The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet letter is a romantic fiction written in 1850 by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is written in a historical setting. The story covers various ills in the society. This paper will look at hypocrisy among the characters in the fiction, both major and minor. Hypocrisy is seen in almost every part of the story. All the town people are hypocrites as can be deduced from the way they treat Hester coupled with their views regarding her.

Hester is also a hypocrite because she knows that she is beautiful that even the town women are jealous of her. She hides her true personality by putting on dull cloths and covering her beautiful hair at all times (Barish 130). Hester’s hypocrisy is not just limited to her. Her attitude towards others can also be seen as hypocritical. She even mistrust those people who she knows and understand, for instance, she does not trust Dimmesdale, not that he is bad because she does not even trust herself (Harris 132).

Arthur Dimmesdale is the other character who is a hypocrite. He is a respected minister of the gospel; however, he has some dark secrets that he is not willing to let anybody to find out. He finally tells the secret on the Election Day but again not because he is willing. He tells the secret on his deathbed because he wants to free his soul (Gerber 153).

Another instance where Dimmesdale portrays hypocrisy is observed when he goes to the scaffold, where he had earlier in the day talked to Hester and told him the name of her fellow sinner. The real intention of going back to the scaffold is due to the feeling of guilt, while he sees a fellow minister passing but hides so as not to be seen by the other minister. His behavior at that particular time makes him a hypocrite (Coale, 140).

Roger Chilingworth is the other person who displays Hypocrisy in his behavior. He is a physician who becomes friends with Dimmesdale with time, and eventually, moves in to live with him. When he moved in to the town, he stood out as a very calm and meditative person. However, this was not his true character because people started to observe the real evil i.............