... -punishment. The sin begins to gnaw away at his sanity. As forms of penance he engages in late night vigils, starvation, and very severe self-mutilations. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale has many opportunities to acknowledge his wrongdoing. He could have confessed during the first scaffold scene as Hester stood in front of the townspeople ... not been able to openly admit his horrible sin, it tortures him from the inside preventing him from repenting his sin. The respect given to Arthur Dimmesdale for being of high social standard in his society was an honor that ended u...

• Word Count: 898
• Approx Pages: 4
• 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