A Critical Analysis of sin in The Scarlet Letter

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people made her wear the letter A around her neck to display her shame and carry the guilt with her whenever she went. Hester’s reaction to this treatment is what saves her. She tries to make her sin right. The first thing she does is embrace it. She accepts her mistake but fights to right it. She does not shy away from society but instead engages herself in charity work to help the less able in society. She is giving back to a society that has given her nothing.
She fights to keep her child. Just because Pearl is a product of her sin does not mean Pearl is sin itself. She might remind Hester that she did wrong but Hester is determined to make sure that her child does not pay for her mistake. She dresses Pearl in the best clothes and strives to keep her happy and beautiful. This brings about the concept of self-sacrifice. She is not willing to bring those around her down with herself. If it came to falling, she would rather fall by herself rather than bring others down with her. ...

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died, he ceased to find pleasure in living and soon after demised.
The way the three characters suffered from their sin points toward who should punish the sinner. Is it religion, society or the individual? Hester’s greatest source of punishment is the society. She is made to wear the letter A around her neck and whenever she went, she was scorned. The members of the ton associated her and her daughter with the devil and called her witch. She was made to stand on the scaffold and endure the town’s ridicule and bear the shame and guilt. She was made to live by herself away from the common folk.
Individually, she did punish herself though it may not appear obvious. Her punishment was ...

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