the unknowing congregation worshiped him all the more for his self-proclamation of sinfulness without telling what his sin was. Hester had to deal with her guilt in a whole different method than that of Arthur’s and therefore chose to ignore it rather than to be overcome by it. She showed remarkable strength in getting through it although she felt weak inside. Arthur and Hester had very different ways of dealing with guilt because they had two very different kinds of guilt to deal with. Hester’s guilt was very public and Arthur’s was very private. Hester had an easier way of dealing with her guilt from what Arthur was doing but she might have been showing her guilt more in order to get rid of it. Whereas Arthur let it build up inside of him to be released in one big ordeal that was to come. Hester had it easier because she had not the burden of being a public symbol and she was already an outcast so she had not all that Arthur had to lose.In both having the same sin the two, Arthur and Hester, had a common bond between them that connected them to each other and had kept them from revealing the other’s secret up until the very end. Hester’s secret being that Arthur was the father and Arthur’s being he had not confessed to being the father. If Hester had not waited for Arthur to speak up for himself and had blurted out who the father was he might have been hung for his having broken the fellowship with God. It could be said she, in being silent, had saved his life. In the end, he eventually told everyone he was the father but had not done so when he was younger and he died right after he told the truth about he and Hester to the community thus relieving him of his burdens and releasing his spirit. In dealing with guilt they, both took different routes. Hester, being the stronger of the two decided to try and repent of her sins by taking the punishment of the town elders and obeying it to her...
