Who Commited the Worst Sin in the Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne

In the classic novel, "The Scarlet Letter," by Nathanial Hawthorne, several of the important characters can be described as committing atrocious sins. After reading this novel, many may find themselves questioning, whose sin was the worst? Opinions may differ, but one character stands out from the rest. Minister Dimmesdale committed the worst sin, because not only did he commit adultery, he kept his sin hidden from the world, punishing himself, while preaching the importance of repentance and forgiveness. He adds hypocrisy and deceit to his sin, while his conscience slowly eats away at his soul.

First, you may ask yourself, why is Dimmesdale's sin any worse than Hester's? This is because Hester's sin is opened up to the world. She accepts her punishment, and sees the scarlet letter as a chance to grow. Later, she learns that it defines her as a person, although not in the negative way in which the townspeople might have hoped. Dimmesdale on the other hand, keeps his sin hidden from the world, known only to himself. Diblle, Terry J. explains his hypocrisy well in Cliff Notes on Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, "Dimmesdale, being a minister, who is supposed to be absolutely pure, and who fervently urges his congregations to confess and openly repent their sins... And, all the while, Dimmesdale knows that he himself is incapable of doing just that - confessing his own sin of adultery and repenting (63-64)." Dimmesdale is a Hypocrite, and is very aware of it. Sadly, instead of following his own advice given during his sermons, he rationalizes and justifies his behavior.

Also, not only is Dimmesdale a hypocrite to the fullest extent of the word, he punishes himself relentlessly for just this reason. For this cause, Dimmesdale's sin is the worst of all. He slowly kills himself, in fear of living a life of truth. In trying to protect himself from society, he ends up distancing himself from it entirely. This is well stated by Kail, A. N. in, "The Scarlet Letter and Puritan Ethics," "Because he is false to his primary social duty, because he is oblivious of his duty to Hester And Pearl - because, in short, he has withdrawn himself and lost hold of the chain of human relationships - his is the inevitable fate reserved for such action in Hawthorne's universe: the whole world seems to him false, even nonexistent, and he himself, "becomes a shadow, or, indeed, ceases to exist" (16-17)." He even goes as far as rejecting his own daughter. "Thou wast not bold! - Thou wast not true!" Pearl exclaims, "Though wouldst not promise to take my hand, and my mothers hand, to-morrow noontide (Hawthorne 97)!"

In conclusion, Dimmesdale by far committed the most serious sin in, "The Scarlet Letter." Now, some may argue that the title of worst sinner belongs to Roger Chillingworth. Though its true that Chillingworth is a merciless leach, he was open with his mistakes, as well as his search for revenge. Unlike Dimmesdale, he did not sin against himself. Dimmesdale is like many modern day people. Out of fear of being resented by society, people keep their secrets hidden, trusting no one. Little do they know, this only hurts themselves in the long run.