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Scarlet Letter Hypocrisy Essay

Imagine a world without love. A world with nothing but sinful, hypocritical, revenge seeking citizens. In the puritan society this dream world, if you could call it, was a dream come true. Thier society was obsessed with the idea of being pure. Any sin that was committed had an over exaggerated punishment. Many of the puritans were hypocritical. This idea is expressed greatly in The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter as a story of revenge, sin and hypocrisy because the narration does not really show love between people, but shows all the sinful acts people would do to one another.
A great example of sin is Hester cheating on Chillingworth and having a kid with another man. She feels guilty of her sin that she has…

Although Chillingworth moves in with him to help cure, it is clear that no medicine or religion can recover what he is suffering from. Dimmesdale believes that his recovery would be a working process if he admitted to the community but still does not admit to it. He understand that he, like Hester, is a symbol of something larger than himself. In his case he is a symbol of piety and goodness. Chillingworth takes advantage of all of Dimmesdale’s weaknesses. In chapter 11 he has no question about the minister’s quilt. He plans to wreak Dimmesdale emotionally which turns out to be…

He begins to torture his psychological and physical features. Starving himself is one way he goes about it. He no longer is eating healthy and is hardly eating at all. Another thing he does is brand the letter “A” on his chest. In light of the fact that he feels guilty, branding himself makes Dimmesdale believe if Hester should have the “ scarlet letter” for the rest of her life so should he. The fear that he feels when he imagines himself standing on the scaffold reminds him that he has to consider not only himself but the citizens of his town. If the citizens find out about his sin he would harden his followers or leave them astray. In chapter eleven the events that happen suggest that Dimmesdale should publicly confront the truth about his…

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