Dimmesdale is often given a pass because he does eventually do the right thing. However, we should not forget that he was by modern terminology, a deadbeat dad. He may have suffered but his suffering was nowhere near the suffering of Hester's. His appearance changes to reflect what Chillingworth is doing to him; he is becoming thinner and weaker with every passing week and this is just the way Chillingworth wants it. While we might feel sympathy for this man at some point, we should never lose sight of the fact that he could never own up to his sin. Chillingworth is a man connected to darkness in The Scarlet Letter. From his first mention in the novel, he is a man up to no good and bent on revenge. We read he "strove to go deep into his patient's bosom, delving among his principles, prying into his recollections, and probing every thing with a cautious touch, like a treasure-seeker in a dark cavern" (117). His revenge was exact and it left Dimmesdale in pain. In fact, it was all too easy for the man. We read, "All of this was accomplished with a subtlety so perfect, that the minister, through he had constantly a dim perception of some evil influence watching over him, could never gain a knowledge of its actual nature (133)." His physical appearance changes over time as he becomes consumed with evil. We read he masked his expression with a "smile; but the latter played him false, and flickered over his visage so derisively that the spectator could see his blackness all the better for it" (162). Hawthorne gives us a compelling scene that demonstrates everything that has culminated up to this point when Chillingworth...

Chillingworth never changes in the novel; he is evil personified.
The Puritans in The Scarlet Letter stand as terrible wielders of justice. Hester's punishment includes condemnation "for the remainder of her natural life to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom" (58). This sentence forces us to see the significance of good behavior in the Puritan society. Punishment was used for more than punishing; it was also a deterrent for those who might be thinking of committing a crime. Hester's punishment was one she could never escape. We read, "In all seasons of calamity, indeed, whether general or for individuals, the outcast for society at once found her place" (154). With this kind of attitude, se see that the Puritans did not give much consideration to forgiveness of contrition. Once they "got a vague idea of something outlandish, unearthly, or at variance with ordinary fashions, in the mother and child" (87), they "scorned them in their hearts" (87). The strange thing about the Puritans is that they took it upon themselves to be judge, jury, and executioner when it came to Hester and there is little she can do when it comes to their mob mentality. At the conclusion of the novel, we read the "scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too" (Hawthorne 254). Hester's punishment became more than anyone intended because it caused people to reconsider their ideas…