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I only have the first couple paragraphs but do you think you could just look over what i have so far and send it back to me tomorrow so i have time to keep working on it?

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Naomi Biden?U.S. Literature: Solomon?10/16 /10?
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne contrasts the effects of repressed guilt and self torment on the soul, to public shame and punishment. The story suggests that while publicized punishment may be humiliating, in the long run it is less destructive on the mind, body, and spirit, than self-inflicted punishment. Sin affects each character in a unique way. The characters forced to repress their guilt, as opposed to openly suffering the consequences are worse off because of it. Hester and Dimmesdale both struggle with acting upon impulses and coping with the consequences. These individuals’ characters are shaped by the punishments placed upon them by themselves, each other, and the society as a whole. The punishment given by social leaders alienates Hester from the town, at the same time as it allows her to repent to her satisfaction. The characters that are affected more so by self inflicted punishment remain very much a part of the community, but more at war with themselves, living in anguish. By the end of the novel, it is Hester, as opposed to Dimmesdale or Chillingworth who is able to live with the guilt, pain, and loneliness brought upon her by committing adultery, and is at peace with the person whom the town perceives her as.
Both the individual and the society play into how each character deals with shame, sin, and punishment. Everyone deals with their guilt and imps on a personal level, and while some people are able to bury their guilt deeper down than others, it exists nonetheless. The society however, has the ability to determine what one should feel guilty for, and in Hester’s case, how she will deal with it. The scarlet letter is a symbol of how the society perceives Hester, but equally as important, how Hester perceives herself. The townspeople in their “great mercy and tenderness of heart” have ‘merely’ sentenced Hester to the public humiliation of standing upon the platform of the pillory as well as wearing the “mark of shame” upon her chest for the rest of her life. In the beginning of the story the Scarlet A is perceived as a “mark of shame”, however towards the end it is thought to stand for “able” rather than adulterer. This shift in general opinion illustrates the change in how the townspeople perceive Hester throughout the story. Interestingly enough, as Dimmesdale is about to fall to his death, a Scarlet Letter is apparent on his chest. Exemplifying how, while society did not force him to sew his ‘sin’ on his clothing, he still wore the scarlet A metaphorically underneath his shirt. He is helpless to escape the “impulse of that remorse which dogged him everywhere”. While the community decided how Hester would be punished they do not have the power to determine how she will punish herself. Dimmesdale torments himself, although he is celebrated by the community, implying that perhaps society, even a close knit puritan one, does not have the power to punish, in fact that lies completely in the hands of the individual whom has committed the sin.
Dimmesdale internalizes his guilt, struggling with his virtue on a deeply personal level, so much so that he eventually falls to his death. His sin gives him a unique ability sympathize for human nature, while tearing him apart inside at the same time. His guilt becomes a “black trouble of the soul”, infecting his entire body. Evidently his spiritual state has a heavy toll on his physical state, seeing as his health deteriorates as he continues to repress his ‘true’ self. Dimmesdale, like Hester, allows his external actions, or more specifically, his sin, to define his nature, or character. He lives in shame, not so much because of the crime he committed in sleeping with Hester, but because he allowed her to take all of the blame, and therefore all of the punishment . In order to compensate for the pain Hester was forced to undergo, Dimmesdale subjects himself to self-inflicted torture. His self-loathing causes a deteriorating sense of self. The narrator explains “He loved the truth and loathed the lie, as few men ever did. Therefore, above all things else, he loathed his miserable self!”. In coping with his actions on a exclusively personal level Dimmesdale is allowed to remain a respected member of the community, however they prevent him from feeling any sort of deserved joy.