How the Characters of the Scarlet Letter Represent Sin :: English Literature Essays

How the Characters of the Scarlet Letter Represent SinLexico Publishing Dictionary at Dictionary.com defines sin as 1. A transgression of a religious or moral law, especially when deliberate, and 2. Something regarded as being shameful, deplorable, or utterly wrong. These who definitions cleary even off the sin in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter, by dint of the characters Hester Prynne, her daughter Pearl, Dimmesdale the father, and Chillingworth, Hesters husband.Hester Prynne, the wearer of the famous violent garner that gave the novel its name, is the storys source of the unforgivable sin that tears through the community of Boston in the 1600s. Hesters future and reputation in her modest home t suffer were changed ceaselessly after she was sentenced to wear the beautifuly embroidered ruby-red garner A for the rest of her days in the village. This letter on her breast forces her to be a public stunnedcast, and a symbol for everyone else around her to flavor at, as a sinner. As Hawthorne describes it, It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a battlefield by herself , it did just that. Hester soon realizes that she is in a world of her own now, and must deal with this punishment as she has brought it onto herself. Since the scarlet letter itself represents sin, it brings approximately her isolation from the world and shows her sin will affect her own livlihood. Also, things much(prenominal) as guilt and lonliness are concequences of her sin, that she must learn to deal with. simply probly the most important symbol of her sin is her daughter Pearl, as she is active evidence of the adultery between Hester and Dimmsedale.Pearl, the outcome of the relation between Hester Prynne and high-minded Dimmesdale, is the very embodiment of Hester. Pearl represents them same thing the scarlet letter represents in once sense, as both are bound to Hester forever and are both outcomes of h er sin. Both Pearl and the letter A sum to the anguish and pain that the scarlet letter offer from her mothers sin. Pearl is not just a reminder of the deed like the scarlet letter, yet actually helps in the torturing of her mother without knowing it. As it did to Hester, the scarlet letter became a big part in Pearls life. Pearls attraction to it cloud her mother into even more suffering.