Everybody sins at some point in his or her life. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne and the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale commit the sin of adultery. In the beginning, the magistrates of the town punish only Hester. She has to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest, stand on the scaffold for three hours, and go to jail. Many of the Puritans try to get Hester to speak the name of the father of her child, Pearl, but she refuses. After a short period, the Puritans stop trying to determine the name of the other sinner; however, Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband from England, arrives in Boston on the day of Hester’s punishment. The search for the father consumes Chillingworth, and he wants to seek revenge on him. He watches Pearl’s actions around other men and determines the father to be the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale does not tell anybody about his sin, and he begins to loathe himself because he does not do so. During the climax of the story, Dimmesdale finds relief from his guilt when he stands on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl and speaks the truth about his sin, but shortly after he dies. By revealing the effects of Hester and Arthur’s actions, The Scarlet Letter shows how sin brings consequences.
Hester Prynne, a character in this story, deals with the consequences of sin. She commits the sin of adultery with the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and faces many consequences because of her sin. One of her consequences is having to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest for the remainder of her life (7). This consequence shows all the townspeople that she was an adulterer. Another consequence she endures is having to stand on the scaffold for three hours allowing the townspeople to look at her and make fun of her (9), and a permanent reminder of her sin is her daughter Pearl (6). Compared to what other women would have received for punishment, death, Hester’s punishment is relatively light. Hester’s...