Scarlet Letter Essay, Research Paper

I read The Scarlet Letter and I failed the Accelerated Reader test. It was worth __ points and the reading level was ___. In this story Hester was an adulteress and had to wear a scarlet letter because she wouldn?t admit to whom she had the affair with. Her daughter was Pearl and her father was Dimmesdale. They lived in Salem, Massachusetts in times of Puritans so the sin of having an affair was unacceptable. Dimmesdale was a Reverend and he wanted Hester to admit the affair, but she would not. Her husband, who was assumed dead, was Chillingworth and he figured out who the father was and he wanted revenge. He tried to drive Dimmesdale crazy, but it didn?t work. Finally in the end Dimmesdale announced after his sermon that he was the father of Pearl, then he died shortly after. Pearl and Hester went back to England and Hester continued to wear the scarlet letter on her chest.

I found Hester to be the most intriguing character in this story. She accepted that she had sinned and took the punishment without looking for a way out. She could have easily admitted who the father was and she wouldn?t have been subject to the scorn of the townspeople, but she took it. She was punished all of her life and I do not think that she should have had to deal with that all of her life. She had to deal with her daughter who was somewhat of a brat. Finally she got some of the respect that she deserved, people came to her for advice.

The conflict of the story was the act of adultery. Even today it is an issue, though some people make more a big deal about it than is needed. In the times of Puritans this was one of the worst sins that one could commit. Another conflict was that Chillingworth tried to get revenge throughout the whole story. He kept on fighting to get even with Dimmesdale, he tried to drive him crazy, but it never worked.

The theme of this story is sin and who had the greater sin. They all sinned, but it is anyones opinion whose sin was worse. I think that Chillingworths was the worst, he had nothing to do with the affair, but he felt the need to get even. I think that Dimmesdale should have had to be shunned by the town just as Hester was, even though he tried to make it fair to him. I think that Hester should not have had to live with that kind of guilty conciense, it wasn?t fair because she had to live with Pearl everyday. She was reminder enough of what happened and she didn?t help with the situation any.

In my opinion I liked the plot of the story, but I did not care for his style of writing. He wrote with very large vocabulary. He could have made it easy to understand, it doesn?t even sound natural. I would like to see the movie because it would be easier to understand. I read this a while ago so not everything is very fresh in my mind, and there are parts that I did not understand. I think that it is better to come out right away with your sin, even though I wouldn?t if I did that. I also think that you should not be judged based on your sins.