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Naomi Biden?U.S. Literature: Solomon?10/16 /10?
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne contrasts the effects of repressed guilt and self torment on the soul, to that of public shame and punishment. The story suggests that while publicized punishment may be humiliating, in the long run it is less destructive on the mind, body, and spirit, than self-inflicted punishment. Sin affects each character in a unique way. The characters forced to repress their guilt, as opposed to openly suffering the consequences are worse off because of it. Hester and Dimmesdale both struggle with acting upon impulses and coping with the consequences. These individuals’ characters are shaped by the punishments placed upon them by themselves, each other, and the society as a whole. The punishment given by social leaders alienates Hester from the town, at the same time as it allows her to repent to her satisfaction. The characters that are affected more so by self-inflicted punishment remain very much a part of the community, but more at war with themselves, living in anguish. By the end of the novel, it is Hester, as opposed to Dimmesdale who is able to live with the guilt, pain, and loneliness brought upon her by committing adultery, and is at peace with the person whom the town perceives her as.
Both the individual and the society play into how each character deals with shame, sin, and punishment. Everyone deals with their guilt and imps on a personal level, and while some people are able to bury their guilt deeper down than others, it exists nonetheless. The society however, has the ability to determine what one should feel guilty for, and in Hester’s case, how she will deal with it. The scarlet letter is a symbol of how the society perceives Hester, but equally as important, how Hester perceives herself. The townspeople in their “great mercy and tenderness of heart” have ‘merely’ sentenced Hester to the public humiliation of standing upon the platform of the pillory as well as wearing the “mark of shame” upon her chest for the rest of her life. In the beginning of the story the Scarlet A is a “mark of shame”, however towards the end it is thought to stand for “able” rather than adulterer. This shift in general opinion illustrates the change in how the townspeople perceive Hester throughout the story. Interestingly enough, as Dimmesdale is about to fall to his death, a Scarlet Letter is apparent on his chest. Exemplifying how, while society did not force him to sew his ‘sin’ on his clothing he still wore the scarlet A metaphorically underneath his shirt. He is helpless to escape the “impulse of that remorse which dogged him everywhere”. You can run from other peoples judge mental stares, but you can’t runaway from your own guilt. While the community decided how Hester would be punished they do not have the power to determine how she will punish herself. Dimmesdale torments himself, although he is celebrated by the community, implying that perhaps society, even a close knit puritan one, does not have the power to punish, in fact that lies completely in the hands of the individual whom has committed the sin.
Dimmesdale internalizes his guilt. He struggles with his virtue on a deeply personal level, so much so that he eventually falls to his death. His sin gives him a unique ability to sympathize for human nature, while it tears him apart inside at the same time. Between “fleeing as an avowed criminal, and remaining as a hypocrite” he is unable to find any peace of mind. His guilt becomes a “black trouble of the soul”, infecting his entire body. Evidently his spiritual state has a heavy toll on his physical state, and his health deteriorates as he continues to repress his ‘true’ self. Dimmesdale, like Hester, allows his external actions, or more specifically, his sin, to define his nature, or character. He lives in shame, not so much because of the crime he committed in sleeping with Hester, but because he allowed her to take all of the blame, and therefore all of the punishment. In order to compensate for the pain Hester was forced to undergo Dimmesdale subjects himself to self-inflicted torture. His self-loathing causes a deeply internalized sort of identity crisis. The narrator explains “He loved the truth and loathed the lie, as few men ever did. Therefore, above all things else, he loathed his miserable self!”. He begins to feel uncomfortable with the man he has become and that uncomfortableness develops into hatred. In coping with his actions on a exclusively personal level Dimmesdale is allowed to remain a respected member of the community, however the cowardly decisions that saved his reputation, prevent him from feeling any sort of deserved joy.
Hester is subjected to intense public humiliation and forced to wear an emblem on her chest representing the wrong she has done. The reader is sympathetic to her misery, however it is clear at the end of the story she was better off for having coped with her sin publicly and privately rather than only privately. She is guilty, except unlike Dimmesdale, Hester is given the ‘opportunity’ to repent. Her sin is recognized and she is treated and perceived by the community accordingly, rather than praised and celebrated. Just as the scarlet letter “made her strong but taught her much amiss”, the lack of one, and his failure to own up for what he did is debilitating for Dimmesdale. While Hester is able to grow stronger because of the hardships she suffers, Dimmesdale grows weaker. As her situation improves Dimmesdale’s is worsening, and while she may have lost some of the beauty and passion that once defined her, she still has pearl, and “she wandered without rule or guidance” for the past seven years, giving her the opportunity to think thoughts and form opinions independent than those of the towns, which is a distinguishing characteristic for a woman of her time. By the end of the novel it is made clear that while Hester suffered a tremendous amount of humiliation and shame for the ‘crime’ she committed the “tendency of her fate and fortunes had been to set her free”.
In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, sin, and the way one goes about repenting for sin, are both interpreted through Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdales individual struggles at reconciling with one crime of passion. Although in the beginning of the story the reader sympathizes with Hester, and the humiliation she is subjected to, by the end of the novel she is stronger for it. Dimmesdale is never forced to live with the shame of his sin on any public level but instead is engaged in a constant battle with his own conscience. As he begins to hate the man he’s become, Hester begins to appreciate the freedom her and her daughter’s seclusion from the town has opportune them. Sin, and repentance for sin will tear even the best of men down if the proper consequences do not follow, guilt is more powerful than shame and self inflicted torment is more powerful than public humiliation.