Sin in The Scarlet Letter

Sin in The Scarlet Letter

温州师范学院外语系
ZhangQihui 　

Abstract: My essay's main objective is to tell who is the greatest sinner and prove those who concealed his or her sin will suffer more than those who confessed to the public.
Key words: sin, Dimmesdale, Hester

Sin is defined in Webster New World Dictionary as fault, the willful breaking of religious or moral law.? Mankind is prone to some degree of sin: it is a barrier that can not be avoided. But it is a question as to what mankind can do in order to achieve redemption from sinister ways, and also how to redeem. However great a sin may seem, it can only augment itself by the perpetrator not owning up and taking responsibility for it. In the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, perhaps the greatest sinner was Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale.
Many of Hawthorne's works centers around what is right or wrong, and the consequences of breaking the basic links between humans by committing acts of sin (Brown). In this book, Reverend Dimmesdale is Hester Prynne's secret lover, with whom he shares his sin, the sin of adultery. It is ironic that despite Dimmesdale's profession, he commits this sin. For a great amount of time in this book, author Nathaniel Hawthorne shows how this sin is frowned upon by many of the townspeople.

The greatest sinner in The Scarlet Letter is the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Not only for the sin he committed, but also for avoiding the very important and essential confession: owning up to his sin. Because he didn't own up to his sin of adultery, he took no responsibility whatsoever for Hester and their creation, Pearl. The events help us to understand how Hawthorne used criticism and duality to prove a point in this story, the point being that people sin and make mistakes, even in such a strict and religious society as the Puritans had long ago. Sin is a constant in society, and that perhaps will never change. A sin can only become deeper if the perpetrator spends a great deal of his or her own life concealing it, keeping it bottled up inside, until one is ready to burst.

Note:
http://www.usinternet.com/users/bdbournellonie.htm. March 1, 2000.
http//:www.std.enmu.edu/arthurpi/arthur.html. February 15, 2000.
http://www.chuckiii.com/reports/book_reports/scarlet_letter.shtml.
Nicholas J. classic Notes: Acknowledgment of Sources for the Summaries and Analysis: The Scarlet letter by Nathaniel Howthorne http://www.grad Bloom, Harold, ed. Hester Prynne. New York and Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 1990.


Bibliography:
Colarcurcio, Michael J, ed. New Essays on The Scarlet Letter. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1985.
Gross, Seymour L, ed. A Scarlet Letter Handbook. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1967.
Kesterson, David B.. Critical Essays on Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1988.
http://www.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/enl311/hawthor.htm
http://www.d.umn.edu/~sadams/Authors/hawthorn.htm