Capital Punishment In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Capital punishment was wide spread in Puritan Boston. Although the Bible was a moral guide, societies were swarmed with crimes and sins. The punishments included severe whipping, imprisonment, slitting nostrils, and public execution on scaffold(“Puritan”). In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, although the two main characters, Hester and Dimmesdale are guilty of the similar sins, they experience different punishments and outcomes. Hester and Dimmesdale differ in sins they commit. It is clear that they both commit adultery. However, the sins Hester and Dimmesdale commit have distinct nuance. First, Hester is a married woman. Her sin is definitely entitled as adultery. The book talks about Puritan world of Boston. It is when the Words
of God are primary life principals. Nonetheless, here stands a woman who infringes them, and sins against God(“Puritan”). It also shocks the readers that the opponent of her adultery is a Reverend. The fact that Hester commits a sin with a Reverend maximizes the effect of the sin. On the other hand, Reverend Dimmesdale is an unmarried man. Also, he is the one who should lead the followers of God and speak for them. It is a great sin that he has a sexual relationship with a married woman. Although his sin is not titled as adultery, it can be called, ‘fornification.’ Next element that differentiates the two characters is the punishments they receive.
Hester and Dimmesdale get drastically different punishments. First, Hester gets imprisoned for several years. Also, she stands on scaffold where everyone can see. This means she is revealed to everyone and they are able to recognize who she is and what she has done. It is a fundamental factor of how people are shamed and humiliated by the society at this time period(“How”). Lastly, she is to wear the scarlet letter A on her chest. The letter A stands for adultery. It is elaborately embroidered with beautiful decorations(“In”). By wearing this letter, people are able to notice her as an adulteress. On the contrary to exposure punishments, Dimmesdale’s sin is not revealed and punished until the end. When Hester is sentenced to wear the scarlet letter, she denies to reveal the identity of her baby’s father. This is when everything starts to stay as a secret. Dimmesdale lives rest of his life with the guilt of his sin. By looking at everything going around Hester, he feels guilt and remorse inside him. He is atoned for his own sin. His guilt eats him away in his spirit(“The”). It leaves worse results than Hester, who is publicly known as an adulteress and shunned. Dimmesdale’s secret sin torments his spirit. Also, he is tortured by Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth. As a result of the sin, Chillingworth puts all his effort in torturing Dimmesdale. This can be considered one of the
punishments he gets. By looking at the difference between Hester and Dimmesdale’s punishments, it is possible to know that truth sets a person free, and secret makes a person battle with his or her mind(“The”). The last difference of the two characters is the outcomes.
Dimmesdale experiences a worse outcome. One day, Hester and Dimmesdale meet in a forest. Hester wants him to forget about his sin and move on. However, he hesitates to do so because he is the one who holds his people and honors God. Eventually, after his speech on Election Day, he confesses. He stands on the scaffold with Hester and his daughter, Pearl. Now, everyone sees the scarlet letter on the Reverend’s chest. Then, he dies on the scaffold. This is a tragic consequence of the sin. Although it can be thought that Dimmesdale doesn’t get much pain, he is fighting with himself inside him(“What”). On the other hand, after several years, Hester leaves and returns to Boston alone. Hester lives in a small cottage and is still isolated from the society. However, she continues her needlework. She works hard and tries to contribute to her society. At last, she begins to be accepted and known as a hard worker. This is when her letter A changes its meaning. At first, the scarlet letter A means adultery. Later, it becomes a symbol of able. After many years, Hester dies and is buried next to Dimmesdale, sharing a scarlet A. Hester and Dimmesdale have very different outcomes. Though Hester is publicly known for her sin, she accepts it and moves on. She works hard with her job and is always brave. On the other hand, Dimmesdale keeps everything in himself and ends up dying
vainly. Despite the fact that Hester and Dimmesdale are condemned for similar sins, they struggle with different punishments and outcomes in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester commits adultery as a married woman, and Dimmesdale commits fornification as an unmarried man. Due to these sins, they both get punishments. Hester goes to jail for a few years and is sentenced to wear scarlet letter A on her chest. She is shunned and isolated. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, does not reveal his sin to public. Therefore, he is guilty throughout his life, and he is atoned. Unable to surmount, he confesses and dies on the scaffold. Later, Hester comes back to Boston and continues her job. As a result, the meaning of letter A changes from adultery to able. When she dies, she is buried next to her loved one, with both sharing one scarlet letter A.