The first plot archetype is the battle between good and evil. In the story, Roger Chillingworth represents evil and is also seen as the devil figure. He was said to be the "Black Man" that lived in the forest and carried a book with people's names signed in blood. It is also said that Chillingworth resembled Satan. Hester Prynne and the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale represent the good in the story, and are both ultimately "good," despite the fact that they committed adultery. The "battle" that the three characters have, has to do with Chillingworth's obsession with getting vengeance on Dimmesdale. After Chillingworth finds out that Dimmesdale was the one Hester had the affair with, Chillingworth makes it a point to get revenge on the two. He mainly concentrates his evil doings on Dimmesdale though, because he figured that the scarlet letter was enough punishment for Hester. So he makes Dimmesdale suffer by digging deeper into the guilt t

The next character archetype involves Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. In the story they are the star-crossed lovers. They were not allowed to be together because of society's laws. Hester was made an outcast, and the Reverend tried to live a normal life, but couldn't because he never revealed the truth to the magistrates. So Hester and Arthur couldn't be seen in public or else everyone would have seen the truth. Although even after the truth is revealed, and the two died, they were still never together. They were buried next to each other, but with a sort of boundary between them. So even in death, the two were still separated.

In The Scarlet Letter, archetypes play a very important role. The archetypes gave the book a deeper meaning and also led the reader to a better understanding of the situation. Without these important literary archetypes, the story would have been dull and lost its meaning.

The next plot archetype is the unhealable wound. Both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale share the unhealable wound. Both characters lost their innocence when they committed adultery. Hester had to wear the scarlet letter everyday of her life as a punishment for her sin, and for not revealing whom her partner was. At one point in the book, she even thought of committing suicide and murdering Pearl. That's how far her suffering carried her. Arthur Dimmesdale had to live with a guilty conscience everyday of his existence. It was hard for hi

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Approximate Word count = 989
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)