The Theme Of Sin In The Crucible And The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible revolve around the puritan culture of 17th century America. Written against the backdrop of the self-perplexed puritan culture, emotions of pain and pleasure are similarly highlighted amongst themes of religion, reputation and injustice in both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible.

Despite being in an environment plagued with sin, both Hester Prynne and John Proctor remained steadfast, which indirectly encourages mankind to also persevere as Faulkner stated literary works should do. The, while not completely realistic, but eye-opening, accounts of the grim events of the Salem Witch Trials and hypocritical Puritans in The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter show mankind a darker time and allude that society may be slowly declining to the same point of hysteria and duplicity again. While writing their novels, Hawthorne and

Nathaniel Hawthorne,  a anti-transcendentalists, born during the early 1800’s, born in Salem, made a book called The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter was a book about Puritans in New England, during the 1600’s in a small Puritan town. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism of The Scarlet Letter, Pearl and Burrs to contribute to the overall theme of sin.

The Puritans were very strict in their rules and ways of living. Many offences were considered sins to Puritans and were punishable by death or being shunned by society. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the three main characters all commit sins and suffer for doing so, bringing their own ruin. Sin has detrimental consequences for all people.

Sin is Never Forgotten “Sin penetrates to the heart, darkens and hardens it until it extinguishes the light of belief. Each sin has a path that leads to unbelief. Unless that sin is swiftly obliterated by seeking God’s forgiveness, it grows from a worm into a snake that gnaws at the heart” (Said Nursi). If the sin in our lives sits in our hearts it will darken our heart and lead us away from our faith and it slowly kills the light and the life in us. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne sin is shown throughout all of the characters.

Sin, secrets, guilt, and shame are unfortunate occurrences that every person will encounter during a period of their life. The shame inflicted upon an individual will lead them down a difficult path, however in the end it will result in new knowledge and lessons essential for life. As shown in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, public shaming pushes characters such as Hester and Dimmesdale farther from the Puritan society that they had once considered family, it encouraged them to feel shame for their sins such as adultery and remain truthful in a society full of secrets, however in the end it opens their eyes to the world outside of their sins allowing them to grow and help others as well. First, being made victims of public

“… Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” This verse is found in John 8:7; in this, Jesus is basically saying how no one can judge anyone because no one is perfect. No one can say anything about anybody’s sin because all sin is equal and everybody sins. In the Scarlet Letter, the Puritans did not think all sin was identical; they saw some sin as worse than others. The Puritans did not follow Jesus’ advice with Hester; today, we still don’t follow it any better.

Puritans may have tried to give themselves the appearance of a perfect society, but it was really just as corrupt and full of sinners as any society today. In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Crucible by Arthur Miller and “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet, there is evidence for this. In Puritan literature, although they try to hide it, sin is very common, in that Puritans do the opposite of what they preach, but still harshly punish those who sin.

English Puritan clergyman Thomas Adams states “That which a man spits against Heaven, shall fall back on his own face” (Adams 1). This shows that whatever sinful actions one fabricates during his or her earthly life will eventually catch up to them and make one suffer. This relates to the sins of adultery, cowardice, and vengeance. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, various forms of sin are expressed through the characters of Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth.

The scaffold is a symbol of isolation and guilt throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. All three of the scenes that take place on the scaffold show major character development that deal with the realities of being alone in suffering, punishment, and guilt. All the scenes have at least the four main Characters: Hester, Pearl, Rev. Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Chillingworth is Hester’s husband’s pseudo name to protect his identity while he exacts revenge. Since the scaffold scenes are such major parts of Hawthorne’s story, I believe that they also directly impact the overall theme.

Overall, sin can change the view of many lives, some for the better or some for the worse. The novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts three forms sin can affect someone: hatred, guilt, and wisdom. Through hatred people's lives can become malicious, like Chillingworth’s consistent revenge. Guilt is show in the way Dimmesdale responds to not telling the town what he did. Wisdom is displayed through the actions of Hester. She sees that everyone conceals sin in their lives. Sin changes the lives of many people, not just the few people involved, but the people all around the

Nathaniel Hawthorne was the author of the fictional book, “The Scarlet Letter”. The Scarlet Letter is about a young woman named Hester Pryne who commits adultery, and is forced to wear the letter “A” on her chest. Hawthorne shows the effects of sin in the Scarlet letter through the characters of Hester Pryne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Dimmesdale was Hester’s lover, the father of her child and the minister. Dimmesdale lives with guilt, because he also has” [his own] scarlet letter,” (Hawthorne 130).

Puritan tradition is full of shaming the “wrong” in a very cruel and brute like manner. The shaming of Hester seems to bring the town joy or solace, because they can put all of the guilt that comes with sin on her, while concealing theirs. As God fearers, the Puritans know that sin is within everyone, yet they continue to condemn and shame one person, even though it is universal. Hawthorne is demonstrating and shaming the hypocritical aspects seen in Puritan citizens at the time in the early days of America. The first example of this is in the market place. “…they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead…”, “This woman has brought shame upon us all and ought to die. Is there not a law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statue book…” (43). The author shows the reader the twisted mindset of the Puritans using diction to make the women sound as harsh as possible. The fact they are considered “Goodwives” is ironic, because even the sophisticated and “pure” ladies in the town are

In the book the scarlet letter, a character named Hester Prynne committed the sin of adultery. The scarlet letter, A symbol and reminder of what she did was wore by Hester. Due to this sin she had many consequences throughout the story. The scarlet letter shows her character and develops the theme of consequences of sin throughout the book.

In the 1950’s Arthur Miller wrote a play, The Crucible, and set it in Salem during early colonization. In The Crucible, John Proctor has an affair with a young woman named Abigail Williams. However, John decides it is time to end things with Abigail, because of this she seeks revenge and spirals the town into madness in search of a “witch”. In Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter , minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester Prynne a young widow have a love affair and Hester becomes pregnant. Hester is forced to wear a red “A” on the front of her dress. Hester’s “dead” husband reappears and is set on finding out who Pearl’s father is. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter share similar themes about internal conflict.