In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s allegorical novel, The Scarlet Letter, the story regards Hester Prynne, who gives birth after committing adultery and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt, while mainly focusing on the critical role sinning and guilt play throughout the story. Sinning is different from guilt with the fact that guilt is a merely a feeling, perhaps felt after sinning, which is the “evil” act that is committed. From all his actions, Roger Chillingworth, contrary to popular belief, was the character who turned out to sin the most. In many ways his actions turned out to be blacker than any of the other characters, a fact supported by the number of sins Chillingworth committed, the greater significance of his sins in comparison to the other characters, and the amount of remorse felt regarding his actions.

The number and the extent of the sins committed by Chillingworth throughout the novel are clearly displayed by comparisons to other main characters such as Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. In the first couple of chapters, the reader is clearly able to tell that Hester Prynne has committed a sin which has devastated most of the Puritan community. Although this is one of the main ideas throughout the novel, Chillingworth’s continuous sinning sufficiently displayed the great extent and number of sins he committed in the midst of a Puritan society. Even Dimmesdale’s great sin of fathering a baby of an adulterer is outweighed by the number of sins Chillingworth committed, especially after Dimmesdale’s identity was revealed. Chillingworth again and again perpetrated sins including his plot for revenge against the father of Hester’s baby and his emotional and mental attacks against Dimmesdale in various parts of the novel, achieving a status later in the novel as “the Devil.”

The significance of each character’s sins also greatly affects who is determined to be the one who sins the most. For example, Hester Prynne’s sin regarding her adultery was considered to be of great significance and importance throughout the Puritan society, but Chillingworth’s mental, emotional, and devil-like attacks against Dimmesdale create a bigger illusion of dramatic “evil.” Arthur Dimmesdale’s sin also had a great impact on society’s impression of him for a short while, later changing in society’s eyes to the fact that his sin had been settled by God. Chillingworth’s sudden mental appearance from a physician to the devil, however, demonstrated the effect and severity of his sins. Hester’s and Dimmesdale’s sins would be classified as ones only moderately significant in comparison to Chillingworth’s.

The amount of remorse felt in regards to the characters’ sins also plays a critical role in determining the character who sins the most, especially concerning The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne, although a significant sinner throughout the book, felt a great amount of remorse regarding her sin of adultery. Dimmesdale also felt a considerable amount of guilt, which, it can be argued, outweighed the effects and thoughts of his sin. Chillingworth, on the other hand, failed to display an example of remorse throughout the entire story, actually instead committing more sins with greater detrimental effects on the plot of the story. Sins such as emotionally and mentally attacking other characters combined with no remorse sufficiently outweighed other characters’ sins combined with a considerable amount of remorse.

Sinning is a major idea presented in The Scarlet Letter, as it is clearly one way to distinguish characters apart. The number of sins Chillingworth committed, the greater significance of his sins in comparison to the other characters, and the amount of remorse felt regarding his actions clearly and sufficiently supports the statement that Chillingworth was indeed the character in the novel who sinned the most, effectively outweighing the negative actions and sins committed by other characters throughout the novel.