Themes
![Picture](/uploads/3/9/1/3/39130063/179102_orig.jpg)
A big theme in most of Hawethorne's novels are hypocrisy. This is shown in The Scarlet Letter when the townspeople are crude to Hester when they themselves probably have thought about adultery.
- Compassion and forgiveness is another theme when Dimmesdale finds out that Hester has been keeping Chillingworth's secret when she knew that he would most likely go after Dimmesdale. He forgives her and wants to have a relationship with her. Also, the townspeople have compassion for Hester when they find out that she broke one of the big laws that the Puritans set, they don't kill her they just make her wear a red A on her chest for the rest of her life.