Nathaniel Hawthorne's Hypocrisy: The True Sin

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An Examination of the Hypocrisy in The Scarlet Letter: The True Sin
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter highlights the complexities of Puritan society in a colonial American setting. The protagonist, Hester Prynne, faces many obstacles and impediments due to her infidelity. She has an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale, a beloved reverend, while her husband (using the alias “Roger Chillingworth” later in the book) is absent. The Puritan leaders publicly shame and isolate her with her daughter, Pearl, and although Hester accepts the outcome given by the overseers, she does not believe she sinned. Throughout Pearl's adolescence, Dimmesdale would not confess to being her father; though both his ego and the toxic presence of Chillingworth forces …show more content…
Pearl asks her mother multiple times if the minister will hold their hands and be seen in public together (105, 145, 157). Hawthorne writes this to present the obvious hypocrisy that only an innocent child can see. Although Dimmesdale and Hester have an intimate relationship, it is clear that Dimmesdale is not willing to be connected with Hester and wants to keep it hidden. This proves that his love for Hester, or lack thereof, is not as powerful as his reputation. Because he does not admit publicly, there is no way to truly repent. Instead, he beats himself with a scourge and fasts in order to punish himself (99). Self-mutilation is indeed a sin and he uses torture methods, “in accordance with the old, corrupted faith of Rome” (99). He would rather punish himself than be punished by those he preaches to. Subsequently, he tries to indemnify his sins and persuade the leaders to treat him as a sinner, they take it as modesty and humility. The community worships him as an example and deem him a miracle of holiness, even though his religious influence and charm are built on a fabrication of lies. As he gets weaker, his sermons become stronger, leaving the readers questioning whether he would have been a better minister for the weak if he indeed confessed his sins rather than punishing himself. He will always be “the mouthpiece of Heaven’s …show more content…
She believes the sin of adultery is an act of love, and because “she felt no love” for Chillingworth, Hester does not regret her actions (51). However, she still accepts the clergymen’s verdict with no rebuttal. After more than seven years with the scarlet letter branded on her chest, she still believes that it is a, “sin of passion, not of principle, nor even purpose” (137). Although she follows Puritan beliefs, she has a rebellious attitude through her daughter. Hester wears dull clothes, while she dresses Pearl in a “velvet tunic... abundantly embroidered with fantasies and flourishes of gold thread” (69). Hester raises Pearl alone, even after Governor Bellingham and the other leaders spoke of taking Pearl from Hester (68). Pearl also defies the law of succession; she receives Chillingworth's inheritance, and marries well. However, after Pearl, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale are gone, Hester still decides to go back to the town, live in the same house, and wear the scarlet letter (179). She dreamt of once leaving, crying, “Is the world, then, so narrow? Doth the universe lie within the compass of yonder town?” She still returns at the end. As much as she rebels, and thinks she did not do anything wrong, she wears the scarlet letter until she
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