Scarlet Letter Essay + :: essays research papers

Throughout life we all will be faced with hypocrites or have the choice to be true to ourselves or to deceive ourselves. Especially as a Christian you may wonder if people look at you as a hypocrite and should also strive to not be one. Of course, the most important part is to be true to yourself because only then may you be true to God and to others. Nathaniel Hawthorne also shows this in The Scarlet Letter through the characters he portrays. In chapter 20, Hawthorne writes, “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one fact to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true.'; Hiding the truth from others just confuses life and oneself. Hawthorne often focuses on the point that truth reveals itself. For instance, Hester Prynne was quite aware of the fact that truth will be revealed. She was forced to wear a scarlet “A'; on her bosom, which stood for adultery, for her entire life. Truth was revealed to Hester by the fact that she became pregnant with a child as a result of her sin. Pearl noticed her mother’s scarlet A as a baby and was attracted to it instantly for some reason. Pearl notices the letter as an infant as her “eyes had been caught by the glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter, and, putting up her hand, she grasped at it…';(98) and Hester feels the “torture inflicted by the intelligent touch of Pearl’s baby hand.'; (98). This seems to suggest that truth was once again revealed to Hester whenever Pearl noticed the scarlet letter and it shows how Pearl seemed to know the significance of the letter as an infant. While Hawthorne shows how truth revealed itself to Hester he shows a different way that truth was revealed to Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. At the beginning of the novel Dimmesdale seems to be doing a good job of keeping his secret to the whole town who respects him immensely. Although in the first chapter Reverend Dimmesdale argues on Hester’s behalf the town seems to think nothing of this other than that he is trying to not judge her. As the new doctor in town Roger Chillingworth befriends Reverend Dimmesdale. Chillingworth notices a scarlet letter of guilt on the Reverend’s chest and soon begins to take his revenge. The doctor who plays on the Reverend’s guilt increases Dimmesdale’s torment.