When a person does an action to someone else that makes them upset, people choose to either forgive, or to take revenge. When a person chooses revenge, it is not a courageous practice, or a morally good act. An article from The New York Times titled, “Excerpts From a Paper on a Classic Novel” talks about the novel, “The Scarlet Letter,” by author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The article quotes, “His [Chillingworth’s] hatred causes him to commit the harshest sin of ‘The Scarlet Letter,’ that of seeking revenge against Dimmesdale. Revenge is looked upon in the article as a morally wrong act, driven by hatred.

The article from The New York Times also says in quote, “…the sins of Chillingworth are far more serious, because, unlike either Hester or Dimmesdale, he is incapable of love and is therefore driven to hate. Chillingworth decides to take vengeance on Dimmesdale for committing adultery with his wife, but this choice is wrong. Revenge only leads to more sorrow and anger.

The New York Times says, “Chillingworth himself, however intentionally commits the sin of seeking revenge against his fellow man [Dimmesdale].” Showing vengeance to someone causes more harm. More problems happen when someone takes revenge on another person because if there was already one problem that occurred, taking revenge will add a second problem. Taking vengeance on someone only creates a small problem into a greater one.

The consequences of revenge can be stopped when people choose the act of forgiveness. When deciding how to respond when someone upsets you, forgiving that person is the correct choice. Unlike revenge, forgiveness leads to trust, acceptance and peace in relationships. Forgiving someone shows the acceptance of how all of humanity makes mistakes. Taking revenge on a person does the opposite of forgiving someone, which shows that taking vengeance is always the wrong choice.