" 'Woman, woman, thou art accountable for this! I cannot forgive thee!'
3-4 paragraphs later:
'I do forgive you, Hester, I freely forgive you now. May God forgive us both! We are not, Hester, the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! That old man's revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold, blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so!" ((Chapter 17/PAGE 170))
Not a whole lot of time passes by between these two sentences, and it's almost instantly that Arthur has forgiven Hester. This is great because Arthur represents a huge role in the Puritan community being the high power in a position of people who are heavily reluctant to forgive. This shows the strengthening power of forgiveness as it seems to strive Dimmesdale away from his weak, spineless character, leading him towards speaking higher of himself and Hester, admitting they are not the worst sinners.
Yes - the can forgive whereas Chillingworth cannot!
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