Punishment In Scarlet Letter

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a character named Hester Prynne committed adultery with a man who at first was unidentified but later confirmed to be her reverend, the worshipped Arthur Dimmesdale. Since Hester became pregnant after the affair and her husband had not yet arrived in the colony, it was clear that she had committed adultery. The government of the colony demanded to know who her lover was, but Hester repeatedly refused to incriminate him. Because Hester never identified Dimmesdale as her lover and he lacked the courage to confess on his own, Dimmesdale never told anybody about what he had done and thus allowed his extreme guilt and anxiety about his moral transgression to completely consume him. Hester and the
reverend Dimmesdale both wear the letter ‘A’ as penance for the sin they committed; however, Hawthorne uses Hester to encourage honesty by having her wear the letter externally and accept her shame publicly while Dimmesdale’s secrecy and deceit about his letter cause him to become severely ill in both his mind and body.
Hester’s scarlet letter is a government mandated punishment and a source of shame; but even though it marks her a sinner and causes her ignominy, she never stops wearing it.
Her honesty and openness about her sin, which readers can see in the fact that she wears it constantly for seven years, eventually allows her to redefine the meaning of the letter in the eyes of the colony’s citizens. “The letter was the symbol of her calling. Such helpfulness was found in her - so much power to do, and power to sympathize, - that many people refused to interpret the scarlet letter A by its original signification. They said it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength.” (Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 134). In this scene, the townspeople, after seven years of Hester wearing her crimson badge of shame conscientiously, began to comprehend the letter not a symbol of Hester’s moral transgression, but as a symbol of her strength, kindness, and generosity towards the citizens in her town. The fact that Hester does not attempt to keep her sin a secret from the eyes of the public and does not try to evade
punishment
Dimmesdale wears his scarlet letter as a self ordained penance, but it is private and cannot be seen; it causes him to develop severe illness and his hand often covers heart like hiding. He also might have carved the letter into his own flesh, but if he did then it is covered by clothing. He was only willing to stand on the scaffold where Hester stood with Pearl when she was released from prison in the middle of the night when none of the citizens were able to see him standing there. “The minister might stand [on the scaffold], if it so pleased him, until morning should redden in the east … No eye could see him, save the ever-wakeful one which had seen him in his closet, wielding the bloody scourge.” (Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 122). In this scene, Dimmesdale is walking through town late at night when most of the town is sleeping.
The narrator of the book endorses public honesty and openness.
Hester is open and honest about her sin and her penance, which makes her stronger, if sadder, in the long run; while Dimmesdale hides his transgression from his congregation and keeps it a secret, which makes him very weak and almost destroys his physical and mental health. For example; just after the scene where Pearl, Hester, and Dimmesdale were in the forest and Dimmesdale and Hester were discussing their sin and whether they should leave the colony and return to Europe, Dimmesdale appeared very frail and sick until he eventually came to terms with his infraction; “I seem to have flung myself - sick, sin-stained, and sorrow-blackened - down upon these forest-leaves, and to have risen up all made anew, and with new powers to glorify Him that hath been merciful! This is already the better life! Why did we not find it sooner?” (Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 167). Before he had a discussion with Hester about the crime they committed, Dimmesdale was gravely ill and emaciated; however, after he talked out loud to someone about the terrible act he had committed, he instantaneously became better and rejuvenated, and Hester also had a transformation similar to Dimmesdale’s after she removed the scarlet letter and threw it across the river during their conversation. “She had not known the weight, until she felt the freedom! By another impulse, she took off the formal cap that confined her hair; and
down it fell upon her shoulders, dark and rich, with at once a shadow and a light in its abundance, and imparting the charm of softness to her features.” (Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 167). In this portion of the text, it is revealed that while Hester’s honesty might have had the opposite effect of Dimmesdale’s secrecy, it also made her emotionally distant and cold. When she removed the scarlet letter from her clothes, Hester regained her youthfulness and beauty which she had sacrificed by wearing the letter for such a long period of time. Considering the heavy emphasis the narrator of the story places on being truthful and open about one’s misdeeds, Dimmesdale most likely would not have gotten so gravely ill had he not lied and kept secrets from his congregation. In conclusion, both Hester Prynne and the reverend Arthur Dimmesdale wear scarlet letters, but the manners in which they wear them could not be more different. Hester is forthright and candid about her sin and wears a badge in the shape of the letter A on her clothes every day for seven years, which eventually allows her to become a stronger person and redefine the meaning of her scarlet letter. In contrast, Dimmesdale lived a lie for seven years and never truly confessed to anyone that he was Hester’s lover, which resulted in him becoming deathly ill and often clutching his hand over his metaphorical letter, and he was never truly able to change people’s view of him as a pure man who never committed even the smallest sin.