of shame conscientiously, began to comprehend the letter not a symbol of Hester’s moral transgression, but as a symbol of her strength, kindness, and generosity towards the citizens in her town. The fact that Hester does not attempt to keep her sin a secret from the eyes of the public and does not try to evade
Hester is open and honest about her sin and her penance, which makes her stronger, if sadder, in the long run; while Dimmesdale hides his transgression from his congregation and keeps it a secret, which makes him very weak and almost destroys his physical and mental health. For example; just after the scene where Pearl, Hester, and Dimmesdale were in the forest and Dimmesdale and Hester were discussing their sin and whether they should leave the colony and return to Europe, Dimmesdale appeared very frail and sick until he eventually came to terms with his infraction; “I seem to have flung myself - sick, sin-stained, and sorrow-blackened - down upon these forest-leaves, and to have risen up all made anew, and with new powers to glorify Him that hath been merciful! This is already the better life! Why did we not find it sooner?” (Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 167). Before he had a discussion with Hester about the crime they committed, Dimmesdale was gravely ill and emaciated; however, after he talked out loud to someone about the terrible act he had committed, he instantaneously became better and rejuvenated, and Hester also had a transformation similar to Dimmesdale’s after she removed the scarlet letter and threw it across the river during their conversation. “She had not known the weight, until she felt the freedom! By another impulse, she took off the formal cap that confined her hair; and