Scarlet Letter Relationships

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne describes the complex relationships between the characters. Of these, Hester, who commits adultery against her husband with the youthful town minister, Reverend Dimmesdale, grows and develops throughout this story. Hawthorne puts into words how they develop together, which in turn helps the story to progress immensely, and is of major importance throughout the novel. The two worry how their sin will affect their appearance toward the townspeople, how they will accept the child in their lives, and how they can live the rest of their lives together.
When Hester and Dimmesdale commit this sin, it is seen as a very indefensible crime. The women of the town reply with a very concerned question …show more content…
He, as well as the other magistrates, try to bribe her for the father’s name with the hope of taking the scarlet letter from her chest, to which she replies, “Never; Its is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony as well as mine!” (45). She doesn’t want the father of the child, which the novel postpones in officially naming, to get punished. Dimmesdale, in this moment of stress, puts his hand over his heart, which is a recurring action throughout the novel. He seems very passionate about her admitting the name of the father, “The young pastor’s voice was tremulously sweet, rich, deep, and broken.” (45). He then realizes that she is not going to publicly express that he is the father no matter how much he pleads. Dimmesdale wants to be known as the father of the baby, and in this moment is feeling dejected because of her choice not to identify him. Hester and Dimmesdale have very different views on how their sin will affect their appearance in the townspeople’s eyes, but they both go through struggle of accepting the child into their …show more content…
Hester and Dimmesdale play a pivotal role in this story, and develop the most. They deal with their reputation changes in Providence, accept Pearl once she is born, even though it takes Dimmesdale longer for public recognition, and continue on to prosper, not together, but happy, with the way things came to be. Nathaniel Hawthorne does an amazing job with their perspectives and thoughts from beginning to end. He puts emotion into the pair and tells how one simple mistake can blossom into an unending relation. The way this affair between two characters progresses into a complicated exchange of sin and shame goes to show how relationships provide extensive insight into an author’s