Beginning of Essay
Puritans believe that confession is a means of purifying the soul. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story, The Scarlet Letter, admitted guilt, such as that of Hester Prynne, who wore a scarlet letter pinned on her shirt, cleanses the soul, whereas hidden guilt, such a ....

Middle of Essay
.... high. “She was self-ordained a Sister of Mercy.” The letter “A” comes to stand as meaning able, instead of adultery as before. She willingly comes back to the town and lives there with the scarlet “A” on her chest, after she had left for so many years. Hidden guilt preys on a conscience and brings about hypocrisy. Dimmesdale does not confess his sin, which troubles his conscience as well as his “red stigma,” the unhealed wound on his breast. He becomes paranoid and begins to see his sin everywhere. In the meteor which flashes through the sky one night, he sees he letter A. He covers his guilt even more by placing his hand ....