Such helpfulness was found in her,—so much power to do, and power to sympathize,—that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification.” (144) This causes the scarlet letter to now represent “Able” and proves that Hester didn’t try to commit her sin or hurt others around her. Arthur Dimmesdale, a very religious man who is looked up to by many in the puritan society. He also committed the sin of adultery with Hester Prynne, except he didn’t suffer the same public humiliation as her. Instead he suffered in private, physically and mentally. We learn that his sin causes him to get weaker and weaker due to his guilt as he continues his life in the novel.
Because she lived in such a God driven and puritan town, the judicial system of the settlement had decided for her to acknowledge her sin by embroidering a vibrant scarlet letter “A” onto her dress to symbolize adultery. She was often ostracized from the rest of the town since she was forced to wear the crimson “A” everywhere she went. As well as the letter to remind her of the wrong she had done, the affair had left her with a fatherless daughter named Pearl. Later in the novel we discover the father is the Reverend of the town, the admirable Arthur Dimmesdale. Through pain, remorse and agony the novel reveals that it is better to tell a harmless lie then to confess a hurtful truth.
He preaches the one thing that he’s most guilty for. “Avarice is the most of all evil” (“The Pardoner’s Tale”.) The greed and hypocrisy is also shown in the tale that he tells. Throughout the tale itself, the greed and hypocrisy that the Pardoner has, is also shown. In the tale, three friends begin a Journey in order to kill death.
Proctor tried to protect his wife from this and Hester tried to protect Dimsdale’s name; unfortunately they were both punished for it. John and Hester still have their differences. One difference was how they were punished for their sin. Proctor was condemned to death for his sin and Hester was put on a public scaffold for her sin. Also Hester’s name was known thru the town to have committed adultery.
He is constantly put on a pedestal, "the agony with which this public veneration tortured him. It was his genuine impulse to adore the truth, and to reckon all things shadow-like, and utterly devoid of weight or value” (Hawthorne 145). Dimmesdale felt as though he could not let anyone know his undisclosed sin either, in a worry that the public eye would judge him negatively. Specifically,
Though, man’s world is a harsh and judgmental society. The reader can see this misjudged character by Grendel’s first encounter with man, the ability to show human emotions, and Grendel’s opinion towards the shaper. Grendel’s first encounter with man was the first time the reader can realize that Grendel is a misunderstood character. Grendel believes man is proud, vain, and unobservant to the world around him. “The world resists me and I resist the world.” (pg.
Expository Essay In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the magistrates of the Boston colony penalize Hester Prynne by forcing her to wear a letter A on her breast, intending to isolate her from society and call attention to her sin. I feel that the letter did exactly what they anticipated. First of all, the letter did isolate her. It made Hester an outcast in almost every aspect and life for her was difficult. Second, she was looked down upon, and known to everyone as a sinner and nothing more.
Madi Seigler Mrs. Beitz AP Language 20 October 2011 The Greater Sin The novel The Scarlet Letter tells of Hester Prynne’s sin and how it affects her and the town she lives in. She has committed adultery which is a capital sin in her Puritan town; however someone else had to take part in that sin. But no man ever confesses, so he remains a mystery to the town. All except for Roger Chillingworth, who is Hester’s husband. He is able to figure out that it is the preacher in the town, Arthur Dimmesdale.
Her clothes being of the “coarsest material” and “sombre hue” (80) are evidence of the miserable feeling taking over her. As a result of her deception, Hester no longer obtains her former beauty. Instead, it is replaced with a dreary plainness. Hester is also affected emotionally. Before Hester was ever shunned by society due to the lies brought about by the scarlet letter, Hester was known to be a passionate woman.
It was said that the greatest night of their lifes is when they marry and lose their virginity to their beloved husband. “ Without sexual purity, a women was no women but rather a lower form of being “fallen women” unworthy of love of her sex and unfit for their company” ( Lavender 2). It was unlikely at this time for the unfit “fallen women” to get married. However in “A Respectable Women”, Mrs. Baroda defies the role of purity when she desires her husband’s friend. In the short story “A Respectable Women” by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Baroda the leading women goes against her purity and faithfulness to her husband because she was his friend Gouvernail.