The Scarlet Letter Essay Example

The book The Scarlet Letter talks of a woman who receives public punished for committing adultery. Hester Pryne is a seamstress who has an affair with another man while his husband was away for two years. Hesters husband according to the community was lost in the sea when he was heading to Boston. During this time, Hester has an affair and conceives with another man. The villagers know for sure that Hester has committed adultery simply because she gives birth to a child while his husband was gone for two years.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

It is this crime that the town people parade her in town to try and find out who the father of her child is. Hester is forced to put on a scarlet with the letter A on her breast and as punishment for the sin of adultery and for hiding the identity of the father of her child. Even after being paraded, Hester becomes adamant to reveal the identity of her lover. While she is being paraded, Hesters husband returns and disguises himself as Roger Chillingworth so as he can seek vengeance on Hesters lover. Hester continues to do her seam work as Pearl grows up to be a willful child. At some point, the community officials threaten to take Pearl away but, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale stops them. It through this kind gesture that Roger suspects that the reverend is Hesters lover and during his sleep Roger discovers a mark on the reverends chest that confirms Rogers fears.

For seven years, Roger focuses on torturing Reverend Arthur psychologically until he confesses his sin. However, Reverend Arthur is afraid to admit his mistakes in public even after being tortured psychologically for seven years. After seven years of torture, Hester finds out the animosity that Roger has been committing towards the Reverend. Things fall apart for the Reverend when he suffers a mysterious heart problem caused by the psychological stress received from Roger. The guilt is too much for the Reverend that he decides to confess his sins to town people. Hester while returning from a deathbed, they encounter the Reverend in the town square trying to punish himself for his sins. It is at this point that Hester and her lover plan to elope together but on the departure date, Reverend Arthur confesses his sins by stripping his chest naked and shows off the mark labeled A from the scarlet.

It is not a happy ending for Roger who spent seven years torturing the Reverend. After Arthur dies, Rogers is frustrated by the guilt of torturing Arthur. He later dies a year later and leaves all his wealth to Pearl. It is unfortunate that after all the efforts of vengeance, Roger does not live happily ever after with Hester and Pearl. Hester and Pearl leave Boston to settle in a different town. However, Hester returns to Boston after many years but without Pearl still wearing the scarlet with letter A and continues living in her cottage while doing her charitable work. Pearl marries European and establishes her family with the aristocrat. Eventually, Hester dies and is buried near Arthur with a gravestone with the letter A. The book cites several sins that are committed by the characters, the gravest of all being vengeance. The book does not have a happy ending though Pearl can establish her family.