Sin In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

He passes by the prison door that is marked by rusted iron, and by the scaffold that has witnessed the ignominy of many, yearning for freedom from the unyielding grasp of his weighty secret. As he continues walking, he attempts to prevent the burden of his heavy heart from weighing him down, placing his hand over his heart to shield the invisible wound from the eyes of passersby. His agony is one that is beyond description, a deleterious pain experienced by the soul rather than the physical body. Such torment is that which Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, endures as a result of his irreparable sin of adultery. Within his novel, Hawthorne places an emphasis on the psychological and emotional effects
In “The Cycle of American Literature,” Robert E. Spiller states, “The central theme of most of his stories is not sin as a theological problem, but rather the psychological effect of the conviction of sin on the lives of the early colonists” (Spiller, 60). Spiller illuminates that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works revolve around the notion of sin’s impact on one’s psyche. In The Scarlet Letter, such effects are especially highlighted in Reverend Dimmesdale’s character, thus implying that the reverend’s character is of most significance to the novel. Correspondingly, Hawthorne emphasizes this notion in The Scarlet Letter, stating “It was his custom, too, as it has been that of many other pious Puritans, to fast...until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance...He thus typified the constant introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself.” (Hawthorne, 132). Hawthorne underscores the inescapable mental state in which the reverend was imprisoned due to his undisclosed sin. The reverend’s anguish in relation to Hawthorne’s central theme serves to further indicate that Reverend Dimmesdale is the central character of The Scarlet