During Puritan times, the sin of adultery was a very serious crime.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's book, Hester Prynne had to wear a scarlet letter, for she had committed adultery. No one knew that Arthur had also committed adultery, but Arthur Dimmesdale was punished just like Hester. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale committed sins, and they had the same scarlet letter; their punishments were very different.

Although she was married, Hester Prynne moved to the town by herself. Her husband was Roger Chillingworth, and he was a rich, unattractive, scholar. Hester Prynne married him so she could have a good life without poverty, but she never truly loved him. When she met Arthur Dimmesdale she fell in love. When Hester Prynne was found pregnant she was put in jail, and released shortly after Pearl was born. Her punishment was to wear a scarlet letter; she was reminded of her sin everyday.

Arthur Dimmesdale was the minister of the town. He would have to stand up and tell the townspeople not to sin, although he was a sinner himself. This made Arthur feel guilty, because he knew he was a hypocrite and deserved to be punished. Arthur Dimmesdale grew very sick, for all his guilt was eating away at him. Arthur moved in with Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth found out that Arthur was the unknown sinner and was punishing him slowly.

Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne felt too guilty to leave the village without the other. They both felt that they had to stay in the village and fulfill their punishment. Hester experienced shame when, people would stare at her reminding her that she was

a terrible person. She also felt shame when her daughter Pearl would throw flowers at the letter, and stare at it knowing that she had done something wrong. Arthur Dimmesdale experienced shame when he would be enforcing something he had done wrong himself. He also felt shame when he would see Pearl knowing that she was raised without her father.

Although they committed a similar sin, Hester Prynne was a married woman and committed adultery, where as Arthur was single man and committed fornication. Hester Prynne had to wear her punishment on her chest for everyone to see, where as Arthur Dimmesdale wore his punishment on the inside, killing himself mentally. Arthur Dimmesdales mental punishment made him eat less and become depressed and eventually it made him physically sick. Arthur stopped fighting his guilt and died; Hester went on living her punishment until she grew old and died.

These two characters both experienced shame, guilt, and even regret but through different ways. Hester, a married women moved to a small village where she met Arthur and committed adultery. Arthur Dimmesdale was the minister of the town but he went against his religion and his teaching and committed fornication. In the end Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne were buried close to each with the scarlet A on the graves.