A Perception of Sin Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

Through out the course of history, those who were considered sinners were often out casted from the society. This is much the case with Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. After a public trial, Hester is considered a sinner due to her birthing of a so called â€Å"devil child†. Hester is convicted to the life long bearing of a scarlet letter on her chest. The Scarlet Letter that Hester Prynne wears symbolizes the change in perception of sin through out the novel. Due to the revelations of the governor Winthrop and the reverend Dimmesdale, the way sin is perceived changes from one of shame to the idea that every one is a sinner in their own right. In the beginning of the Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is standing on a†¦show more content†¦Later on in Hawthorne’s novel, however, the perception of sin begins to change with the death of the governor Winthrop. It was not long after Hester’s visit to the governor’s home, that he passes away. Of course the governor was thought to be a holy man and none of the puritans thought of him as a sinner. However, on the night of his death, the old sexton noticed that in the sky, a scarlet â€Å"A† appeared. â€Å"†¦a great red letter in the sky, - the letter A, which we interpreted to stand for Angel.† (Hawthorne 144). The sight of this mystical â€Å"A† caused a bit of uncertainty for a few reasons. One reason was the meaning of the letter. In Hester’s case, the Scarlet letter was meant to mark her sin but a man of the governors stature was thought to have not ever sinned and thus in theory would have no reason for an â€Å"A† to follow him to his grave. This marked an important change in the perception of the sin represented by the scarlet letter. The puritans began to question the idea of sin because how could a mark of sin show up for someone who obviously has not sinned? In Hester’s case, after the incident with governor Winthrop, many of the puritan people began to see Hester’s â€Å"badge of shame† as more of â€Å"one of good deeds† (Hawthorne 147). This transformation in their way of thinking was done in a way so that Hester was not â€Å"unmarked† but at the same time, the deceased governor was not being looked at as a sinner. Toward the end of the novel,Show MoreRelatedThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne1397 Words   |  6 PagesJohn Graves Professor Connie Caskey English 251: American Literature I 8 February 2016 The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850 which is based on the time frame of the Puritans, a religious group who arrived in Massachusetts in the 1630’s. The Puritans were in a religious period that was known for the strict social norms in which lead to the intolerance of different lifestyles. 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