... upon themselfs as punishment. The harsh rules are apt to bring on sins in the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The sin of adultery affects Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, as well as the Physician Roger Chillingsworth. After Hester was convicted of adultery, she is forced to wear the scarlet letter "A" upon her breast for everyone to see. ... a stronger-willed person. After many years, she earned the respect of many Puritans through her craftsmen work and sincerity of her silence; unlike her partner, and Pearls father, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Addit...

• Word Count: 462
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... get worse as the story goes on. These three sinners, in the eyes of the puritan community are the beautiful Hester Prynne, the esteemed Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and the cold-hearted doctor, Roger Chillingworth. Like Hawthorne, I believe that evil is the nature of man but that there are different magnitudes ... him after he arrived in North America. She still goes against the strict Puritan rules, and breaks Commandment 7, which was often punished by death. Arthur Dimmesdale is a strong pillar of the community and a very devoted Puritan. What could he do that is worse than young Hester...

• Word Count: 1211
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... the truth determines the quality of their lives. While Hester Prynne admits her sins and resolves them over time through her charity work, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale bottles up his sins and his guilty conscience destroys his life. The first character to choose a path is Hester Prynne. When she ... minutes before his death, a cowardly way out" (Johnson, 58). While Hester suffered those seven years with the townspeople united against her, Dimmesdale gained prestige and fame due to his great preaching. He led wondrously moving sermons on honesty and the fate of those who did not ... a blood...

• Word Count: 914
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... on the scaffold to emphasize suffering and torment in Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Throughout the book, the scaffold has been the symbol of puritan society's harsh punishment for sinners. The three scaffold scenes in The Scarlet Letter convey the theme of sin not being tolerated whatsoever in Puritan Society. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is tormented throughout the story and in all three scenes with the ... scaffold. In the second scaffold scene, Dimmesdale is "overwhelmed with shame, and stand[s] where Hester Prynne had stood" (pg. 139). He "shriek[s] aloud" (pg. 136) as he ... ...

• Word Count: 598
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Arthur Dimmesdale: a modern man caught within the realm of the puritans. Dimmesdale's humanity is on trial throughout this novel, and on his journey to reconciliation we see how the world can break a man. Dimmesdale is hiding in fear as he travels his path to reconciliation. Throughout the novel Dimmesdale becomes increasingly ... in which he, Hester and Pearl are together upon the scaffold as a family. The reverend says "Come up hither once again, and we will stand all three together!" (pg140). After Dimmesdale gives his powerful speech, the author says "By yielding up his breath in the arm...

• Word Count: 1115
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... at a different degree of sinfulness. These three sinners (in the eyes of the Puritan community) are: the beautiful Hester Prynne, the esteemed Reverend Dimmesdale, and the cold-hearted doctor Roger Chillingworth. Hawthorn believes that evil is the nature of man but that there are different magnitudes of evil- ... alive or dead. But in fact, she still goes against the strict Puritan rules, and breaks commandment seven, which was often punished by death. Arthur Dimmesdale, a strong pillar of the community, and a very devoted Puritan, goes a little further into the same sin. First of all,...

• Word Count: 881
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... in placing it upon Hester's breast, the magistrates had blasphemously usurped the function of God, as Chillingworth later usurps it in his plot against Dimmesdale. Yet it serves her well in freeing her from all danger of trying to live such a lie as consumes her lover. She presents what ... decides to take Pearl away from Hester because Pearl states that she was plucked from a bush of wild roses instead of being created by God. Reverend Dimmesdale later persuades Bellingham that it was God's will to keep Pearl with her mother. Bellingham's ultimate decision to carry out God's will was th...

• Word Count: 942
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... . Main conflicts include man versus man, man versus self, and man versus society. The initial man versus man conflict was between Arthur Chillingworth and Reverend Dimmesdale. It had turned out that Chillingworth was Hester's former husband. He was a prominent figure in the society and had told Hester ... , in essence, to keep quiet about their relationship. He went on pretending to be Dimmesdale's friend. He plotted and schemed a way to fix his revenge, because he was hateful and jealous. Chillingworth wanted to ruin Dimmesdale ... held guilt that ripped him apart, because he was letting...

• Word Count: 1115
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School