Analysis of Sin and Guilt in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter"

Sin and guilt is the inward conflict that is continuously mentioned in Nathaniel Hawthorn's book The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth experience the effects of sin and guilt in different forms and are forced to handle they're delimmas. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are both convicted for having the sin of adultery while Roger Chillingworth is guilty of having the sin of revenge. Hester has shown to deal with her sin of adultery in the most effective way and has used it to her advantage while Dimmesdale has handled his sin in the least effective way.

Throughout the novel, there are different forms of sin and guilt which are handled in unique ways. The sin that Hester Prynne has committed is adultery. She is guilty of the crime and is punished by society for it with the scarlet letter. Hester takes the scarlet letter without remorse and she manages her sin by situating her punishment to her advantage. She is cast out of the village and is forced to live in the forest along with Pearl. She handles her guilt by devoting her life and knowledge to aid Pearl in growing and becoming a well respected person. Hester shows her devotion when she states" quote". Hester also deals with her guilt by seeing the light in her situation. Since Hester is no longer a real part of society, she doesn't have to constantly conform to Puritan life styles. Hester feels free to express her opinions in her house in the forest and does so by doing things such as letting her hair down or let Pearl adventure outside. Eventually people who begin to notice this change in Hester start to see a new meaning to the scarlet letter as well which is shown in Chapter 13 Hester does not truly feel shame for her actions which is why she is able to use her situation to her advantage and handle her sin and guilt so effectively.

Hester has fornicated with Dimmesdale therefore he is also guilty of the sin of adultery. Dimmesdale manages his guilt of adultery in a much different way than Hester. He pretends like it doesn't exist in the public eye. Dimmesdale feels truly shameful of the sin and his guilt increases after the community tortures Hester. Dimmesdale has to confront himself and fight the inward conflict he has with himself. He handles his situation by fasting and praying. Since Dimmesdale is a preacher he has become a hypocrite and lost his own sense of judgement. Dimmesdale believes he truly can't tell right from wrong and he deals with his position by blindingly befriending Roger Chillingworth. Dimmesdale's lack of confidence in his own judgment is evident in chapter 11. Eventually the guilt of comitting adultery causes Dimmesdale to grow weak; so after deciding he can withstand it no longer, he decides to ultimately handle his guilt by confessing. Confessing the sin is so liberating to Dimmesdale, which is shown when he speaks to Hester for the final time is chapter 23 , that his soul escapes his body. Dimmesdale was constantly being conflicted with the choice to pretend to be utterly oblivious to Hester and the sin or to outwardly confess.

The sin that Roger Chillingworth committed was the sin of revenge. He felt no shame toward his sin and he showed no sympathy for Dimmesdale's suffering. Chillingworth wanted to advance Dimmesdale's suffering by playing mind games such as the one shown in Chapter 11. Chillingworth takes care of his guilt by devoting his life to prolonging Dimmesdale's suffering. Chillingworth is so dedicated to exacting his revenge that once Dimmesdale confesses and his soul is released, Chillingworth has no reason to live anymore. His eventual fate is shown when his death is described in Chapter 24. Chillingworth sinned out of anger for the adultery and he never felt any shame for his revenge because to him it wasn't a sin, but more like a goal.