All acts in the scarlet Letter were selfish acts of people.

Essay by penguin211High School, 11th gradeA, March 2004

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The Selfish Acts of People

People are constantly living their lives trying to be the best people that they can be. They want to be kind, generous, and giving, however it is possible to be those things, but for what reason do people want to be kind and giving? Often true acts of kindness occur from the heart, nevertheless no act is completely selfless, no matter how beneficial to others; the person who commits the act gets some self-satisfaction.

I don't consider myself to be a selfish person but even things that I do for others at the same time I do them for me too. I was shopping and I saw this shirt that my friend would absolutely love, so I decided to buy it for her even though there wasn't any occasion. Although it may seem as if this act is selfless I wouldn't have bought her the shirt if I didn't have any desire within myself to want to.

I was satisfying my want to give this to my friend.

I have observed that everyone in society commits selfish acts. When donating money to the poor a person will do that for a few reasons, maybe because they feel bad for poor people, or maybe it's because they want to be nice. While either reason for doing this it is benefiting the doer because he might feel bad at himself and selfish if he doesn't do it, so he is trying to make himself feel better and more giving, even if he is unaware that he is doing it for these reasons. People aren't always conscious that the things they are doing originate for the purpose of gratifying themselves.

In the book the Scarlet Letter, the charters themselves commit selfish acts. Chillingworth offered to be Dimmesdale's doctor,