Theme

1. Theme Sinning. Nobody can say they have never sinned before. Many people sin a daily basis. Sins come in all sizes. Perhaps you committed a rather small sin lately, such as lying to your parents about doing your homework. Or maybe your sin was much larger. Every action has a reaction. This means for every decision you make, there is a consequence. It may be a good consequence, or it may be a bad consequence. It all depends on whether you made the right decision or not. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne just so happened to make the wrong decision. She committed the sin of adultery; disloyalty to her spouse. Prynne had an affair with another man, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, which lead to her impregnation. Hester, of course, made a wrong decision, and had to pay the consequences of being judged, shunned, and ridiculed. Arthur also committed a sin himself. Not only did he take part in the act of adultery, but he also did not confess to being the father of Hester’s child, who was eventually named Pearl. Hester had to take the consequences of committing adultery herself, while he got of scot-free. However, every action has a reaction. Dimmesdale had to live with the guilt of knowing that he had not taken some responsibility for his actions. The guilt literally ate him alive, His sin was too much for him to bear. He grew sicker and sicker. Finally when he did admit his sin, he passed away. His made the initial wrong decision, and he had to pay the consequence for his sin. The theme of The Scarlet Letter is simple. It is sin. Everyday we face decision, as did both Hester and Dimmesdale. We can either make the right decision, or the wrong decision. In this case, both characters made the wrong decision. Because of these, both paid the consequences following these decisions. Everybody sins at least every once in a while, but its in everybody’s best interest to keep it to a minimum.