To purify the Church of England would require rules that allow little room for tolerance. "Spare the rod, spoil the child"(KJV, Proverbs) was abused. If one did not go by their standards they may very well be branded a witch, and much was measured by outward appearance rather than by the heart. Forgiveness was not in their vocabulary. It was more important to consider justice served by outward ridicule, mockery, and branding the letter "A" on a person's garment, which stood for Adulterer, than to try to redeem the person through forgiveness, prayer and personal involvement. Because his act of adultery, Dimmesdale is convinced that he must maintain his secret sin. To confess would surely bring ridicule on Hester, the woman he loves, humiliation to his daughter Pearl, as well as ridicule from the church on himself.
3.
"An Absent Father," really speaks not only for Dimmesdale and his role as a .
father but the absence of God the heavenly Father as well. This is not to suggest that God was absent during this time. The goal is to illustrate that the consequences of sin are much greater when He is not a part of the healing process.
Although some would argue that Dimmesdale was not a father, most would have to disagree. It is not that he was not a father, for Pearl was the evidence of the act he committed. However, the reality was that he was not a good father. .
Unfortunately, as in today's society, many children are exposed to an "absentee" father. Today as well as then, nothing has changed. Children today, share the same emotions and thoughts that Pearl experienced. The absence of a father shapes the thoughts and beliefs of one's life as negatively as the presence of a father would influence them positively. Obviously, a liberty has been taken that of a Christian father's influence here.
" (The Scarlet Letter). ... " (The Scarlet Letter). Women were allowed to conduct financial dealings and other matters if their fathers or husbands were absent or ill. ... " (The Scarlet Letter). ... Hester stated that "I do talk to God" (The Scarlet Letter). ...
""Thy Heavenly Father sent thee!... "I have no Heavenly Father!'' ... Both can be true; if she was devout, God is her father but in the earthly world He could not be Pearl's actual father. "Individuals in private life, meanwhile, had quite forgiven Hester Prynne for her frailty; nay, more, they had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since " (147). The truth of Hester's scarlet letter changed; it no longer represented her weakness a...
The novel tells the story of how the March family lives; the four girls and their mother are left to survive after their father has left to fight for his country. ... Marmee, their mother, comes home with a letter from Mr. March, the girls' father, who is serving as a Union chaplain in the Civil War. This letter inspires the girls to bear their burdens more cheerfully and not to complain about their poverty. ... During the time Marmee is absent; Beth develops scarlet fever and is brutally ill. ...