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Going through life can be described as wandering lost inside a forest. Each path leads to another, until one reaches a final endpoint, be it pain, blessing, death, or the entity sought for, the exit. Choosing the mysterious and rigorous path over the tempting and short one can make all the difference to the outcome. Nonetheless, one is always lost, and results will come unexpectedly, whether good or bad or whether affecting oneself or even others that are encountered. Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter focuses on the choices of paths Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, the three main characters, whose decisions ultimately decide their fates in the conclusion of the book.
The beginning of the book opens with Hester receiving her punishment for adultery. She is publicly displayed holding her baby for her punishment, yet she does not reveal who the father of the baby is. As she is displayed, she is asked by Dimmesdale, the minister and the father of the baby, whether she wants to reveal the other perpetrator to the crowd, but Hester refuses. Momentarily afterwards, Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, is seen in the crowd, and introduced. After the public display of Hester, Chillingworth and Hester make a deal, in which her crime of adultery would be forgiven by Chillingworth if she would keep his identity a secret, since he rabidly seeks revenge toward the father of the baby. The rest of the story tells of the interactions between the three. In the end, Dimmesdale dies after confessing his sin, Chillingworth dies in a short period of time after Dimmesdale, and Hester lives on alone helping out the less fortunate of the town.
Although Hester made the decision of committing adultery, the reason she lives on is her dealing with the scarlet letter that she is given to exhibit to the town. Instead of mourning and hiding her letter, Hester does the exact opposite of what the town expects. Hester goes against all odds against her by the town due to her...