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Monday, February 11, 2019

The Sin of Hypocrisy in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

The Sin of Hypocrisy in The Scarlet garner The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is about the trials and tribulations of Hester Prynne, a woman funding in colonial Boston. Found guilty of adultery, Hesters punishment is to wear a visible symbol of her perdition the scarlet letter A. Through the book, the lector comes to know Hester, the adulteress Dimmesdale, the holy man Hester had the affair with and Chillingworth, the estranged hubby of Hester who is out for revenge. The Scarlet Letter examines the interaction of these characters and the reaction of these characters to Hesters sin. However, the greater sin that Hawthorne deals with in The Scarlet Letter is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess. All three chief(prenominal) characters, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, commit the sin of hypocrisy. Hawthorne shows that hypocrisy is indeed a sin by punishing the offenders. Hester Prynne is a strong, independent woman who deals with her sin of adultery genuinely well. Instead of running a stylus from it, she lives with it and accepts her punishment. However, while succumbing to the will of the court, she does not for an second base truly believe that she sinned. Hester thinks that she has not committed adultery because in her straits she wasnt really married to Chillingworth. Hester believes that marriage is only valid when thither is love, and there is no love between Hester and Chillingworth. In the prison, defending her actions against him, she declares, Thou knowest, kibibyte knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love, nor feigned any(prenominal) (74). Then, later, speaking to Dimmesdale, Hester further imparts her belief that she has not sinned, saying, What we did had a consecration of its own. We felt it so (192). Therefore, Hester, in her mind, has not committed a sin. The fact that she accepts the courts decision so meekly and wears t he scarlet letter denoting her as an adulteress is the first way in which she is hypocritical. Hester, although she does not believe she has sinned, portrays herself as a sinner by wearing the scarlet letter without complaint. Over the ensuing years, Hester endures the shame and sarcasm brought about by the scarlet letter. However, the true source of

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