Dimmesdale Is The Greatest Sinner In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

English Protestants voyaged across seas in search of better land to start a new life; they settled in the recently discovered New World. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the struggle of a young woman, Hester Prynne, and her sinful reputation as an adulteress. Coming to New England unaccompanied by her estranged husband Roger Chillingworth, she felt alone and in need of someone, which resulted in great consequences for her lover, Minister Dimmesdale and their daughter, Pearl. Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale have executed sinful, secretive actions that led them to be punished in shameful ways. Who of the three is the biggest sinner? Dimmesdale and Hester believe that Chillingworth is the worst sinner because of his deliberate revenge that “has been blacker than [his] sin” (Hawthorne 176). Unlike what Dimmesdale asserts, I believe that Dimmesdale is the greatest sinner of the three because he intentionally neglected Hester and his sin mainly because of his cowardness to step down from his high-ranked position in the church. The town of Boston, MA is an extreme Puritan society with very high
Since his first encounter with Hester, Chillingworth promises himself and Hester that he will seek the man that partook in their sin and without and sympathy, make him suffer. Chillingworth cold-bloodedly poisoned Dimmesdale by pretending to be a helpful physician, which provided him opportunities that “turned to a cruel purpose” (Hawthorne 174). Chillingworth is hurt by Hester’s betrayal and therefore feels like he, in a way, has to return the pain by torturing Dimmesdale. In this time period, women were expected to wait for their husbands even when they were uncertain of their existence. Although it was Hester’s “responsibility” to anticipate their husband’s arrival, Dimmesdale, as a minister, should not have committed adultery with her, knowing that she was