Beginning of Essay
The ninth commandment tells man not to give false witness.(Exodus 20:16) Nathaniel Hawthorn and Charles Dickens in their novels The Scarlet Letter and A Tale of Two Cities, respectively, both use punishment for deception as a recurring theme. Although they do so ....

Middle of Essay
.... would have been spared the entire encumbrance of the crime if she did not deceive the townspeople. Although seemingly, her paramour did not escape punishment. In fact, the father of her bastard child took a more severe sentence. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale seemed to be an upstanding, young priest. The whole town liked him and respected him as a holy man. Thus, his deception was much more direct and extreme when he did not confess that he impregnated Hester Prynne. Unlike Hester, he was not publicly punished. So although Hester overcame her ordeal and went on with her life, Dimmesdale exacted a constant, physical and mental reprobation on himse ....