the Scarlet Letter

The letter A has different meanings in the whole story. At the beginning, letter A stands for adultery. The protagonist named Hester Pryne has a sin in adultery with a respectable priest, Arthur Dimmesdale, which cannot be accepted by whole town people, so that she is made to stand in the scaffold, show her shameful faces to the world and put a letter A on the front of her dress. Then, letter A stands for ability because Hester Pryne is clever with a needle and hard working. She uses whatever time she had left to make clothes for the poor people of the town, although she gets no thanks for it and find no kindness anywhere. At last, letter A stands for angel. Every word, every look, every cold, accusing silence reminds her of the shame and lonely misery of her life. She can bear the abuse coming from the sin and don’t complain people. She lived very simply. Her own dresses were made from dark, sad-colored cloth, with the scarlet letter bright on the bosom. I think she is not only a beautiful young woman but also a merciful, strong, selfless and respectable Puritan. She loves her priest deeply and selflessly. She protects his position and encourage him to be strong.   Arthur Dimmesdale is complicated. He feels guilty on his sin but it takes seven years to admit his guilt in public. Arthur Dimmesdale irones the letter A on his body as a reminder of his self-consciousness and his repenting for what he had done. Everybody is potentially a sinner, and great moral courage is therefore indispensable for the improvement of human nature.   Roger Chillingworth is a cruel and cold-blooded man. When he finds the priest’s secret, he plans to revenge on him. It’s horrible that he decides to travel with Hester Pryne and Arthur Dimmesdale. On the Election Day, he stands a far corner of the market-place and smiles at Hester Pryne-a smile which even across the wide and busy square, carried secret and fearful meaning, which makes my hair stand on end. There is an evil in his heart but he hide it secretly.   The book explores the complexity and ambiguity of human nature. I thought, am I a sinner too? What sins do I have? Am I being punished for my sins? Can these sins be forgiven? Our sins, I think, are kept to ourselves.