Essay/Term paper: The scarlet letter

Essay, term paper, research paper:  The Scarlet Letter

People judge others they encounter based upon their own

values. These values are acquired through experiences in

the home, school, at work, and with friends. A person is

taught from their parents at a very young age what is right

and wrong, but they may fail to realize that the values they

are taught are filtered through the minds of those who

teach. Therefore one is a product of their previous

generation adding our his or her judgement to the values

that we will pass on. Hawthorne judges the characters in

The Scarlet Letter by using his own values. These values

were drastically different from other Puritans. Instead of the

stern, harsh values of the Puritans, Hawthorne sees life

through the eyes of a Romantic. He judges each person

accordingly, characterizing each person's sin as the

pardonable sin of nature or the unpardonable sin of the

human soul. One can infer, by the writing style, that

Hawthorne is most forgiving to Hester. He writes about

Hester with a feeling of compassion that the descriptions of

the other characters lack. Hawthorne approves of Hetser's

feeling, vitality, and thirst to overcome the iron shackles of

binding society. He shows us that although Hester is not

permitted to express her feelings verbally because of social

persecution, there is no one that can restrain the thoughts of

the human mind. Hawthorne, being a romantic and man of

nature himself, can relate to the this. - If you were to look

up the human mating characteristics in a science book you

may surprise yourself. The human instinct is to have more

than one partner not to stay loyal to one partner- In fact

Hester is often contrasted with the Puritan laws and rules,

especially when Hawthorne states: "The world's law was

no law for her mind." (70) Roger Chillingworth's

personality is one of intelligence and knowledge but no

feeling. Hawthorne considers Roger Chilingworth's sin the

worst in the book. In one of his journal entrees he labels it

the "unpardonable sin." Hawthorne describes him as very

cold and Puritan-like, an educated man that looked very

scholarly. As stated here: There was a remarkable

intelligence in his features, as a person who had so

cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mould to

physical to itself, and become manifest by unmistakable

tokens. (67) Hawthorne frequently refers to Chillingworth's

genius and diction, but purposely fails to have Chillingworth

show any slight sign of compassion. This lack of

compassion is what made him the monster that he is. He

treats people like a mathematical problem analyzing only

the facts, caring nothing about the harm that he might

cause.(my notes) He picks at Dimmsdale the same way as

described here: He now dug into the poor clergyman's

heart like a miner searching for gold or, rather, like a sexton

delving into a grave Possibly in the quest of a jewel that had

been buried on the dead mans bosom, but likely to find

nothing save morality and corruption. (127) Chillingworth

now takes room with Dimmsdale only pretending to be his

friend but secretly plotting his demise. Shortly after people

begin to notice "something ugly and evil in his face which

the had not previously noticed and grew to the more

obvious to sight the more they looked upon him." (67)

Chillingworth's face seemed to change more and more.

Hawthorne soon refers to Chillingworth as the black man,

which is a derivative of the devil. Hawthorne describes

Chillingworth with such strong disdain that in the end

Chillingworth simply dies when there is no pain or suffering

for him to live off of. He is a parasite, a leech that sucked

dry the life of the once young and strong Dimmsdale. For

this feat Chillingworth shall be eternally punished. He has

committed the worst sin, not of the mind but the mortal sin

that is the desecration of the human soul. The reader first

comes across Arthur Dimmsdale in the church making his

sermon. The people love him, regarding him as a good,

young, Christian man. The one thing that no one knows is

the secret that he holds within. We see that Dimmsdale

watches Hetser being prosecuted, doing nothing to stop the

injustice. He is a weak and immoral man that has no inner

strength whatsoever. In some points of the story he cannot

even bear to live with the sin, in some severe instances he

even whips himself as punishment, but he will not tell of the

sin because he fears the social persecution that he will

receive if he admits to this hanous crime. Dimmsdale's sin is

one of enigma. He commits a sin against two people, one

being himself and the other being Hester. It is very clear

that he has done Hester wrong but the sin against him is

more complicated. By not telling the people that he has

done wrong he lays tremendous guilt on his soul, so much

so that it causes his physical appearance to fade and almost

extinguishes as Hawthorne iterates here: His form grew

emaciated his voice, still rich and sweet had a melancholy

prophecy of decay in it he was often observed on a slight

alarm or other sudden accident, to put his hand over his

heart, with first a flush and then paleness, indicative of pain.

(119) Hawthorne is a romantic and has the personality of

one. He is most forgiving to Hester because she is a

Romantic person. She lives in a society many years before

her time, but she is strong willed and fights societies disdain

to overcome her own sin. He places Dimmsdale

somewhere amidst the foggy middle, between these two

characters. Dimmsdale is sat here because he commits no

direct sin. By not telling anyone of his secret sin he causes

the pain of himself and Hester. He clearly characterizes

Chilingworth as the least pardonable because he commits

the sin of the heart, the soul, and of God.