Repressed guilt and emotions will inevitably destroy a man. This was surely the case in Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, a novel set in Puritan times that describes what guilt and sin truly are. Two main characters that live with guilt and sin throughout the novel are Hester Prynne and the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester cheated on her husband (Roger Chillingsworth) with the Reverend Dimmesdale. This single event caused both Hester and Dimmesdale to live a life of guilt, thus setting the stage for the entire novel.
However, Hester's guilt and Dimmesdale's guilt were expressed or shown in two very separate ways. Hester's guilt was open for all of the townspeople to see, while Dimmesdale's guilt was hidden from the public eye. Hester is recognized, before the public, as a sinner. She was presented with a scarlet A to wear upon her bosom for the rest of her life. The scarlet A was to remind the public, as well as Hester, of her guilt and sin. .
Hester Prynne's term of confinement was now at an end. Her prison-door was thrown open, and she came forth into the sunshine, which, falling on all alike, seemed, to her sick and morbid heart, as if meant for no other purpose than to reveal the scarlet letter on her breast (72).
As an outcast Hester will live a life of solitude and will no longer be a respected member of society. Hester's guilt will show on her bosom for the rest of her life.
Dimmesdale's sin and guilt however, remained a secret. Hester refused to reveal her accomplice of adultery to the public. To the reader it seemed that Dimmesdale was let off the hook, because the public did not know him as they knew Hester. In all reality though, Dimmesdale was being tortured far worse than Hester. Every day Dimmesdale had to hide his guilt and live a lie. This was difficult especially because he was a clergyman. In the eyes of Dimmesdale, he was a hypocrite, and his own worst enemy.
The minister well knew "subtle, but remorseful hypocrite that he was!-- He had spoken the very truth, and transformed it into the veriest falsehood Therefore, above all things else, he loathed his miserable self! (133).
