Literature, as a whole, would be much more appealing if authors let their readers make their own decisions about the events or characters in the story. The ambiguousness of The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne leaves many of the actions, events, and issues involving the characters up to the reader's own assumption. One of the issues posed by Hawthorne during the story is that of responsibility. Hawthorne illustrates that the lack of responsibility is harmful and should be held with contempt through the character Arthur Dimmesdale, the unholy minister whose guilt of being an adulterer eventually kills him.
Hawthorne's story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, then a Puritan settlement. A young woman, Hester Prynne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter "A" on her breast. Hester's husband, a scholar much older than she is, sent her ahead to America, but he never arrived in Boston. While waiting for her husband, Hester has apparently had an affair, as she has given birth to a child and she will not reveal her lover's identity, which is actually the beloved and eloquent priest Arthur Dimmesdale. The account of Dimmesdale begins with the first scaffold scene. This is where the public castigates Hester. Arthur takes the broad and easy path, by not admitting to the sinfulness with Hester, whose sin is openly public knowledge. Dimmesdale's lack of responsibility is seen through his response to Hester. He tells her through his hidden verbal message that she does not have to tell the public whom her cohort is if she does not want to. In other words he asks Hester to cover his butt. Essentially, Hawthorne wants his audience to understand that irresponsibility is something to look down upon as the ultimate injustice a person can place on himself and others. Further on, Dimmesdale again does not show conscientiousness in holding back his argument for Hester to keep her (their) child.
