The Scarlet Letter :: Literary Analysis, Hawthorne

When someone makes a mistake, they usually try to hide the truth to avoid the consequences. The Puritans had a very stringent society in which all sins were met with harsh punishment. In The Scarlet letter, by Nathanial Hawthorn, Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale commit adultery, but the public only knows about Hester’s sin; Dimmesdale’s remains hidden. However, by hiding his sin, Dimmesdale suffers much more than Hester does. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorn shows that the repercussions of a â€Å"secret sin† are much worse than those of a revealed sin. Hester’s punishment comes from society, so it is not nearly as painful as it could be. One part of Hester’s punishment is to stand on the scaffold – in shame – for three hours. The scaffold is a place where â€Å"iniquity is dragged out into the sunlight† (57) and the truth is revealed, so everyone in the Puritan town knows that Hester is guilty of the sin. While her punishment is denigrating, it is not as bad as the punishments usually are, for she does not have to undergo â€Å"that gripe around the neck† (58). The other part of her punishment is to wear, for the rest of her life, a scarlet â€Å"A† on her dress. The A, for adulterer, is meant to be a stigma for everyone to see and mock. However, Hester beautifully embroiders the mark with gold-thread and wears it with pride. The mark stays with her after she leaves the scaffold and finds a home on the edge of town. She is originally scorned and avoided, but she is needed: S he sews for the governor and soldiers for public ceremonies. Due to the passage of time, her usefulness, and her acceptable behavior (she never battles with the public nor complains), Hester is forgiven and her sin is forgotten. Seven years after receiving the â€Å"A,† people change the meaning of the letter from â€Å"adulterer† to â€Å"able,† and instead of referring to her as a sinner, the townspeople refer to her as one who is â€Å"so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted† (169). Society feels that Hester had already served enough punishment, and she eventually becomes a respected woman in the town. Since the truth about her sin is known, Hester is able to overcome society’s punishment; eventually she regains the acceptance, and even the admiration, of the Puritan townspeople.