Peter Mills
10/17/11

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published by the Penguin Group, is a well known classic with an enthralling storyline. This book shows how sin can wreak havoc in people’s lives if they do not ask the Lord for forgiveness. In the beginning, the book’s first character is Hester, a newcomer to the community, who has committed adultery with an unknown person. Her husband, who has not yet moved to the town, finally arrives, only to discover what Hester has done. Assuming a false identity, he goes under the guise of Roger Chillingsworth and attaches himself to Arthur Dimmesdale, the beloved minister of the town. It is later revealed that Dimmesdale is the other adulterer, and that Chillingsworth is torturing Dimmesdale’s conscience. Dimmesdale whips himself in the closet, and grows paler and weaker. Eventually, Dimmesdale proclaims at the end of the book that he is the other adulterer, and then dies with a free conscience. Chillingsworth dies soon after, since he has no one left to torture and take revenge on. In this paper, I will examine of each characters sin (Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingsworth) and explain the effect it had on them.

Hester committed adultery with Arthur Dimmesdale. The effect of this sin greatly altered her personality. “the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast, - at her, the child of honorable parents,- at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman,- at her, who had once been innocent,- as the figure, the body, the reality of sin. And over her grave, the infamy that she must carry thither would be her only monument.” (72 Hawthorne) Hester became almost completely devoid of any emotion.

Arthur Dimmesdale committed adultery with Hester. The effect of this sin practically killed him. “How feeble and pale he looked... The glow, which they had just before beheld burning on his cheek, was extinguished, like a flam that sinks down hopelessly among the late-decaying embers. It seemed hardly the face of a man alive, with such a deathlike hue; it was hardly a man with life in him...” (231, 232 Hawthorne) He died after his proclamation of his sin, but he died forgiven and happy.

Chillingsworth’s sin was different from the sins of the other characters. He was called the “leech”, because once Dimmesdale died, he lost his purpose in life. Once he discovered that Dimmesdale committed adultery with his wife, he went crazy and the only thing on his mind was revenge. “Old Roger Chillingsworth, throughout life, had been calm in temperament, kindly, though not of warm affections, but ever, and in all his relations with the world, a pure and upright man. He had begun an investigation, as he imagined, with the severe and equal integrity of a judge, desirous only of truth... But, as he proceeded, a terrible fascination, a kind of fierce,, though still calm, necessity seized the old man within its gripe, and never set him free again until he had done all its bidding. He now dug into the poor clergyman’s heart, like a miner searching for gold; or, rather, like a sexton delving into a grave...” (117 Hawthorn) The devil took over Chillingsworth, and drove him to the brink of insanity, trying to torture Dimmesdale.

I believe that Chillingsworth committed the greatest sin. Although a sin is a sin, his did the most evil. As it says in the Bible, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.”(Romans12:19) Chillingsworth allowed evil to corrupt him, “All his strength and energy - all his vital and intellectual force - seemed at once to desert him; insomuch that he positively withered up, shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun. This unhappy man had made the very principle of his life to consist in the pursuit and systematic exercise of revenge; and when, by its completest triumph and consummation, that evil principle was left with no further material to support it, - when, in short, there was no more devil’s work on earth for him to do, it only remained for the unhumanized mortal to betake himself whither his master would find him tasks enough, and pay him his wages duly.” So when there was no more devil’s work to do, he shrivelled up and died. Overall, I believe this is more than enough evidence to prove that Chillingsworth’s sin was the worst. This book candidly shows how one sin can have a chain effect that disrupts and ultimately destroys the lives of many people.