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Scarlet Letter Worst Sinner

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In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne explored the superficially-Christian ideals of Boston's Puritan society by revealing the sins committed by many individuals in the community. In this novel, Hester Prynne was an obvious sinner, forced by the community to forever harbor the scarlet letter on her chest as a reminder of her sin. Roger Chillingworth could also be considered a sinner for lying about his identity and mentally torturing his patient, Arthur Dimmesdale. However, one would be surprised to find that the worst sinner in this novel was one of the most pious men in the community. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale was the most sinful in this novel, because he committed adultery with Hester, lived a hypocritical life, and doubted God's ability …show more content…
When they first committed this sin, both Hester and Dimmesdale only knew that they were committing fornication, because Mr. Prynne had been missing for two years. Seven years after their encounter, Dimmesdale and Hester reunited in the forest, where Hester revealed that Mr. Chillingworth was her husband. To describe the events that occur during their reunion, Hawthorne writes, "All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the gray trunks of the solemn trees" (Hawthorne 184). In this sentence, Hawthorne implied that Hester and Dimmesdale committed their sin a second time. Dimmesdale shows that he was weak in his ability to resist temptation and that he was acting while fully aware that the action was against the Ten Commandments, making this sin much more severe than the …show more content…
He committed the sin of adultery, refused to make himself known as a sinner, and allowed himself to take over the responsibilities of God. These sins lead Dimmesdale to live a duplicitous life in which his private actions did not match what he preached to his church members. His doubts of God's ability to punish and to forgive also led him to punish himself, leading to his deteriorating physical and mental health and ultimate downfall. If Arthur Dimmesdale had been true, as Nathaniel Hawthorne advised, he would have suffered less misery and guilt. From Arthur Dimmesdale's mistakes, readers learn not only to lead an honest life, but to also be aware of the duplicity within the characters of the people around

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