Mary Andrus
10/16/2014
The Scarlet Letter
The things you do reflect who you are, and often you become what you do. I will illustrate this point and explore elements of repentance and revenge as shown in the examples of Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth from the Scarlet Letter.
Hester
Hester was a young woman living in England, whose elderly husband sent her ahead of him to the puritan town of Salem. Sometime after her husband was assumed to have been lost at sea, Hester committed adultery.
The townspeople did not punish Hester for her adultery effectively. Instead of letting her repent and make up for her sin, the townspeople deemed Hester forever evil, marking her with a scarlet A to be scorned, mocked, and stared at.
The scarlet letter A that Hester was made to wear showed that Hester had committed adultery, and basically told people to scoff and mock her. I think part of why they did this, was to use Hester as an example of what not to do.
Rather than make Hester more receptive and humble, the punishment of being scorned as a public disgrace made Hester hard, skeptical, and un-trusting.
Because the townspeople did not forgive her, it was hard for Hester to forgive herself and repent. Hester’s choice to leave the letter on when she had the opportunity to take it off made her sour and bitter, not allowing herself to be forgiven.
The scarlet letter itself influenced Hester’s real identity; the shame coming from it made Hester more skeptical and worn. The scarlet letter also designed what society deemed her identity. At first, the scarlet letter symbolized Hester’s adultery, but because of Hester’s good deeds over the years, people began to interpret her letter differently, thinking it meant ‘able.’
Dimmesdale
Dimmesdale was one of the town Elders, the town preacher, and the secret father of Hester’s baby.

On the other hand, Dimmesdale, one of the town elders and a priest, refused to confess his guilt publicly. He was too proud to confess. He thought that he couldn’t confess because the townspeople would lose their trust and loyalty in him. By holding his secret deep inside, Dimmesdale could not forgive himself.
Although he was sorry for his sin, Dimmesdale could not feel peace because he had never fully repented. His guilt kept torturing him inside, while he tortured himself physically for the sin.
Dimmesdale thought that if he confessed, he would be letting the townspeople down. He became weak and frail from his choice of not confessing his sin. His guilt built up inside him, and made him miserable. Perhaps if Dimmesdale had confessed, Chillingworth may have found some other way of getting his revenge.
Although Hester and Dimmesdale were sorry for what they had done, they felt that through the laws of nature, their daughter Pearl, had tied them together, and that they had a right to live as a family. Instead of repenting and confessing, they were going to run away with pearl and establish a family. In the end they both repented moments before Dimmesdale’s body broke under the strain of keeping the secret and he died.
Chillingworth
Chillingworth was Hester’s deformed and elderly husband, who arrived in Salem disguised as a doctor, when Hester was convicted.
Chillingworth became evil from seeking revenge, and eventually died from not getting it. Chillingworth never got to reveal Dimmesdale as the adulterer because
Dimmesdale beat him to it. Chillingworth’s lust for revenge destroyed him. In the process of seeking revenge he ended up committing more sin than Hester and
Dimmesdale ever did. Though Hester and Dimmesdale’s repentance may not have been complete, Chillingworth did not even try to repent.
As we can see, the choices these characters made drastically affected their lives.
Chillingworth died a bitter man. Dimmesdale suffered and finally died after a death-bed confession because of his choices; While Hester ended up better off than either of them because she chose to turn her life around and serve and help others, in spite of the scorn placed upon her.