Private Guilt In The Scarlet Letter

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What are people guilty of? People face guilt for many sins. They are guilty of adultery, harming others, seeking revenge, and countless more. They hurt others and themselves with these deeds and the guilt they face for these sins can be even worse. The guilt everybody faces can be known solely with the people the guilt affects, private guilt, or guilt can be known with the public, public guilt. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, he provides many examples of guilt affecting his characters throughout the novel. In the novel a theme these instances show that private guilt is worse than public guilt. Dimmsdale and Hester are used as examples of this moral . The private guilt that Hawthorne describes affects the sinner, Dimmesdale, more …show more content…
Throughout the novel, it appears that Dimmesdale has a depressing guilt that is only known to him, but the effect of this guilt is known to to the whole time and is detrimental towards Dimmesdale’s wellbeing. In chapter 9, Hawthorne describes how Dimmesdale's health is declining to feeble body. Hawthorne writes that Dimmesdale refuses medical health even though his health is deteriorating every week in his sermons. Hawthorne uses this to demonstrate how the guilt Dimmesdale has affected his overall health Later the physician, Roger Chillingworth, jabs at the idea of Dimmesdale's suffering is caused by an ailment of the soul instead of an illness of the body or mind. The author use this to show that Dimmesdale has something troubling him and that he might the father that was a mystery to the reader. In chapter 11, the author reveals that Dimmesdale has been fasting to the point that the pastor can hardly stand without shaking as an act of pious repentance. This act furthered the assumptions of the reader that Dimmesdale was guiltily of something that troubled him deeply. Also, he was so close to death that he saw visions of people who had died including his mother. The author wrote that his mother may have gave a look of discontent towards her son. Hawthorne uses to show that even his mother shows contempt towards her son for his actions and his
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