Hester Prynne And Arthur Dimmesdale In The Scarlet Letter

Everyone sins. How people react to the consequences of those sins differs. Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale have to deal with the scrutiny and criticism from the community and themselves after committing the sin of adultery. Nathaniel Hawthorne shows how differently they are shunned. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the contrasting characters Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale to develop both sides of public vs private sin to show how different people deal with guilt and how it’s better to not keep your emotions bottled up. Everyone in Hester Prynne’s community knew that she committed the sin of adultery. Hester had to live with the entire town gossiping and making accusations about her and who her lover was.
She decided that instead of hiding away, she should be productive and show that she is a useful member of her community. She decides to use her talents and gifts to change the meaning of her punishment. Hester donated all of her earnings to the needy, who also looked down at her, and sewed clothes for people. She became so successful that her letter became to be known as "able" instead of "adulteress." Hester ends up positively influencing her community with her charitable work, just like how dimmesdale influences everyone with his
Hester's guilt is expressed more publicly, so she believes that she can make amends with god and the town. Dimmesdale's guilt is expressed very privately, which tortures him emotionally and physically. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the contrasting characters Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale to develop both sides of public vs private sin to show how different people deal with guilt and how it’s better to not keep your emotions bottled up. It is shown with the character Arthur Dimmesdale that your guilt can kill you if you don’t forgive yourself. Dimmesdale never really forgave himself which led to him punishing himself and ultimately