This thesis aims to investigate the problem of Sin as revealed in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. The writer of the present thesis adopts the "'Fortunate fall," in which the sins of the main characters are regraded as the source of wisdom and spiritual enlightenment. And he attempts to analyze what kind of sins the three main figures in the novel commit, how they try to be redeemed through their sufferings, and finally how they attain salvation.
We can figure out three kinds of Sin which Nathaniel Hawthorne is supposed to accuse in The Scarlet letter : Absolved Sin, Reddemed Sin, and Condemned Sin. The three main figures of the novel commit three different Sins. Hester commits sin of adultery with minister Dimmesdale, and she is forced to wear the scarlet letter 'A' on her breast as a sign of her Sin. At the end of the novel, Hester accepts her sin and tries to overcome her sufferings by leading abstinent life and bestowing all her superfluous means in charity on wretches less miserable than herself. Eventually, Hester's behavior has gradually altered the meaning of Able or even Angel not as that of Adultery.
Dimmesdale couldn't confess his sin because of cowardice. His sufferings resulted from his moral cowardice rather than from the presumptive sin of loving Hester. He, who has been suffering from remorse, confess his sin on the scaffold where Hester once stood to be exposed to the masses, and dies. Even if he is dead, he finally purified himself by paying the terrible human cost of sin.
Chillingworth was a very intelligent and learned man. Because his intellectual pride was humiliated strongly by Hester's refusal to name the child's father, he determined to find out the unknown sinner by himself. His physical and mental force was centered on revenge. Because of this malice he transformed himself into a devil and violated the sanctity of a human heart in cold blood. Chillingworth was so intent on securing vengeance that he spent his waking hours engaging in the destruction of the minister. He succeeded, but he also destroyed himself.
He violated against the nature's providence. He tried to play the role of God, while making himself a devil. In the novel he was the only unpardonable sinner.
As examined up to now, Hester and Dimmesdale undergo spiritual transformation from sinner to moral victors, while Chillingworth is left behind as incorrigible avenger. In this respect, Hawthorne's The Scarlet letter is a novel which shows author's critical attitude towards puritan society.
In conclusion, Hawthorne, in The Scarlet letter, represented that one must try to find a right way because even an innocent man has an original sin.