How does sin affect people and their nature? Sin, being the darkness of the world that causes immorality, affects people in countless ways. Sin has the ability to completely change people without any warning. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells the story of how sin affects people's lives. “When it referred to sin, it seemed to take on an evil force so pervasive that it did not need to be embodied in anyone or any particular action. It was all general and vague” (Donoghue, 2). He demonstrates this through the characters of Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Sin affected these three people in different ways: Hester lived a terribly shunned and isolated life; Dimmesdale felt the guilt that tormented him until the day of his death; and Chillingworth became a sinister, spiteful man consumed by revenge. According to Nathaniel Hawthorne, sin affects people by completely altering their personality and transforming how others feel about them into something unwanted. This was demonstrated through its three characters: Roger Chillingworth, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester Prynne. Roger Chillingworth was cold and indifferent, yet he was calm and even in the eyes of others. He was a doctor. He cared about how he was seen in the eyes of others and was selfish. His unkind nature began to worsen the day he discovered that Hester had committed adultery. He wanted to know who this man was. Even though Hester would never insult the man with whom she committed her sinful act, he was determined to find out who he was. His nature was no longer what it was before. He had become more evil and sinister. “But the earlier appearance of an intellectual and studious man, calm and quiet, which she remembered best in the middle of paper, was shaped by it, like Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth. Sin will change people, but it is up to them to decide whether it changes them for the better or for the worse. Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York, NY: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Print.Pimple, Kenneth D. "'Subtle Hypocrite, But Remorseful': Dimmesdale's Moral Character." Studies in the Novel 25.3 (Fall 1993): 257-271. Rpt. in nineteenth-century literary criticism. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Russell Whitaker. vol. 158. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literary resources from Gale. Network. May 11, 2014.Donoghue, Denis. "Hawthorne and Sin." Christianity and Literature 52.2 (2003): 215+. Literary resources from Gale. Network. 11 May 2014."Who? The characters." The Scarlet Letter: A Reading. Nina Baym. Boston: Twayne, 1986. 52-82. Studies of Twayne's Masterpieces 1. Literary Resources from Gale. Network. May 11 2014.