Theme Of Corruption In The Scarlet Letter

The procession is a huge ordeal for the citizens of the Puritan town, passing through the busy marketplace “on its way towards the meeting house; where [...] the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale was to deliver an Election Sermon” (194). The procession includes musicians that “played with no great skill” (194) but were still able to harmonize together, along with a body of soldiery that “still sustains a corporate existence, and marches down from past ages with an ancient and honorable fame” (194). Enormous effort was put into the procession in order to make it as presentable and sophisticated as possible for such an important occasion. On this day, the people along with Hester noticed the great improvement in the minister’s appearance; he looks healthier
The crowd listens patiently all the way up to the point where Dimmesdale revealed his darkest secret to the entire town, which is when everything spiraled out of control. The crowd is astonished and reacts by repeating “Thou hast escaped me!” (209). The minister begs for forgiveness but knows his actions are unforgivable. In the events leading up to the revelation, the minister attempts to deliver his message but he has lost all of his glowing features and looks deathly. Reverend John Wilson attempts to assist him but Dimmesdale refuses his help as he makes his way towards Hester. He asks Pearl and Hester to stand by him, though only Pearl does right away. Eventually Hester helps him up to the scaffold in which she was standing and the crowd is agitated that the towns holiest man as well as their darkest sinner are associating. Dimmesdale cries to the people “Stand any here that question God’s judgement on a sinner? Behold! Behold! A dreadful witness if it!” (209). The crowd does not know what to make of his words, and they refuse to believe what he is implying. That is, until he “tore away the ministerial band from before his breast” (209), revealing a scarlet letter of his own. After this, there is no denying Dimmesdale’s confession and the people are left in disbelief as they watch him slump down and whisper in his last breath that he deserved to die in
The Puritans carve out this motto on their headstones in order to ensure that people never forget the harsh punishment for a sin such as theirs, and so that their shame should follow then even in death. Although Hester and Dimmesdale were not buried directly aside one another, they were still relatively close which may symbolize feelings of some sort of forgiveness that the citizens have towards the couple. Overall, this novel is very traditional in the sense that people strictly follow their religious beliefs and severely punish those who disobey. Thich was most likely true in regards to older times, but in today’s society this kind of lifestyle has evolved to be one that is more accepting even though certain actions are still looked down upon. Generally, this novel depicts many important themes for readers to comprehend such as: revenge, sin, compassion, and guilt. These themes are still relevant today because history repeats itself and people continue to have their own form of these emotions as time goes on. Revenge is still apparent in society, even if it is not to the same degree as Chillingworth's; sin is relevant because people still make mistakes and almost nobody goes through their entire life following every rule perfectly; compassion is seen in nearly everybody alive whether it is towards a family member, a friend, an idol, etc. ; and guilt occurs on a regular basis when