Although they are both centuries apart, they are very close together. Close in the sense of poor decision-making as regards to moral cleanliness. They, Arthur Dimmesdale of Nathan Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Roman Polanski of 1977, both started out as figures in society that were held on high, as minister for Dimmesdale and a famous movie director for Polanski. Then, literally overnight, both of their lives changed forever, for the worse, as did the women they slept with. Arthur Dimmesdale, along with his mistress, Hester Prynne, went on to live lives of guilt as they had betrayed their community and families, in Hester’s case. After raping a 13-year-old girl, Roman had to flee the United States to avoid arrest, which is still held as a controversy to this day.
It is the 1650’s in a small Massachusetts colony. In this time period, most colonies are under a ‘theocracy,’ that is, a government ultimately ruled by God, but represented through ministers. Such a high position was one that Arthur Dimmesdale held, an individual that the townspeople highly respected and loved. Sometime later, in the mid-late 20th century, society is more or less ruled by entertainment, forming the spotlight for movie directors, not unlike Roman Polanski. Both characters, albeit with different occupations, nationality and time period, receive bountiful attention and respect, which is what caused their downfall to be noticeable.
One of those whom highly respected Arthur Dimmesdale was none other than Hester Prynne, a respectable Puritan lady who was wife to Roger Chillingworth, a physician. Although Hester was the one publically punished for her crime (Hawthorne, 51) and Dimmesdale hid his part of the sin, it was ultimately Dimmesdale whom suffered, since he lost