Hawthorne's exploration of the themes relating to sin, guilt, punishment, etc, was related to the sense of guilt he felt about the roles of his ancestors in the 17th-century persecution of Quakers and in the 1692 witchcraft trials of Salem, Massachusetts. His early works are mainly historical sketches and symbolic and allegorical tales dealing with moral conflicts and the effects of Puritanism. His tales; "Roger Malvin's Burial," "Rappaccini's Daughter," and "Young Goodman Brown," clearly show Hawthorne's preoccupation with the effects of pride, guilt, sin, and secrecy. These are combined with a continued emphasis on symbolism and allegory. He wrote the Scarlet letter in 1850, novel based on the secret of sin. The story is about the adulterous Puritan Hester Prynne, who loyally refuses to reveal the name of her partner. Regarded as his masterpiece and as one of the classics of American literature, The Scarlet Letter reveals both Hawthorne's superb craftsmanship and the powerful psychological insight with which he probed guilt and anxiety in the human soul. Sin is a part of everyday life. Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, revolves around the theme of sin and the effects it has on the mind, body, and soul. With modern psychological insight Hawthorne probed the secret motivations in human behavior and the guilt and anxiety that he believed resulted from all sins against humanity, especially those of pride. A sin was committed by three of the main characters in the novel and throughout the novel, Hester, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. The sin of adultery was confessed by one of the two-Hester, but Arthur Dimmesdale decided to keep it a secret, which in time tore him apart. Chillingworth, Hester's husband, the third sinner in this novel, decided to seek revenge on whoever the father to Pearl was.

Hawthorne tries to point out that sin, no matter how trivial or how substantial, is still sin. There have been debates on exactly who is the biggest sinner, but in Hawthorne's case, he believed that the sins were equal and throughout the novel he developed each of them, and tried to make the reader develop an understanding of his reasoning. Hawthorne not only dealt with just the sin, but how sin can affect a person if not professed. To go even deeper into the theme, Hawthorne, throughout the novel, explains how un- confessed sin can eat away at the conscience and destroy the soul. Hester, who had confessed her sin of adultery, wore the scarlet. But in the end, as a result of Hester's confession, the sin does not destroy her, but instead it had made her stronger and braver and she flourished. Dimmesdale, who had committed adultery with Hester, waited until the sin completely destroyed him before he confessed. The longer he waited to confess, the more punishment and torture he went through mentally and physically, not only by himself-his conscience, but also by Chillingworth-the husband of Hester. Several times Dimmesdale tried to hint during his sermons about his sinfulness, but the congregation only honored him even more than before. But he is only relieved in the end when he confesses his adultery and stands openly with Hester and Pearl, his illegitimate child with Hester. His guilty conscience is lifted and as he committed confession in the end, this freed himself from Chillingworth's grasp, who slowly continued to poison him. His confession allowed him to finally die, free of guilt.

Sin was, without a doubt, a major part of these three characters' lives, and Hawthorne does a great job of revealing that to his readers. He points out the immorality in each character, and explained how sin haunted Arthur Dimmesdale until he willingly confessed it. Through his thorough explanation of each of the three characters and their roles in the novel, he definitely proves that sin is equally terrible no matter how inconsequential it may seem.

In his preoccupation with sin he followed the tradition of his Puritan ancestors. In his concept of the consequences of sin-as either punishment due to lack of humility and overwhelming pride, or regeneration by love and atonement-he deviated radically from the idea of predestination held by his fore bearers.