Scarlet Letter: Guilt And Confession

Guilt and Confession Guilt is one of the many factors that helped shape today’s society to what it is today, and the same goes for the society of the 17th century. Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense and the only cure for the feeling of being guilty is confessing to whomever you have harmed or wronged. In The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathanial Hawthorn; there is a young woman named Hester Prynne who has been accused of committing adultery, she is being showcased for the entire town to witness her in her shame. Hester’s husband, who is thought to be dead, returns to the town to discover that she has cheated on him with another man that no one but Hester knows who he is. Dimmesdale, the man Hester cheated
The crowd’s reaction to seeing all of Hester’s sins revealed caused the woman to speak poorly of Hester. “Goodwives, said a hard-featured dame of fifty, I’ll tell ye a piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne” (5). Not only was Hester looked down upon in the town but also she was forced to wear a scarlet letter on her breast. This scarlet letter was placed on her in order to show and make sure that everyone Hester came into contact with was aware of what she had done. Hester, unlike Dimmesdale, faced her guilt head on and tries to embrace the blame that has been placed on her. “In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors. On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A.”(10). Facing guilt head on is one of the many different types of ways that may try to deal with
One of the main ways that Hester dealt with this was by practicing her needlework and using it for the better good of everyone around her. “Women derive a pleasure, incomprehensible to the other sex, from the delicate toil of the needle.”(6). Another consequence of wearing an “A” on your breast was that when you would walk thought the streets everyone you walked past would judge you, including woman, men, and even small children. Even though Hester went through all of this torment and hate, people eventually began to see her true colors and seeing who she truly was underneath the scarlet letter. “She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest, amid the gloom of which they were now holding a colloquy that was to decide their fate.”(2). All of Hester’s hardships taught her many important life lessons. Once people understood that Hester was a good honest woman, she used all of her wisdom and became a saint who helped woman with their problems. Eventually leaving the town and all of her troubles and memories were left