The Crucible When one commits a sin, they must first forgive or accept themselves before they expect others to forgive or accept them. This is a concept that had to be accepted by the characters Hester and John. Hester Prynne, from The Scarlet Letter, committed adultery with the town’s minister and had a child. John Proctor, from The Crucible, also committed adultery with a woman, Abigail Williams, while his wife was pregnant. While the differences between John Proctor and Hester Prynne are countless, there are still several striking similarities between the two.
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.
Brooke Clayton 10/10/2011 AP English Language Thesis Statement Paragraph The issue I am going to address in my essay is hypocrisy and how it is the main theme of The Scarlet Letter. The main example from the novel that I am going to use is the character of Arthur Dimmesdale. He preaches in his sermons that sins hidden will eventually be found out, yet hides the sins that he commits throughout his life. He claims that he loves Pearl and Hester, yet refuses to be seen in public with them. He keeps secrets from the entire community, yet is consumed with rage when Hester tells him the truth about Roger Chillingworth being her husband.
In The Scarlet Letter, the sin that has been committed is adultery where Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale conceive an illegitimate child, a daughter named Pearl. Throughout the story Hester is put on display and humiliated for her sin, while Dimmsdale is still thought to be the "almighty" minister. In similarity from The Crucible, sin is put on trial. The Crucible directly addresses the themes and ideas from Salem Witch Trials. The young girls and their leader Abigail are the core of sin and evil in the girls and the community.
The reader gets the feeling that the townspeople are more impressed by the scarlet A she wears and not for the punishment she is serving for the sins she committed. When Hester gets out of prison everyone starts at her and she is the topic of conversation. But what she doesn’t realize is that the townspeople are talking about the embroidery that she has done. “Lonely as was Hester’s situations, and without a friend on earth who dared to show himself, she however, incurred no risk of want.”(56) Hawthorne uses selection to detail of detail to show that Hester Prynne has a wonderful talent for needlework, and that she also loves to make cloths for the townspeople. On the other hand the reader learns that Hester is ashamed of herself, and that she cares what other people think.
He feels betrayed and his pain turns to anger as he becomes engulfed with rage and vows to destroy her partner. When he confronts Hester for the first time, she asks him ‘“Art thou like the Black Man that haunts the forest round about us? Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?’ /’ ‘Not thy soul,’ he answered, with another smile. ‘No, not thine!’” (Hawthorne, 74). Hester equates him to the devil; but Chillingworth makes it clear he seeks no vengeance on her, only her partner.
Pearl: the Constant Reminder In the 1650's the strict Puritan community, in Boston Massachusetts punished those who sinned. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Hester, is punished and looked down upon for committing adultery. When Hester has her baby, Pearl, The Puritans see her as having a bit of evil in her. Pearl, who is a constant reminder to Hester about the sin she had committed, is a significant symbol in this novel. In the beginning of the novel, Pearl always reminds Hester of her sin, even though she does not mean to do so purposely.
Concealed Sin of Dimmesdale In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, there is a stress on the conflict with concealed sin. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is a clear character of anguish that concealed sin can bring upon an individual. Dimmesdale lived his life as an exceedingly popularized character of innocence. He kept his troubles hidden from the townspeople. He lived with his troubles and was distressed by the thoughts of his sin on a daily basis throughout his life.
The Scarlet Letter Essay Through out The Scarlet Letter one of the main themes deals with the effects of guilt and hidden sin. The first character that inquired the effects of sin was Hester Prynne; she had slept with the Pastor of the town Arthur Dimmesdale and become pregnant while she was married even though her husband was thought to be at the bottom of the sea. Since you cannot keep a baby secret, Hester had to face the punishment of adultery, which the judge decided that she was to wear the letter A on her chest for the rest of her life. Hester had to face all the negatively things all the towns people said about her, but at least it made herself and Pearl more stronger physical and mentally. Hester worked hard to get the towns people to respect her, the little bit they do by making clothes for the whole town except for brides because they were thought to be pure.
After his first sermon Rambert was so disturbed by the priest’s words that he tried to escape the town. Shortly after Father Paneloux’s sermon, Young Jacques Othon suffers slowly in front of Father Paneloux and while the boy was screaming and dieing slowly, He cried out “My god spare this child!” This had a large effect on the way Father Paneloux looked at the plague. Father Paneloux’s second sermon had a different domineer; he supplied comfort to the community instead of scaring them off. "It gives us a glimpse of that radiant eternal light which glows, a small still flame, in the dark core of human suffering. And this light, too, illuminates the shadowed paths that lead toward deliverance.