- Note: this is based on a MODERN point of view

GUILTY AS CHARGED

Chillingworth, Hester and Dimmsdale, three of the main characters in Hawthorne's novel A Scarlet Letter are all guilty; guilty of different things, yet guilty never the less. In addition, society too, is guilty. Chillingworth is guilty for hurting Dimmsdale and manipulating Hester. Hester is guilty of adultery and for going along with Chillingworth's marriage proposal, while Dimmsdale is guilty of adultery and for leaving Hester and Pearl in such an awkward situation. He is also partially guilty for his own deterioration and death. Society is guilty for its Puritan ideas. It is the guilty actions of the three characters combined which society's actions that leave all Chillingworth, Hester and Dimmsdale with aching souls.

From the opening scene in the prison Hawthorne tells his readers about Chillingworth's only mission: to hunt down Hester's lover and crush his soul. Quite early in the book the reader is given hints as to Chillingworth's knowledge about the identity of Hester's lover - the town priest, Dimmsdale. He moves in with Dimmsdale and plays mind games with him while giving him medication, causing Dimmsdale to collapse. He watches Dimmsdale deteriorate and enjoys it, for his mission is to watch Dim suffer.

Chillingworth and Hester share a mutual guilt, their marriage. Chillingworth is guilty of manipulating Hester, an innocent naive girl at the time who didn't know better. Although he knew she didn't truly love him, and that he couldn't offer her all that she needed due to their age difference, he still made her marry him. As a result of his guilty actions and his evil intentions he ends up deterioration, and dying shortly after Dimmsdale.

Hester's guilty of sinning twice, once when she allowed herself to marry Chillingworth and once when she committed adultery with Dimmsdale. She is also guilty of waiting for so long before telling Dimmsdale that Chillingworth is her husband and warning him, and of triggering the evilness in Chillingworth. Although Hawthorne makes Hester confesses to always admired Chillingworth, he makes her point out that she never admitted actually loving him. Not to him and not to anyone else. Hester is guilty of allowing herself to get pushed into a marriage she didn't want. By doing so she ended up committing adultery (if she wasn't married there wouldn't have been a problem) and giving birth to a child who didn't have a proper father to look after her and love her. The second sin of which is guilty of, is sleeping with another man (Dimmsdale) while already married to someone. As a punishment for doing so she got isolated from society and was forced to carry a scarlet letter "A" (standing for Adultery) on her dress.

Hester is guilty of keeping quiet - she waited seven years before warning Dimmsdale about Chillingworth and by doing so allowed Chillingworth to crush Dimmsdale's soul. She is partially guilty of turning Chillingworth evil too for if she did not sleep with Dimmsdale causing a spark of evilness to light up in Chillingworth, he would not have become so evil and vindictive. Hawthorne mentions this to his readers when he makes Chillingworth confront Hester and tell her that 9 years prior to their conversation he was a good, stable man.

Partially guilty for his own death, Dimmsdale's guilt lies in his act of adultery as well as in the fact that he would not confess to what he did. By sleeping with Hester and conceiving Pearl Dimmsdale conducted an act which was unacceptable then and is still unacceptable now, he slept with another man's wife. Dimmsdale is not only guilty for committing adultery however, he is also guilty for not confessing to doing so. The guilty conscience which developed as a result of this lack of confession ended up killing him in a slow and painful manor. This was his contribution to his own death.

Society does not play a large role when examining the guilt in the novel, yet the guilt is still there. Society is guilty for condemning Hester and isolating her. By doing so, the members of the society not only cause Hester a lot of pain but also deprived Pearl an innocent little girl, of a normal child's life. Because of her mother's isolation Pearl could not play with the town's children and go to school with them all. The members of society are also guilty of not listening. When Dimmsdale was trying to open up to them and confess his sin, they would not listen and would not let him express himself. Perhaps if he was able to, he would not have ended up dying the way he did, he might have survived his guilty conscience.