Lies, hypocrisy, and revenge always make life miserable. Add all three together and a quirky love triangle and it can cause major trouble. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is about a woman and how her adultery ruined her life and others as well. The letter A impacted Hester’s life a lot, and surprisingly others in her life. The Scarlet Letter is about Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingsworth’s sin and how if affected their lives. These sins had ultimately killed them all.


Hester’s sin of adultery at first makes her life miserable and horrible to live in, but later on gets interesting and turns out for the better. She would walk with, “the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush...would not be abashed” (Hawthorne 48) on her way to the scaffold through the crowd. She went all out and made an extraordinary A, “in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread” (Hawthorne 48) to wear for seven long years. She was looked down upon because of her sin, and she had a daughter, Pearl. People would say she had, “witchcraft in little Pearls eyes” (Hawthorne 144) and Hester didn’t know why. In The Scarlet Letter, she is a very strong independent woman with pride in what she has, and takes responsibility for her actions.


Dimmesdale’s sin caused him pain and ultimately death because of the sin he committed. The people saw him as a high preacher and loyal, so they never suspected he was the father of the sinful woman. He had great respect in the town. Little did they know, he was the reason for Hester wearing the letter A. He was a hypocrite and stood before God and everyone for years like nothing happened, acting perfect and preaching the very thing he did. He even people saying, “that part remaindeth a riddle” (Hawthorne 57) about the father of Pearl, when it was him. He left Hester alone for years to deal with this all by her-self. Dimmesdale and the physician became friends, little did Dimmesdale know Chillingsworth was seeking revenge and to get back at him. One day in the woods, Pearl said, “he hath got hold of the minister already. Come away, mother, or he will catch you!” (Hawthorne 125) to her mom. Chillingsworth is manipulating Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale was so troubled by his sin, “he always kept his hand over his heart” (Hawthorne 201). That symbolized that he thought he had a letter A on his chest, when he really didn’t. When Dimmesdale admitted that he was the father of Pearl, “ that final word came forth with the minister’s expiring breath”(Hawthorne 241) and he died with the truth known, alive and the spell broken.


Roger Chillingsworth’s sin affected his life because he turned a revenge seeking man and turned evil. Roger Chillingsworth was manipulative and, “his fame, his position, his life…Beware! (Hawthorne 71) he was harmful and out to destroy Hester and Dimmesdale’s secret. He took the minister as his prey and didn’t let him go. The horrible revenge of Chillingsworth had, “seized the old man within it’s grip, and never set him free again, until he had done all it’s bidding” (Hawthorne 120). Until Dimmesdale’s death, Chillingsworth was always evil. Even though throughout the whole book, “Nothing was more remarkable then the change which took place, almost immediately after Mr. Dimmesdale’s death” (Hawthorne 244) when Roger was no longer evil. In the book when, “Roger Chillingswoth’s decease (which took place within the year)…he bequeathed a very considerable amount of property, both here and in England” (Hawthorne 245) for Pearl so she was set for life, and was very wealthy because of his generosity. After the spell had been broken, Roger Chillingsworth was no longer seeking revenge.



In conclusion, Hester had an affair and because of that Pearl was affected and she was evil. Because of the affair, Roger Chillingsworth wanted revenge on Hester and Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale felt guilt and remorse because of what he did and had a long and miserable seven years to deal with it. Everyone left Hester alone in the whole process, and she did a very good job raising her daughter. These sins of the three had in fact, ultimately killed them all.?
Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathanial. The Scarlet Letter. 2nd Ed. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1850. 1-248. Print