Poetry

The Conscience’s Roll in Dealing with Guilt and Shame What power the conscience holds, as it can, will bring a person to his doom. Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the main characters, Reverend Dimmesdale, expresses his feeling of guilt best by his action. The story evolves around Hester Prynne, the Sinner of Adultery, and her everyday life with her daughter, Pearl. Hester Prynne was sent to live in …

…and physical illness. The guilt he holds throughout the novel causes his physical sickness, making him weak and pale, and has his body start to decay. Emotionally, he starts to go into a state of insanity, which is the cause for Chillingworth’s care. The every scene containing the scaffold portrays his state of sickness. Dimmesdale is a perfect example in showing how the conscience can control a person and lead them to their destruction.