Sin is a double-edged sword in the life of Hester Prynne. The effects of sin on her character are not only defining and powerful, but they are also ambivalent. The most obvious effect of son on her is that it isolates her from her community. We see this from the very beginning of the story, when we first encounter her standing alone on the platform. This is not the last time we see her standing alone this situation recurs throughout the story. The fact that she is labeled as an adulteress is a large reason as to why she is separated from society. She reacts to this with a blush of shame and a look of defiance at the same time. Her reaction to the sin and societies opinion of that sin continues throughout the book, as well as her growing feeling of shame and repentance. After the scaffold scene, Hester seemingly conforms to the puritanical code of society. She does work

Sin turns Chillingworth from a somewhat decent road scholar to an evil black-hearted old man. This affect of sin is a secondary one, since the sin that is affecting him is the one committed by Dimmesdale and Hester, at least at first. The guilt of his sins that he has been committing on Dimmesdale's soul eventually took over in the transformation of his black heart and soul. Chillingworth became obsessed with tormenting Dimmesdale's heart and soul until he got a confession that he was the father of Pearl. Dimmesdale never gave him the satisfaction of this; although he does confess that he is the father of Pearl, he does so in such a way that it hurts Chillingworth more than it gives him satisfaction. Chillingworth premeditated his revenge on Dimmesdale from the minute that he found out that Hester had an affair and a child now. He makes Hester swear not to tell anyone who he really is so that he can go about with out raising ruckus, and so he will be able to enact revenge. This act shows us that the sin has already started to turn his heart black with rage and hate, since he is premeditating the act. This force of hate and rage will grow until it finally becomes his driving force and all he lives for. This is shown when Dimmesdale dies and he soon dies after as well since he has no one to leach off of. This shows the effect of sin on Chillingworth heart, it destroyed it.

The Scarlet letter is a study of the effects of

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Approximate Word count = 971
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)