This passage, taken from the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, shows the effect that evil has on the antagonist of the novel. ... He lets his quest for knowledge over take him and turn him into the evil character that is described in the opening quote. ... One of Hawthorne's purposes in writing The Scarlet Letter is to show that "sin is evil, not because it violates God's laws, but because it destroys the sinner" (p271). ... Villainy plays an important role in The Scarlet Letter. ... Chillingworth is a villain in the novel, and his character's villainy helps e...

• Word Count: 670
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Secret Sin Leads to Guilt In "The Scarlet Letter", Hawthorne depicts a way of life that no longer exists in today's society. ... Hester cannot even bring herself to tell her own daughter the true reason for the scarlet letter, which seems everyone but Pearl knows. ... The quote "The law we broke! ...

• Word Count: 558
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Throughout the novel Dimmesdale becomes increasingly hurt, as he bears his own scarlet letter within his heart. ... In this quote the author is telling how Dimmesdale after seven years has become able to declare his love for Hester. ... This sermon is like a slap on the face to the Puritans by showing their unbeknownst hypocrisy where they shuddered at Hester's scarlet letter yet, Dimmesdale's letter received no recognition. ... When the townsfolk claim to have seen a scarlet letter imprinted on the chest of Dimmesdale (pg 176). The narrator isn't saying that there was a letter ...

• Word Count: 1115
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

THE BIGGEST SINNER In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, sin was a very evident factor throughout the novel. ... Hester was sentenced to wear the letter A and had to stand on the scaffold while he took not a single ounce of punishment for his crime. ... Dimmesdale acknowledges this in the following quote, "I who have breathed the parting prayer over your dying friends, to whom the Amen sounded faintly from a world which they had quitted, -- I, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie!"... The following quote reveals how Dimmesdale has wanted to r...

• Word Count: 869
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School