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The Scarlet Letter Essay Test Topic B It can sometimes be hard for the individual spirit to “survive the society in which it has to live”. Often in society people are criticized, punished and despised for their individual choices and flaws. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author attempts to show the way society casts out individuals simply because their ideas and deeds differ from the common values. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth to symbolize that those who challenge social policies and restrictions can sometimes benefit in a society as a whole. Though Hester has been banished for committing adultery, she sees that the community needs her. Through her generous accomplishments the community realizes she is a person who, regardless of her sin, can affect the community in a positive way. The character of Dimmesdale represents the rise and fall of Puritan society, through the imagery of the "scarlet letter" on his chest. Dimmesdale is described with much potential; "His eloquence and religious fervor had already given the earnest of high eminence in his profession." This potential of Dimmesdale and Puritan society has distinction by the weight of