Hester is the most immediately affected by guilt, which is openly shown to the public by the scarlet letter, that she bears on her clothing. Another visible sign of her guilt is the embodiment of it in Pearl, who is the direct result of Hester’s sin and is therefore a constant reminder of guilt for both Hester and Dimmesdale. Pearl is also always doing something to further her mother’s guilt. The first thing she recognizes in the world is the scarlet letter, she often throws things at the letter, and she even makes one for herself out of seaweed. Hawthorne even shows her as an A herself Hester make her a beautiful red dress that is vaguely shaped like an A, and the townspeople see her as a little scarlet letter walking along side of Hester. Guilt leads to leads to Hester’s isolation men

Dimmesdale in contrast hides his sins, and the guilt eats away at him. From the first scene when he asks the townspeople to forgive Hester, all he really wants is for himself to be forgiven by the townspeople, by himself, and most importantly by god. Although Pearl is also a reminder to him of his guilt, she is not as hurtful, because Dimmesdale as a reverend is constantly reminded of his sins by the sermons he gives. He must always profess against the very deeds he has done and he tries to hide them still. The constant guilt he bears begins to wear on him to the point where he denies himself food and tortures himself physically; “His form grew emaciated; his voice, though still rich and sweet has a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it”(82). These are all examples of his penance, but it still is not enough. Dimmesdale tries many times to tell others of his sin but always falls just short of truly confessing. He attempts to tell the people at his church that he is

tally, and through the law and banishment to the peninsula she becomes isolated from society. Hester is constantly reminded of her guilt the most obvious example is when she travels to the governors mansion, and the description of her image as she looks into a breastplate of a suit of armor, “the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represente

Some topics in this essay:
Hester Guilt, Adulteress Dimmesdale, Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale, Despair Solitude, Roger Chillingworth, Bathsheba Nathan, Dimmesdale’s Chillingworth, Dimmesdale Pearl, Hawthorne Hester, scarlet letter, story based, reminder guilt, guilt scarlet, constantly reminded, guilt hester, guilt scarlet letter,