In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne unveils the tale of two lovers in a Puritan society: one a minister and the other a lowly embroiderer. They fall in love and create a child together out of wedlock. The society then rejects the mother, Hester Prynne, and forces her to wear a scarlet letter, the novel’s namesake. Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister, stays quiet about this affair in fear that the society will similarly disown him. This novel focuses on the differences between these two characters caused by their differing choices on how to deal with sin. Dimmesdale quietly fades over time, his

The many sub-themes in The Scarlet Letter also add to the main discussion by clarifying the crippling effects of sin. For example, Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynne’s vengeful husband, slowly forces Dimmesdale to go crazy as a mode of his revenge. At one point in the story however, Chillingworth expresses how he feels he wasted his life on his revenge, and explains that his sin is all he has left (p. 155). Roger Chillingworth’s sin of vengeance can be dealt with in two ways: by continuing to seek revenge, or by stopping and apologizing. Unfortunately, Chillingworth decides to continue and becomes even more weak and pitiful. Physical weakness and its connection to spiritual degradation is another theme throughout the novel. As characters like Dimmesdale and Chillingworth continue to weaken and degrade physically, this increased weakness alludes to the spiritual weakness and degradation in each character. Hawthorne also uses the innocence of youth in little Pearl, Hester’s child, to further strengthen his position. Pearl always knows more than she should, and asks the exact questions she should not. These questions shape Dimmesdale and Hester in their personal development, because the questions are so striking that they cause each character to reflect on their course of action. These themes, scattered through

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