SIN

The Puritans believed people were born sinners. Puritan preachers depicted each human life as
suspended by a string over the fiery pit of hell. As a result, the Puritans maintained strict watch over
themselves and their fellow townspeople, and sins such as adultery were punishable by death. Hester is
spared execution only because the Puritans of Boston decided it would benefit the community to
transform her into a "living sermon against sin." But just as Hester turns the physical scarlet letter that
she is forced to wear into a beautifully embroidered object, through the force of her spirit she
transforms the letter's symbolic meaning from shame to strength. Hester's transformation of the scarlet
letter's meaning raises one of The Scarlet Letter's most important questions: What does it mean to sin,
and who are the novel's real sinners? Hester's defiant response to her punishment and her attempts to
rekindle her romance with Dimmesdale and flee with him to Europe shows that she never considered
her affair with Dimmesdale to be a sin. The narrator supports Hester's innocence and instead points the
finger at the novel's two real sinners: Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Chillingworth's sin was tormenting
Dimmesdale almost to the point of death; Dimmesdale's was abandoning Hester to lead a lonely life
without the man she loved.

Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale have committed the sin of adultery and each suffers the pain of
conscience. Dimmesdale suffers in secret and becomes weak and Hester suffers publicly and becomes
strong. Dimmesdale hates himself for his secret sin and leads a life of anguish and torture. His suffering
makes him with a "tongue of flame" i.e. he reaches to the hearts of the sinners at the time of his
sermons. So his suffering springs from what he is and what he appears to be. Hester's sin is produced by
the effects of her emotions. She suffers because her sin isolated her from the society and also by her
daughter who remembers her with the sin of adultery. Roger Chillingworth has a diabolical heart that he
turns his good intentions to the way of evil to get his revenge from his wife partner in the sin of
adultery. Ironically, as a friend and physician to Dimmesdale, he does more harm than good by suffering
him psychologically as to give glimpses of his sin.

Sin, Knowledge, and the Human Condition

Sin and knowledge are linked in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Bible begins with the story of Adam
and Eve, who were expelled from the Garden of Eden for eating from the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. The experience of Hester and Dimmesdale recalls the story of Adam and Eve because, in both cases,
sin results in expulsion and suffering. But it also results in knowledge—specifically, in knowledge of
what it means to be human. For Hester, the scarlet letter functions as “her passport into regions where
other women dared not tread,” leading her to “speculate” about her society and herself more “boldly”
than anyone else in New England. As for Dimmesdale, the “burden” of his sin gives him “sympathies so
intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind, so that his heart vibrate[s] in unison with theirs.” His
eloquent and powerful sermons derive from this sense of empathy. The Puritan elders, insist on seeing
earthly experience as merely an obstacle on the path to heaven. Thus, they view sin as a threat to the
community that should be punished and suppressed. Hester and Dimmesdale’s experience shows that a
state of sinfulness can lead to personal growth, sympathy, and understanding of others. Paradoxically,
these qualities are shown to be incompatible with a state of purity.

Punishment
The scarlet letter and Pearl are punishment for Hester as they constantly remind her with the sin of
adultery. She stands on the scaffold at mid day as a punishment for her sin. Dimmesdale also gets his
punishment by his agony in secrecy as physically he seared a letter "A" in his flesh and lives in a
conflict. Hester and Dimmesdale are punished not only by their conscience but also by their society. So,
their punishments are both internal by conscience and external by the society.

Isolation
Isolation in the puritan society is one of the themes of The scarlet Letter. The sin of adultery is the result
of Hester's isolation from her husband. The scarlet letter also isolates Hester from her community and
she becomes isolated on the scaffold as a guilty as well as in the prison. Dimmesdale's isolation is
because his secret sin and shame. Sometimes, he is tormenting himself because he is alone and no one
knows his sin. For example, when he talks with himself in front of the mirror that is because his isolation.
Chillingworth's isolation is because of his desire for revenge that he pretends to be the loyal friend for
Dimmesdale, but actually he is isolated only with his sick intention of revenge.

The Nature of Evil

The characters in the novel frequently debate the identity of the “Black Man,” the embodiment of evil.
Over the course of the novel, the “Black Man” is associated with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and
Mistress Hibbins, and little Pearl is thought by some to be the Devil’s child. The characters also try to
root out the causes of evil: did Chillingworth’s selfishness in marrying Hester force her to the “evil” she
committed in Dimmesdale’s arms? Is Hester and Dimmesdale’s deed responsible for Chillingworth’s
transformation into a malevolent being? This confusion over the nature and causes of evil reveals the
problems with the Puritan conception of sin. The book argues that true evil arises from the close
relationship between hate and love. Evil is not found in Hester and Dimmesdale’s lovemaking, nor even
in the cruel ignorance of the Puritan fathers. Evil, in its most poisonous form, is found in the revenge of
Chillingworth, whose love has been perverted. Perhaps Pearl is not entirely wrong when she thinks
Dimmesdale is the “Black Man,” because her father, too, has perverted his love. Dimmesdale, who
should love Pearl, will not even publicly acknowledge her. His cruel denial of love to his own child may
be seen as further perpetrating evil.

Identity and Society

After Hester is publicly shamed and forced by the people of Boston to wear a badge of humiliation, her
unwillingness to leave the town may seem puzzling. She is not physically imprisoned, and leaving the
Massachusetts Bay Colony would allow her to remove the scarlet letter and resume a normal life.
Surprisingly, Hester reacts with dismay when Chillingworth tells her that the town fathers are
considering letting her remove the letter.

Hester’s behavior is based on her desire to determine her own identity rather than to allow others to
determine it for her. To her, running away or removing the letter would be an acknowledgment of
society’s power over her: she would be admitting that the letter is a mark of shame and something from
which she desires to escape. Instead, Hester stays, refiguring the scarlet letter as a symbol of her own
experiences and character. Her past sin is a part of who she is; to pretend that it never happened would
mean denying a part of herself. Thus, Hester very determinedly integrates her sin into her life.
Dimmesdale also struggles against a socially determined identity. As the community’s minister, he is
more symbol than human being. Except for Chillingworth, those around the minister willfully ignore his
obvious anguish, misinterpreting it as holiness. Unfortunately, Dimmesdale never fully recognizes the
truth of what Hester has learned: that individuality and strength are gained by quiet self-assertion and
by a reconfiguration, not a rejection, of one’s assigned identity.

Female Independence
Hawthorne explores the theme of female independence by showing how Hester boldly makes her own
decisions and is able to take care of herself. Before the novel even begins, Hester has already violated
social expectations by following her heart and choosing to have sex with a man she is not married to;
she will later justify this decision by explaining to Dimmesdale that “What we did had a consecration of
its own.” Because Hester is cast out of the community, she is liberated from many of the traditional
expectations for a woman to be docile and submissive. She also has practical responsibilities that force
her to be independent: she has to earn a living so that she and her daughter can survive, and she also
has to raise a headstrong child as a single parent. These unusual circumstances make Hester
comfortable standing up for herself, such as when she violently objects to Governor Bellingham trying
to take Pearl away. . The narrator seems sympathetic to Hester’s vision of a brighter future where “a
new truth would be revealed, in order to establish the whole relation between man and woman on a
surer ground of mutual happiness.” However, the narrator also makes the point that because Hester has
been living outside of social conventions, she seems to have lost touch with key ethical principles: “she
had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness.” The novel also ends with Hester
returning to the community to live a humble life, and voluntarily choosing to start wearing the scarlet
letter again, both of which suggest that by the end of the novel she has abandoned some of her
independent and free-thinking ways. The descriptions of Pearl also suggest that female independence
is antithetical to happiness. The narrator says no one knew if Pearl’s “wild, rich nature had been
softened and subdued, and made capable of a woman’s gentle happiness,” implying that only by
losing her independent spirit could Pearl be truly content.

Guilt
Guilt is a major theme in The Scarlet Letter, and appears primarily in the psychology of Arthur
Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale is tormented both by guilt at his sinful act of fathering an illegitimate child,
and then by the guilt of failing to take responsibility for his actions and having to hide his secret. His
guilt is also exaggerated by a sense of hypocrisy, because he is considered by many to be exceptionally
holy and righteous: Dimmesdale spends a lot of time lamenting what a sinner he is, but he only takes
public responsibility for having fathered Hester’s child in the final moments of his life, when it is too late
for anything to change. If anything, his sense of guilt is what makes him so vulnerable to being
manipulated by Chillingsworth. Through the character of Dimmesdale, Hawthorne suggests that guilt is
not necessarily virtuous if it is not accompanied by an effort to change or redeem oneself.

Nature Vs Society

The theme of nature versus society is exemplified by Hester and Dimmesdale’s forbidden passion, and
the product of that passion: Pearl. Hester and Dimmesdale are drawn to each other by desires that
cannot be controlled by the rules of social, legal, and religious institutions. They follow their impulses,
which leads to conception and reproduction. While Hester’s pregnancy is condemned by society, it is
the natural outcome of a basic human impulse. The relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale
explores the tension between natural desires, and the ways in which society tries to control human
nature by imposing rules and laws. Similarly, Pearl, a product of natural impulses, exhibits a personality
that aligns her with nature, rather than society. She is a wild and impulsive child.

The novel’s climax, the key scene where Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl are finally reunited, takes place
in the woods. This location highlights the tension between nature and society. In a space that is still
untamed and not ruled by social conventions, Dimmesdale and Hester can speak openly with eachother,
and even dare to imagine a future in which they might be able to break free and find happiness
together. Hawthorne depicts Nature being on the side of the lovers. Likewise, Pearl can roam safely
through the woods. However, while nature offers a safe haven to the unconventional family, they are
ultimately still subject to the laws of society, and must eventually live with the consequences.

Nature stands in contrast to Puritanism. Where Puritanism is merciless and rigid, nature is forgiving and
flexible. The theme of nature continues with the forest outside Boston, which is described as an
"unchristianized, lawless region." In the dark forest, wild, passionate, and persecuted people like
Hester, Pearl, Mistress Hibbins, and the Indians can escape from the strict, repressive morality of Puritan
society. The forest, which provides a measure of comfort and protection that exists nowhere in society,
is also the only place where Hester can reunite with Dimmesdale. When Hester moves to the outskirts
of Boston, the narrator says she would have fit in better in the forest. Hester's choice to live on the
border of society and nature represents her internal conflict: she can't thrive entirely within the
constraints of Puritanism, but because of her attachment to society and to Dimmesdale,
she also can't flee.

Empathy
Throughout the novel, characters either achieve or fail to achieve feelings of empathy for their fellow
humans. Both Dimmesdale and Hester achieve greater compassion because they have suffered, and can
sympathize with how a good person might still make mistakes. This ability to show empathy makes
Hester and Dimmesdale highly sought after within the community: Dimmesdale gains a great reputation
as a minister, and by the end of the novel Hester has become a kind of wise woman: “people brought all
their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel, as one who had herself gone through a mighty
trouble.” Meanwhile, characters like Governor Bellingham fail to show empathy because they are too
busy judging others and focusing on their flaws. For example, Bellingham suggests that little Pearl be
taken away from her mother because he thinks Hester’s sin makes her unfit to raise a child. Both Hester
and Dimmesdale argue that the child can learn from her mother’s mistakes, but Bellingham shows
judgement rather than empathy. Hawthorne connects the experience of suffering to the growth of
empathy as a way to suggest that even tragic events can have meaning and value.

INDIVIDUALITY AND CONFORMITY

As an adulterer, Hester has broken Puritan society's harsh and strict rules. Puritan society demanded
conformity because it considered any breach of that conformity a threat to its security and its religion.
Hester doesn't conform and she suffers the consequences: the townspeople punish, shun, and
humiliate her. The town seeks to use Hester as an example to frighten any other would-be
nonconformists from breaking the strict moral rules of Puritanism. Yet Hester's unshakable faith in
herself, her love for Dimmesdale, and her devotion to her daughter empower her to resist and
transcend enforced Puritan conformity. In general in The Scarlet Letter, the conflict between
individuality and conformity is also a battle between appearance and reality. Because the Puritan
government is so harsh, all Puritans hide the reality of their human flaws, frailties, and sins in order to
avoid punishment. The result are secrets that are the embodiment of the disconnect between private
individual reality and the need to maintain the appearance of public conformity. And thoughkeeping
secrets provide a short-term solution for the sinner to avoid punishment, the novel argues that
repression of the individual behind a mask of secret-keeping conformity will ultimately warp and
destroy a person's soul.

PURITANISM
The Scarlet Letter presents a critical, even disdainful, view of Puritanism. The narrator depicts Puritan
society as drab, confining, unforgiving, and narrow-minded that unfairly victimizes Hester. In the scene
in which Hester is released from prison, the narrator describes the town police official as representing
the "whole dismal severity of the Puritanical code of law," which fused religion with law. In contrast, he
describes Hester as a woman marked by "natural dignity…force of character…[and] free will." It is
precisely these natural strengths, which the narrator holds in high esteem, that Puritan society
suppresses. In The Scarlet Letter, the Puritans appear as shallow hypocrites whose opinion of Hester and
Pearl improves only when they become more of an asset to the community, most notably when Hester
becomes a seamstress and Pearl inherits a fortune from Chillingworth.

THE OCCULT
Set in and around Boston, The Scarlet Letter also deals with the specter of witchcraft and the occult.
But the novel treats witchcraft and the occult sympathetically. By associating Pearl with other outcasts
like Mistress Hibbins, Hawthorne suggests that witches were created by, and victims of, the excessively
strict Puritan society. Puritan society created the witches by being so intolerant that people became
interested in witchcraft as a way of expressing natural human feelings that Puritanism repressed.
Puritanism then viewed witches as a threat to its repressive society and therefore sentenced all witches,
like Mistress Hibbins, to death.