Theme: Punishment

In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the major themes is punishment. Throughout the book Hester Prynne is punished for having commited adultery, which she did. She is ostracized by everyone around her for having given birth to an illegitimate child with her illicit lover, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest. Dimmesdale’s identity as Hester’s lover is kept a secret by Hester so that he will not have to go through the same things she did. He, however, feels guilt inside. He punishes himself by secretly practicing self-flagellation (beating himself). He believes that it is better to punish himself than to be punished by the people around him. These two characters, Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, are both punished in the book, but by different ways. Hester’s punishment is public, and seen by everyone, while Dimmesdale’s is more of an internal punishment since he is punishing himself because of the guilt he feels, which makes one of the main themes of the book punishment.