The power of secret sin in The Scarlet Letter One of the main themes of The Scarlet Letter is that of secrecy. The plot of the book centers on Hester Prynne's secret sin of adultery. Nathaniel Hawthorne draws a striking parallel between kept secrets and the physical and mental states of those who hold them. The Scarlet Letter demonstrates that a secret or feeling held within slowly overwhelms and destroys the soul, such as Dimmesdale's sin of hypocrisy and Chillingworth's sin of revenge, while a secret made public, such as Prynne's adultery, can enable for a soul to recover and even grow stronger. When a secret is hidden inside it can overwhelm and even destroy a person. Arthur Dimmesdale, a revered young minister in the city, demonstrates what happens to the soul. Dimmesdale, as will later become known, commits the serious crime of adultery with a young married woman named Hester Prynne who lives in Plymouth Colony. Hester is unwilling to reveal her partner in sin. Dimmesdale's fear of persecution and humiliation forces him to keep his sin a secret. Then watch as Hester is placed before her peers on a platform facing the entire town and is then called upon to speak to her and urge her to reveal her adulterous companion. In essence, he is called to commit yet another sin, that of hypocrisy. Dimmesdale's accumulated sins accumulate within him, constantly plaguing his soul until it begins to affect him physically. Thinking himself a hypocrite, he tries to ease his conscience and repay his sin by flogging his chest at night, fasting for days on end, and even climbing onto the same platform on which Hester began her humiliation.Walking in the shadow of a dream. , so to speak, and for...... middle of paper...... the body no longer feels and the mind slips into darkness. Excellent thesis! "The Scarlet Letter demonstrates that a secret or feeling held within slowly engulfs and destroys the soul, such as Dimmesdale's sin of hypocrisy and Chillingworth's sin of vengeance, while a secret made public, such as Prynne's adultery, can allow a soul to recover and even strengthen itself.” Even if you change some words in the quote, they are still considered the author's words. In addition to the quote, you must also cite a paraphrase and the page number of the quotation in parentheses after the quotation marks. If the quotation is more than four lines long and indented, the quotation marks are not necessary to mark a citation. Works Cited: Hawthorne, Nathaniel . New York: Bantam,1850.