Road to Perdition

Sin and wrongdoing follow us forever, but we can choose to defy social expectations and set standards. Regardless of how we deal with the guilt or suffering, it remains a part of us, and can define our characters or break them down. This is best exemplified in Hester Prynne and the continuous return to her crime.

Hester Prynne is at first defiant and proud of her sins, yet later carries an air of quiet dignity about her as she retreats from society's hypocrisy. Her fall from grace is similar to that of Eve's banishment from the Garden of Eden for attempting to gain knowledge. Immoral and unacceptable in the eyes of her fellow townspeople, she is cast out. Although she is initially lonely, she has Pearl as a companion, the embodiment of her scarlet letter and sin; Hester begins to "speculate" about her society and realize that there are flaws while beginning a self-course of repentance. Hester is able to soften the townspeople over a span of seven years, and the stigma attached to the 'A' fades away. Hester is able to escape the Puritans in part because she refuses to conform to their beliefs, and in part because she feels stifled after the death of Dimmesdale.  

The Scarlet Letter was an amazing book. Somehow, everything was symbolic in its own way, and the descriptions of the dark, severe Puritan town casts a shadow over the novel. Hester was able to defy the Puritans and their misguided belief system--she ends up punishing them by forming her own thoughts about the 'A', and remains as dignified as the day she stepped off of the scaffold. Even after she migrates to the birthplace of her sin to die, Hester's grave remains separate from that of her cowardly lover, Dimmesdale, who buckled to pressure and guilt. While Hester changed society and maintained her pride, Dimmesdale was tortured to death by it.