Redemption In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

It's quite rare when one goes through life without committing a single sin. The wrongdoing can either be unintentional or completely deliberate, but a majority of the people throughout the world can admit to making some sort of mistake at one point. As we've generated a new norm, back in the Puritan Era, immoral actions were an immense deal. Peering into the life of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale subsequent to their sinning, this novel allows us to see what they faced throughout the years regarding shame and guilt. Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, one will find that the novel is really based around moral consequence of sin and the act of redemption.
A great aspect of this story would be sin, as it truly affects each
Dimmesdale who happens to be the minister within the town. He's well respected and looked up to by an abundant amount of people. His image consists of innocence as people have the idea that he's a man of God. No one would expect much sin to come from him, and this is why he faces a personal conflict throughout the whole novel. Along with Hester, he also committed the crime of Adultery. Thinking about his reputation, he chose not to confess and stay anonymous. As Hester chose not to give him up, Dimmesdale lives with a constant feeling of guilt as Hester faces the the punishments. He didn't deal with anything publically as he remained unknown. Although, she does deal with the actual consequences, Dimmesdale lives with the remorse which begins to slowly eat him up inside. He knows that he needs to confess, which he wants to but what's stopping him is his the respect he has and how he's seen by the whole town. As Dimmesdale continues to keep his secret to himself, his mental and physical health is impacted. Time goes on, and he becomes more and more ill. It's easily seen by his actions and his appearance as “his cheek was paler and thinner, and his voice more tremulous than before, --when it had now become a constant habit, rather than a casual gesture, to press his hand over his heart?(83). Before Hester received the embroidery, Dimmesdale was in way better shape and it's quite noticeable how his body has taken a toll. As the people within the community may wonder what's going on with him, no one knows the real reason why his health is going downhill. As he watches Hester raising Pearl and taking on the public shame, he believes that he needs to pay for his doing in some way. A way that Dimmesdale thought of paying was to physically harm himself, he thought it would amount to the pain that Hester has felt. Since the town was quite oblivious to this, Dimmesdale chose to punish himself in private. The