The Greater Sin In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'

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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. Even though the book is mostly about Hester, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth become very prominent characters. They both change vastly throughout the course of the story, but not for the better. Their actions reveal things about their original and changing personalities and characteristics. Arthur Dimmesdale is a preacher in the Puritan town where the story takes place. The townspeople view him as the Godliest person out of all of them. This view only gets more elevated through the novel until he is almost and idol to them. This makes it even harder on him knowing the sin he has…show more content…
This is because of the way Dimmesdale acts after his sins. He has realized what he has done and he tries to purify himself, but goes about it the wrong way. And yes, Dimmesdale lets Hester suffer alone most of her life because he does not confess, but at least he had guilt for it and he suffers in his own way. Chillingworth makes Dimmesdale suffer greatly during his life and he feels fulfilled by that because he is doing what he set out to do, to make him suffer and feel terrible for what he has done. And by masking his identity, he makes Dimmesdale wonder why he would want to do this to him. So Roger Chillingworth is at more at fault because of all the things that he made Dimmesdale go through; and also because he does not feel any remorse for his
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