The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoyevsky share a common theme: the consequences of escaping punishment. This article explores the authors' views on psychological punishment as a punishment far worse than any punishment prescribed by law. It particularly focuses on the personal tortures of the main characters of these novels: Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, Raskolnikov and Sonya. It also explores the dynamics between female characters and their male partners. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The type of punishment seen in these novels is not that which is usually implied by the word, defined as "the imposition of a penalty for a wrong." , an offense or violation. Dimmesdale and Raskolnikov attempt to escape punishment and endure immense mental suffering and psychological torment before their crimes are revealed to the public. Hester's punishment is meted out early in the book, while Sonya receives none from the law. However, these two characters, like their male counterparts, also experience mental punishment that can be considered a far more serious punishment than public shaming and incarceration. The Scarlet Letter is set in a Puritan colony in New England. Hester Prynne's husband, Roger Chillingworth, sent her to America and promised to meet her there later. However, he never arrived and was presumed dead. Hester Prynne has an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale, one of the town's ministers, and becomes pregnant. The town learns of this and is boiling with gossip about the identity of the father. Hester refuses to reveal her identity and is considered an adulterer. His sentence is to forever wear a scarlet letter “A” embroidered on his chest. Dimmesdale sees all this happening, but does not confess his secret to the town. Chillingworth has now arrived in town and is also present to witness Hester's punishment. As the story progresses, Dimmesdale's guilt and worry make him very ill: “His form became emaciated; his voice, though still rich and sweet, contained a certain melancholy prophecy of decadence; he was often observed…putting his hand on his heart, with an initial redness, then a pallor, indicative of pain (Hawthorne 225). Another physical mark also appears on Dimmesdale in the form of a letter "A" on his chest, a "visible manifestation of 'the ever-active tooth of remorse, gnawing from the deepest part of the heart outward,' as it puts it critic David Stocking. now a doctor in the town, moves in with Dimmesdale under the pretense of curing him. However, all Chillngworth really wants is to discover Dimmesdale's secret, and Dimmesdale's condition only worsens under his care. When Chillingworth asks him why some men never reveal the secrets of their hearts in life, Dimmesdale responds, "However guilty they may be...they are reluctant to show themselves black and dirty in the eyes of men...So to their own torment unspeakable, they come and go. among their fellows, seeming pure… while their hearts are all speckled and spotted with iniquity which they cannot rid themselves of” (Hawthorne 236). Dimmesdale indirectly refers to himself and reveals how his secret tortures him. We also see his reasoning for keeping the secret; he occupies a high position and does not wish to lose his stature. The Puritans believed that sin was shameful and ostracized those who sinned, like Hester. Dimmesdale thinks thatThe disappointment and anger of the people may be worse than carrying the secret, but Hawthorne gives ample evidence to show otherwise. Dimmesdale knows what a “remorseful hypocrite” he is, but lacks the courage to reveal his crime and begins to “hate his miserable self” (Hawthorne 247, 248). His self-hatred leads to more suffering and he begins practicing ancient rituals such as fasting, keeping vigils all night, and even whipping himself "until his knees shook beneath him" (Hawthorne 248). In the end, Dimmesdale confesses that he is the father of Hester's child and dies immediately afterwards. Dimmesdale's illness is similar to that which afflicts Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment. Raskolnikov murders a miserable money lender named Alena Ivanova and her innocent sister, Lizaveta. After committing the murders, he quickly becomes ill and increasingly paranoid; He begins to constantly worry that others will suspect him. When he receives a summons from the police, he immediately thinks the worst. He said to himself: “I’ve never had anything to do with the police!” And why should this happen today... If I'm done, I'm done! …It's a trap. They want to lure me into a trap and then throw it” (79). The summons turns out to be about a simple question of rent, which has nothing to do with what Raskolnikov fears. Raskolnikov's illness is also apparent throughout most of the book. After the murder, he returns home and falls asleep. When he awoke, “he was seized by a shiver so violent that his teeth chattered uncontrollably and all his limbs trembled (75). He passes out at the police station after finishing discussing his rent situation, and his condition worsens as the days pass. He becomes distant, talks about things that make no sense, and often smiles for no reason, and his friends and family begin to fear for his mental health. Another negative effect of Raskolnikov's crime, and perhaps his greatest punishment, is the estrangement from his friends. and family. Raskolnikov decides that it is best to separate for a while from his sister Dunya and their mother. He said to them, “I wanted to tell you… as I came here… I wanted to tell you… that it would be better if we separated for a short time. I don’t feel well, I’m not easy… Whatever happens to me, whether I perish or not, I want to be alone” (264). Raskolnikov feels the need to distance himself. When his best friend Razumikhin chases him and asks the reason for his sudden departure, "something strange [is happening] between them", and Razumikhin understands what Raskolnikov has done (265). In the end, Dunya also discovers the murder. As she bids him her final goodbyes, “he waved at her impatiently, even irritably… 'I'm cruel, I know,' he thought, beginning to feel ashamed of his irritated gesture. “But why should they love me so much, when I am not worthy? Oh, if only I was alone and no one loved me... All this would never have happened!' » (440). Once again we see how much Raskolnikov believes he should be alone. Dostoyevsky takes advantage of this last farewell between a brother and a sister to show the extent of the mental consequences of the crime. He finds comfort with Sonya, a young girl forced into prostitution to support her family. Eventually, Raskolnikov – with Sonya's help – realizes what he has become and that the only way to end his suffering is to confess to the police. He does so and is sentenced to eight years in prison in Siberia. However, it is clear from the end of the book that his imprisonment is much less painful than the period when he was on the run from the law: “His attitude towards his new life was very direct and simple; he had aclear understanding of his situation, expected no immediate improvement from it, entertained none of the frivolous hopes so natural in his situation, and showed almost no surprise at anything in his new environment” (Dostoevsky 457). He seems much calmer than when he was hiding his secret. In the end, he even accepts his crime, realizes that he is in love and looks forward to life after Siberia. The women in these books also experience a sort of personal punishment. Although they do not run from the law, as Dimmesdale and Raskolnikov do, Hester and Sonya also suffer in their own ways. Hester has already been tried and convicted of the crime of adultery. Her material punishment is to wear the scarlet letter, but she also has to deal with the townspeople and their vicious looks and comments. She does not flee the Puritan colony because she believes that "this has been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment...and thus...the torture of her daily shame would at last purge her soul." (189). Hester imposes this punishment on herself because she feels she deserves it. Hester lives in the woods with no one but her daughter, Pearl. She subjects her life to hard work as a seamstress and even when she does penance, she is not accepted. The mental torment Hester experiences is a greater punishment than her sentence of solitary confinement. “One day, as her mother leaned over the cradle, [Pearl’s] eyes were drawn to the glittering letter; and, raising her little hand, she caught it…then, out of breath, Hester Prynne seized the fatal token, instinctively striving to snatch it away; so infinite was the torture inflicted” (203). Hester's almost physical pain shows the extremity of her mental torture, so great that it seems almost real. Toward the end of the book, Hester briefly removes the letter and "heaved a long, deep sigh, in which the burden of shame and anguish left her mind...her sex, her youth, and all the richness of her beauty returned." of what men call the irrevocable past…and a previously unknown happiness” has also returned (301). The letter took Hester's life; without this, not only her beauty but also her happiness returns momentarily. Sonya, in Crime and Punishment, faces a punishment beyond anything the community police could have given her. Sonya's punishment does not come from outside, from a community or a court, but from within her. Prostitution is the cause of his torment. Its effects are very apparent: she is very poor and unhappy, and everyone in town despises her. A letter written by Dunya's fiancé states that Sonya is "a girl of 'notorious' behavior" (200). Also, a woman and her daughter refuse to come to Sonya's father's funeral because the woman didn't want her daughter to associate with people like Sonya. We can see the effects of Sonya's "punishment" in the way she interacts with others. . She often responds to people in a surprised and frightened manner. When she enters Raskolnikov's room and finds her family there, she is described as "shy" and "embarrassed". This may come from the constant scrutiny of city dwellers. We can also see the conditions of his life; Raskolnikov notices a “simply and even poorly dressed girl” (199). All the money she earns goes immediately to her mother-in-law and siblings; she finds herself with almost nothing, but must continue her shameful occupation for the sake of her family. Although Hester and Sonya are also tormented characters, Hawthorne and Dostoyevsky portray them as stronger characters – more mentally and emotionally stable – than their male partners. Hester and Sonya are.