Preview

The Scarlet Letter: The Trio Of Sin

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
841 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Scarlet Letter: The Trio Of Sin
“The Trio of Sin”

Hester, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth – the three who contributed the most dramatic beginnings for the community as they determine how they handle their sinful ways. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a well written novel to reveal the different ways a person may handle their sin. Although, the title of the book is rather deceiving, it was soon discovered how there is more than what meets the eye in this story. Shockingly, Hester is the more positive example for us all, Dimmesdale being the example that shows how sin can turn someone awry, and Chillingworth showing the readers how sin changed who he was. The three separate, yet, conjoined ways of living with sin, is beautifully demonstrated in Mr. Hawthorne’s writings.
Hester is shammed. Whether, her shaming is face to face or behind her back she stands stronger than most, because, she does not hide. Her sin is revealed and it is constantly known due to the scarlet letter “A” that brands her. In this town that condemns her, she still never leaves. Hester, obviously, suffers with the shame, but what is easiest for her is having her daughter, which, is her world. Even though, she lives in a town of judgment and drama that would always seem to find her she never runs away from where it all began. In chapter 12 the narrator
…show more content…
We all live with sin, but for your community what dramatics will you provide and how will you handle your situations? Hester stands to be the example out of all of them, Dimmesdale pulled through in the end and Chillingworth can easily be described as an evil man. Even though, their three paths crossed several times they are all their own individuals deciphering what they believe should happen to their fate. The Scarlet Letter has its own parallels to the present day we live in now, simply, by the choices we make. Therefore, choose your path wisely and use these characters as a demonstration to what you know is best, “Be

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Scarlet Letter is a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This essay discusses how Hester is a victim of her social pressure. She was punished for something she did to achieve her dream of having someone that loves her. Hester committed adultery with minister Dimmesdale and had a child with him, Pearl. Her punishment was to stand on the scaffold with her child and wear the letter A on her breast as a sign of her “crime”. Due to the strictures of the puritan society, Hester Prynne suffers from public shaming. She almost lost her only child, and was not able to openly love who she wanted.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth are two men that have three main differences in character. The first trait is Chillingworth and Dimmesdale’s difference in their internal struggle. Chillingworth is a man who is on fire with his want of revenge. At the beginning of the novel he makes a vow to find the man Hester had an affair with. “He will be known!”…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Irony in Scarlet Letter

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Nathaniel Hawthrone’s Scarlet Letter is praised as one of the most revolutionary and compelling literary works in modern American history. The narrator’s omniscient, descriptive lingustics enfore the story’s captivating plot as well as invokes insights on the moral fiber of each character. For some, the novel is an inspiration to readers in regard to the powerful protagonist, Hester Prynne, with her feminism and strength in the face of adversity; or by her daughter’s pure spirit, or even the devotion of the minister Dimmesdale to his congregation. As popular and coveted is the complex plot, Hawthorne’s literary talents excel within each paragraph. The story is historical in its characters and what they represent, but is exciting because of its constantly misleading irony. The author uses irony systematically throughout the book to keep the reader guessing, whether verbal irony in Chillingworth’s words, situational irony - Hester and Dimmesdale’s burst of joy before a tradgic ending - or the dramatic irony of Dimmesdale’s secret relationship with Hester. The deceptive techniques used by Hawthorne are what makes this elderly tale so relevant today.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter describes life through the eyes of 4 main characters, including a woman who was caught of committing adultery. Hester Prynn was the emotional martyr and symbol of the Scarlet Letter. Throughout the course of the story she undergoes change in her mentality state, the way her eyes perceive the World, and perhaps even the way she smiles. Her strength becomes the Scarlet Letter and her innocent Pear. She encounters much conflict (internal and external), throughout the story. Hester, once a prisoner of her sin, spent a long life held by its chains. This all transpired until forgiveness stepped in.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter follows the life of Hester Prynne after she commits adultery and is forced to wear the scarlet letter upon her bosom for the rest of her life. Hawthorne uses setting, allusion, metaphor, irony, and diction to set a sombre tone. In chapter 9, Hawthorne reveals the evil qualities of Roger Chillingworth and Reverend Dimmesdale’s disposition. In the battle of good and evil, good does not always win.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Triad In Scarlet Letter

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is overflowing with important character relationships. These pairings and triads only become significant when power imbalance is considered, which allows the reader to predict future conflicts and recurring themes throughout the story. Relationships are directly linked to conflict, which is the most important part of any novel. There are perhaps a dozen crucial triads in the first eight chapters of The Scarlet Letter, but one stands out among the rest. The paramount triad in The Scarlet Letter is undoubtedly the relationship between Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale.…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The people of the town see otherwise until they see the great improvement in her attitude as she's helping by doing various tasks in her town. When walking through town, “…she never raised her head to receive their greeting. If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter and passed on” (Hawthorne, 127). The guilt is destroying her and overwhelming which results in her change in the novel. A living reminder of her sin of course Pearl, her constant companion. One also affected by Hester's change is her daughter Pearl; the same traits that Hester has are displayed by pearl in the story. It is true what Hester believes in as far as committing sin help one discover themselves but run the risk of being talked down soon by friends or just the local town folk. She uses her experiences and helps change the perspective of the to the townsfolk, regarding their idea on the letter "A". How does this not bother her? Hester is strong mentally as she is physical. One of the greatest sins is not taking a toll on her reputation because others seem to look past it and notice her for the person she has become and not the girl she was before she committed the…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The downfall of an individual can grow from the societal influences of society’s compulsion to conform. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne and reverend Arthur Dimmesdale endeavor to assimilate to the expectations of a puritan society. Throughout the novel, Prynne and Dimmesdale fight to make amends for their sin of adultery, and as the town glares a spiteful eye at Prynne, Dimmesdale hides away, still loved by all. Prynne makes a conscious decision to embrace her quarantine from the community’s shunning. However, Dimmesdale faces an internal battle of shame and guilt while concealing his immorality. Prynne and Dimmesdale suffer the fate of alienation, however, Prynne accepts isolation, becoming steadfast, while Dimmesdale…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sin is considered to be a morally bad act in the Christian faith. In The Scarlet Letter, the Puritans’ views on human nature were affected by their belief in original sin. Nathaniel Hawthorne allows the reader to see the significant role that sin plays in human experience and in the Puritan society in which Hester Prynne lived in through the use of symbols in his novel. The symbols that are present convey messages about how humans should deal with their flawed nature and the negative effects that sin has on the body, mind, and soul.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, Scarlet Letter, he tells the story of a sinner, Hester Prynne. Hester has committed adultery and now has a child as a result of her sin. Hester has naturally put herself aside from the other puritan members of the community. She has mostly secluded herself from the puritan women of the town. Hester endures many issues involving Reverend Dimmesdale, who later find out is her fellow sinner in committing adultery. She also has many encounters with Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth turns out to be Hester’s husband who has followed her back to New England from Europe. Hester has a child names Pearl, who is often looked upon by the community as a devil child. Pearl…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a book depicting the struggle of a woman who is spared death after committing adultery in a strict puritan society. The woman, Hester Prynne, was spared death only for the reason to make an example to the rest of the community. Throughout the book you can see the theme of how sin changes lives appear in almost every chapter and is an important driving factor behind the plot. This theme is shown through the actions of the three main characters: Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. These three characters act in this novel as the personification of sin in three different types of sin. A different sin by each of the main characters.…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes Puritan ideology to convey a philosophical reflection on sin and redemption. Adulteress Hester Prynne must wear a scarlet A to mark her shame, and while her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains unidentified and is wracked with guilt, her husband, Roger Chillingworth, seeks revenge. Although all three characters contemplate redemption, it is only Hester that chooses to confront her sin; Dimmesdale and Chillingworth refuse. This decision is heavily influenced by their respective morals. Hester’s morals of truth, forgiveness, and honesty allow her to be almost fully redeemed in the eyes of the public, whereas Dimmesdale's perverse loyalty to the morally corrupt society that hinders his love for…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sin, vengeance, evil, and redemption are all words one can associate when thinking about The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The character who takes the truest form of these negative words is Roger Chillingworth. Hester Prynne had married Chillingworth in England, however left her for many years. During those years, Chillingworth spent time with Indians learning their ways while Hester had an ill legitimate child with a beloved priest named Arthur Dimmesdale. When Hester Prynne begins her lifetime of public shame and guilt, Chillingworth makes his timely return and devotes his life to emotionally torturing Arthur Dimmsedale. Through his many years of vindictive vengeance, the reader sees his abundant physical traits, in depth visual symbols, and his theoretical view on transcendentalism that reveal his true personality.…

    • 1576 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    All humans have sinned; whether or not they have acknowledged their sins is a different situation. However, it is part of the human nature to make wrongful mistakes. Some people learn from their errors, while others are mangled by their own deceptions. The novel entitled “The Scarlet Letter,” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, demonstrates the contracting approaches to coping with one's adversities such as sin and punishment. In this classic and timeless novel, A young woman gets outcasted after committing adultery and conceiving a child from a man who is not her husband. Though, the book is set in colonial Boston, it gives a good lesson on how reputations can instantly vanish or be built, and how people face those problem. As one character, Hester…

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Scarlet Letter

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel set in the mid-seventeenth century, which tells the story of Hester Prynne, a woman who commits a sin in her home in Boston. With a child in her arms from another man who is not her husband, Hester is obligated to wear a scarlet ‘A’ (which stands for adultery) on her chest. As part of her sentence, she is locked up in prison with her daughter Peal, until she confesses who the child’s father is. As she refuses to name him, she is forced to stand in the town’s pillory for a few hours while being tormented by the civilians’ frightful comments. In most of The Scarlet Letter, Hester is haunted by her sinful act, since the town people use her as an example. However, Dimmesdale, Pearl’s father, also suffers with this situation, even though his identity as Pearl’s father is unknown, his lie lives with him and as the novel progresses, Hester gradually begins to be accepted in society, while Dimmesdale’s life becomes worse.…

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays