The Scarlet Letter Essay

Mistakes are common in life, so it is not always good to judge people from their past. It may not always identify who the person is and how they really act around their peers. It is obvious that the Puritan people judge their community solely on their actions. They also single people out on the things they do. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, the sins of Hester, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth have a big impact on their lives.

Hester commits adultery which made her seem like a criminal at first then it improves extremely at the end. In that time period adultery was a major deal. When the townspeople found out Hester was sent to this “ugly edifice” (Hawthorne 56), known as jail. The result to that was she had to wear a letter “A” on her breast. Then she had to show the “scarlet letter in the market place” (Hawthorne 63), and everyone eyes were “fastened upon her and concentrated at her bosom” (Hawthorne 66). All the townspeople think Hester is a very bad person, so no one talks to her or even associates with her.

She feels as her sin had taken away everything she has and gave her little Pearl. She feels unwanted in the community; therefore she lives in an abandon cottage far from the town. After awhile, Hester got out of her shelter and she starts caring for the less fortunate by give them food and clothes. She also did needlework for the governor. Hester becomes more involve in the community because she feels that she owes it to the people.

After awhile, the community started to think differently of her they think that the “A” on her bosom means able. Even when Hester leaves the town she feels as it will be necessary for her to come back and help people. The sin made her lifestyle rough but Hester becomes a stronger and wiser woman in result of how her sin impacts her life. The sin of Dimmesdale was being a hypocrite and it impacts his whole life drastically. First, Mr.

Dimmesdale found out about Hester’s adultery case and he told his congregation that he was very mad that “a scandal [has came] upon his congregation” (Hawthorne 59). In reality Dimmesdale knows why Hester is going to jail because he is the person she had an affair with while she was married. Dimmesdale feels so terrible that he did not confess his sin because now he has to pretend that he did not do anything. Meanwhile, Dimmesdale would preach a sermon to his congregation but he is doing something worse. In result to his torture Dimmesdale was in “reduced condition” (Hawthorne 189).

He feels as if the sin is taking away his meaning in life. Dimmmesdale thought that Roger was really going to help him and give him medical help but in pure sight Roger was making his life harder to live. In result Dimmesdale becomes extremely sick to the point that he has to walk with a cane. Nonetheless, it is not because of old age but it is the guilt and sin that makes Dimmesdale always put “his hands over his heart” (Hawthorne 290). People say that Dimmesdale passed in result from Chillingworth’s poisonous magic or from his inner remorse.

Dimmesdale sin made his life a difficult journey to live. The sin of Roger Chillingworth is revenge and it impacts his life very critically. He finds out that his wife had an affair and he did not know .Then, Roger was extremely mad that the man did not stand on the scaffold with her when she gets the punishment for her sin but he said “He will be known! He will be known!” (Hawthorne 73). After a while, Roger finds out Dimmesdale is the man Hester had an affair with so he tells Dimmesdale that he wants to be his personal doctor.

Then, Roger moves in with Dimmesdale to act like he is going to take care of him and give him medical help but in reality he is torturing Dimmesdale. One day Pearl told Hester the “old black man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already” (Hawthorne 159). Roger did something to the Reverend but no one knows, he is “revealed to him the pitiless to the unforgiving” (Hawthorne 165). Although, Roger “cause him to die a daily living death” Dimmesdale still manages to go to church and preach a wonderful sermon. Roger sin is bigger than both Hester and Dimmesdale because he uses revenge to harm them physically and mentally. After, Dimmesdale passes away Roger feels that “there [is] no more Devil work on earth for him to do” (Hawthorne 312).

Then, a couple years later Chillingworth wastes away and dies. Roger sin made his life bitter and regretful to live. The sin of Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth critically impacted their lives in The Scarlet Letter. The community loves Hester and how she is more in involved in the town. Arthur had a rough life and it was terrible for him. While, Chillingworth is sabotages Arthur he also hurts himself in the inside.

The reader believes that the Puritan community should punish Roger for his sin because it was the worse of them all. The Scarlet Letter has many critical life changing lessons that everyone should learn from.