Love, Sin, And Redemption In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Questioning the power of love, sin, and redemption, Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s the “Scarlet Letter”, takes into account the struggle of a convicted sinner in a strict Puritan community. Hester Prynne, a beautiful young woman, is convicted for adultery in a small Puritan colony. Married one before, heister was separated from her husband, roger Chillingworth, when complications interfered in her travels to America. As a result of this separation, Hester has an affair with an initially unknown lover, which results in a child, known as Pearl. During Hester’s conviction she is forced to wear the letter “A” upon her chest as a significant symbol representing her punishment for her sin. Meanwhile, Arthur Dimmesdale, who is portrayed as the innocent and beloved minister of the colony, is revealed by Hawthorne as Hester’s lover
Dimmesdale’s first appearance is in the first of three significant scaffold scenes in which the narrator describes him as a well-respected man of the church, “who was already beloved among the community… as he carried himself with humility and an air of childlike innocence…”.In the first scaffold scene, Hester Prynne, who is being convicted for committing adultery, is forced to stand on the scaffold in shame for three hours. While Hester chooses not to name the father of her child, Dimmesdale, who will later be revealed as the father, openly denies his sin and even goes as far as telling Hester to “speak out thy name of thy fellow sinner” to confirm that nobody will suspect him. Although Hawthorne doesn’t make his guilt completely obvious, we are given some suggestions that the reverend isn’t as “innocent” as he seems. Clearly it can be inferred that Dimmesdale is hiding some sort of secret sin. This scene presents the Reverend’s original strength of character, which will slowly start to diminish throughout the