back into her, and the sunlight touches her once again. At the end of the story the Scarlet Letter takes on a different significance for Hester. It is a symbol of her courage and for everything that she has been through. It also symbolizes her love for Arthur Dimmesdale. Arthur Dimmesdal is another character that the Scarlet letter affects tremendously. Dimmesdal is tortured by his silence. He becomes very ill, malnourished, and he constantly puts his hand over his heart. He no longer believes that he is worthy of being saved. He states, I could be will content, that my labors, and my sorrows, and my sins, and my pains, should shortly end with me, and what is earthly of them be buried in my grave, and the spiritual go with me to my eternal state, rather than that you should put your skill to the proof in my behalf (1371). He is so tortured by not being able to confess his secrete that he would fast for several days, pray for several hours, whip himself, and even carve an A on his chest. Finally he gets some relief when Hester agrees to live at the Colony with him. He comes back to life but it is short lived. The torture finally gets to him and the secret he held eventually killed him. However, at the end he finally is able to find the strength to confess. The Scarlet Letter also affected Roger Chillingworth. He is seen as the villain in the novel. Throughout the novel his main drive is revenge against Dimmesdale and Hester. He explains to Hester why he will not kill her, Even if I imagine a scheme of vengeance, what could I do better for my object than to let thee liveLive, therefore, and bear about thy doom with thee, in the eyes of men and women, -in the eyes of him whom thou didst call thy husband, -in the eyes of yonder child! And, that thou mayest live, take off this draught (1345). He basically is set out to destroy Dimmesdale and Hester by torture. He later befriends Dimmesdale and slowly breaks him down. Af...
