Abstract
This paper is an exploration of the impact of speech and silence in the novel, "The Scarlet Letter." It pays special attention to the centrality of Dimmesdales' confession. The paper discusses the issues of sin and confession in the novel, with a unique approach to the meaning of sin to Hester and Dimmesdale. According to this author, Dimmesdale, and not Hester is the key to this story, since his silence and refusal to confess control the story, its outcome and as such, the development of the other characters.

From the Paper
"Dimmesdale finds inspiration and power in the act of sin; he is most potent when he is most perverse. It is a passionate sexual transgression that produces Pearl; it is his failure to confess his adultery and the resultant hypocrisy that gives force to his sermons and gains him respect in the eyes of the community; his decision to leave with Hester and his sexual excitement "lent him unaccustomed physical energy" (2347); his incitement to do "some strange, wild, wicked thing" (2348) allows him to write "with earnest haste and ecstacy" a sermon "with such an impulsive flow of thought and emotion, that he fancied himself inspired" (2352)."

Tags:guilt, inspiration, public, sin, tension, hester, revelation, fear, adultery, evils, reluctance, potency, decision, lifeless, silence, language, weakness

Abstract
This paper analyzes the "Scarlett Letter" and the sins of its characters. The paper specifically claims that Dimmesdale believed he was damned, not because of the adultery he committed, but because he and Hester lost reverence for each other's souls.

From the Paper
"While he is under Dr. Chillingworth's care, being further tormented by him as well, they discuss sin and confession. Dimmesdale at this point, wants to believe that he is doing some good in the community by not confessing. He tells Chillingworth that some men don't confess their sins because they have "a zeal for God's glory and man's welfare, they shrink from displaying themselves black and filthy in the view of men; because, thenceforward, no good can be achieved by them" (1457). Ironically, by trying to hide his true feelings from himself, he further reveals his sins to his enemy".

Tags:Hester, Prynne, Puritan, Chillingworth

Abstract
This paper describes the struggles that Dimmesdale goes through to keep his reputation as a loyal and honest minister in the Puritan community. The paper gives examples of the things that Dimmesdale is exposed to, using actual quotes from the novel.

From the Paper
"The character, Dimmesdale is first introduced while Hester Prynne is publicly being criticized on a scaffold in front of the entire Puritan community. The role Dimmesdale plays in this scene is the "remorseful hypocrite" (Brodhead, 157). Melissa McFarland Pennell of the Student Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne on pages 67-87 explains that, Dimmesdale presents himself to his congregation one way while he reveals another in private; this concealment reflects hypocrisy in Dimmesdale's character. His congregation sees him as saintly and as the perfect husband for some village maiden. Dimmesdale goes to great pain to keep this image, even though showing signs of inner struggle. He knows the truth and longs to expose it, naming himself "a pollution and a lie." Michael J. Colacurcio who wrote, "Footsteps of Ann Hutchinson: The Context of The Scarlet Letter" in the book, Modern Critical Interpretations, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter page 21 says, "He is an enforcing agent of public discipline who has himself sinned against a clear and serious public law whose absolute validity he (unlike Hester) never questions for a moment; and who refuses to confess and submit the to discipline he has sworn by a covenant to uphold and enforce""

Tags:hypocrisy, theme

Abstract
This paper analyzes relationships in Nathanial Hawthorne's classic tale of passion, sin and redemption, The Scarlet Letter. The author looks at the fine line between love and hate between Hester Prynne and the Reverend Dimmesdale, Hester and Roger Chillingworth, and between Hester and her fellow townspeople.

From the Paper
"In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, love and hate are two issues that appear indistinguishable at times. In this story, Hester Prynne wears a scarlet letter for the adultery she committed with Reverend Dimmesdale while she was married to Roger Chillingworth. The details of this emerge as the story progresses, and the story culminates in Dimmesdale passionately declaring his sin, and later dies after his premeditated confession, while Chillingworth dies soon after. As the above quote says, love and hate ?each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his subject.? This literally means that the passion and feelings do not differ whether they are intended in love or hate. To love or hate a person with a passion indubitably results in the same feelings, and when the subject of these feelings disappears, the passion felt remains the same."

Tags:hester, sin, pearl, townspeople

Abstract
This paper explores the reasons that Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale can only be free within the confines of the forest to communicate their love, their sin, and their future plans. The paper contends that without the forest the plot development would have gone in an entirely different direction.

From the Paper
"In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, society evolves around very rigid and harsh Puritan beliefs. In such a society, people are not free to express themselves as well as they are able to today. This restriction causes a negative effect because it is necessary for humans to be able to express their deep thoughts and desires. Therefore people had to find ways and places to express themselves outside of the knowledge of the public. Satisfaction and truth was found in the confinements of the forest just outside the Puritan city of Boston."

Tags:black, hester, pearl

From the Paper
"The character of Pearl in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter is to serve as an embodiment of conscience and innocence at the same time. She is the conscience of Dimmesdale as she stands as a living accusation of his sin and of his failure to stand beside Hester and confess. She is also the symbol of her mother's essential goodness. There is a duality to Pearl's nature, and she is portrayed as both an angelic presence and a darker vision of guilt. In combining these two elements in a small chid, Hawthorne points up the hypocrisy of the community and the destructive consequences of its unforgiving nature.


The Scarlet Letter is probably his best-known work and is a novel about the consequences in Puritan society of a seduction. The seduction has taken place perhaps a year before the opening of the novel, but the fact of the seduction is incontrovertible..."

Abstract
The paper gives a brief overview of the novel and explains that through the theme of passion the characters are made to reveal their true selves and their dual characters and reflects the kind of society these characters live in. The paper uses numerous quotes in order to prove its assertions.

From the Paper
"One of the most important actions by Dimmesdale in the novel was his occasional act of putting his hand upon his heart, as Hawthorne described in the passage. This act by Dimmesdale can be taken symbolic in two ways: the first symbolism that this act means is that Dimmesdale, unknown to the readers, also bear the mark of the scarlet letter, and his constant act of touching it with his hand shows his passion and guilt (all the time) regarding his adultery and cowardice in admitting the immorality that he had committed with Hester."

Tags:society, love, adultery

Abstract
In "The Scarlet Letter", Nathaniel Hawthorne conveys the noteworthy theme as to the dangers concerning man's judgment, whilst utilizing the novel as liberation of personal grievances against Puritan doctrine. This paper shows how Hawthorne not only confirms such duplicity as iniquitous, yet further proves human denunciation as comparatively irrelevant amongst final judgment. It examines how through the inimitable characters of Hester Prynne, The Reverend Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth, inclusive understanding of hypocrisy with emphasis on condemnation and the desire for vengeance is reached.

From the Paper
"The Scarlet Letter, while regarded as brilliant literature, modestly originated as an expression of Nathaniel Hawthorne's internal defiance concerning Puritan ideology. This resentment is prominent throughout the novel and is assumed to derivate from the author's personal indignity in relation to the corruption of his great-grandfather, Judge Hathorne. Ironically, Hawthorne exhibits the very entity of attempted criticism as he himself debases the Puritans via their merciless denunciation of Hester Prynne. Imperative to grasp at present, still, is this infinite succession of denigration, thus validating the absence of any mortal authority in the eternal judgment over another's character. However, despite the paradoxical nature of condemnation, The Scarlet Letter personifies the hypocrisy of mortal judgment whilst accentuating the consequences of such."

Tags:dimmesdale, hester, prynne

Abstract
This paper explores the motives behind the actions of the three main characters in the story, "The Scarlet Letter." Dimmesdale, Chillingworth and Hester's characters are delved into in order to give the reader a better understanding why the story unfolds as it does. Each of these characters has a hidden agenda, and in many cases this is influenced by certain character traits that they have managed to keep hidden from the public's view. Using several examples from the story, the author illustrates how despite great hardship, Hester maintains her personal dignity and honesty, while the male character's are constantly at war with their public and personal personas.

From the Paper
\\\"Fortunately for Chillingworth, Arthur's conscience is progressively winning the battle against his front of respectability. But unfortunately for Chillingworth, Arthur may not give in the way he predicts or hopes. In fact, the moment of truth comes when Chillingworth is engrossed with some other business and he appears at the scaffold area just in time to hear the dying clergyman's pronouncement of sin. Chillingworth receives total justice through this intense suffering in both Arthur and Hester, but nothing farther in the inner world. Arthur falls, not into his vengeful hands, but into the Creator's alone to whom Arthur sinned. Death enables Arthur to escape Chillingworth's revenge: "Hadst thou sought the whole earth over ... There was no one place so secret " no high place nor lowly place where thou couldst have escaped me " save on this very scaffold!" (Ch 23)\\\"

Tags:hester, chillingworth, dimmesdale, honor, silence, disguise, world, vindication, sacrifice, protection, sanctity, disgrace, future, universe, secret

Abstract
This paper analyzes the four main characters of Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" and provides a historical view of what was expected from members of a Puritan society. It looks at how, although Hester Prynne, Pearl, Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale all turn from their societal obligations in the novel, each character depends on another's ability to fulfill their role for salvation.

From the Paper
"As a mother Hester Prynne is a strong example in the contemporary world, but in the time setting of the novel she is unfit to mother the child. Several times she had almost lost the wild Pearl to a household that would raise the child to be a subservient, noble and God-fearing woman. Hull writes, "To convince Bellingham to let Hester keep Pearl, Dimmesdale reverts to the same claim that the child has been 'sent' with an intended meaning, though the meaning he interprets is different from Hester's. Pearl 'was meant for a blessing; for the one blessing of her life! It was meant, doubtless, as the mother herself hath told us, for a retribution too; a torture' (114)" (5). "

Tags:chillingworth, dimmesdale, hester, puritan