A World Of Guilt

A World of Guilt

All human beings will, at some point carry some amount of guilt with them. Whether they could have prevented what happened or not, humans tend to carry guilt. Hester Prynne will forever carry the guilt of committing adultery. This is shown when Hawthorne writes, ?Here, there was the taint of deepest sin in the most sacred quality of human life? (53). In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes about sin and hypocrisy by describing the trials and tribulations of Hester Prynne. Hawthorne wants the readers of his book to dig deeper into their own thoughts and beliefs and examine if they themselves are hypocritical in daily life.

Hester shows throughout the book that she carries a great deal of guilt. Hester refuses to give the name of her lover in an attempt to shield him from her grief. She shows this early in the book when she says, ?I will not speak? (64). She also tries to conceal the name of Pearl?s father to shield him from guilt. Hester tells the crowd at the scaffold that her child will not know her father when she says, ?And my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one!? (64).

Hester bears her guilt in a variety of ways. First she pampers her only treasure, Pearl. She wants the focus of peoples attention to be on Pearl, which she shows when the story states ?Her mother, with a morbid purpose, that may be better understood hereafter, had bought the richest tissues that could be procured, and allowed her imaginative faculty its full play in the arrangement and decoration of the dresses which the child wore, before the public eye.? (82). Hester helps the poor in an attempt to help pay back society for her sin. The story says, ?To Hester Prynne it might have been a mode of expressing ,and therefore soothing, the passion of her life.? (85) This quote shows her grief is being express in the clothing she makes.

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