The Scarlet Letter Essay

Lu Li Li 1
AP English (Period F) ---Mr. George
Date: Jan. / 12/ 2009
Assignment name: “The Scarlet Letter Essay”

Confession – A Deal with the Public or God?

As the play The Crucible points out, “people [often] have no ritual for the washing away of sins” (Miller 20). People along the stream of history always struggle to find the way to their salvation. Both stories, The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible, gave us a profound inside look at how the four characters: Abigail, Proctor, Hester, and Dimmesdale, with different temperments, deal with the same sin of adultery. Ironically, the main messages, which the two stories emphasized, tend to be polar. The Scarlet Letter suggested that it is better to bear one’s sin publicly, while The Crucible argued that one should deal with their sin privately with God. However, comparing both novels’ stances, The Scarlet Letter’s argument makes more sense. The text states that bearing one’s sin publicly is a part of the punishment, which is essential to gaining one’s redemption. Futhermore, truthfulness is the key to the gate of one’s ultimate redemption. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlet Letter, makes the point perfectly clear that concealing sin from the public is not wise.

Arthur Dimmesdale realized at the end of his life that bearing one’s sin publicly is a part of the punishment God grants to the sinners. God punishes the ones who have sinned “by bringing me [one] hither, to die this death of triumphant ignominy before the people” (Hawthorne 229). Hester was forced to wear the scarlet letter and was exiled by society; while Proctor was arrested and thrown into the dungeon; and Dimmesdale suffered from the burning sin on his heart. However, Abigail, the one who escaped from her punishment, was at last, a lost soul in the dark and somber woods where God’s lights of mercy could not reach. Therefore, it is crystal clear that of the four characters who have sinned, only the ones who have been somehow tortured by their sin got their salvation from God.

Bearing God’s punishment is essential, but it is just a part of redemption; thus, it is important for a person to “Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!” (Hawthorne 231). In front of the irreversible sin of adultery, the four characters reacted in different ways; some embraced it, some ignored it, some hid it, and some struggled in between; yet it is clear that embracing the sin and unveiling it to others is the best way to be redeemed.

As Hester said herself, “In all things else, I have striven to be true! Truth was the one virtue which I might have held fast, and did hold fast, through all extremity; save when thy good, - thy life, - thy fame, - were put in question!” (Hawthorne 175). Hester, being a role model for everyone, was truthful for her entire life. Hester embraced her sin by loving, cherishing the poor, comforting broken-hearts, and pacifying wrathful men. Hester honestly acknowledged guilt; therefore, she displayed it with courage and pride to the strict Puritan community. The embellished scarlet letter on her bosom, and the way she dressed up her daughter, were proof of this. Although uncovering her guilt to the public made Hester’s life harsh, and to some extend, miserable, in the long run, Hester gained her ultimate salvation through her goodness, and more importantly, her honesty.

On the contrary, Abigail was the complete opposite of Hester. This lascivious woman sinned not only once – committing adultery with Proctor – but hundreds and millions of times, because she lied to everyone, even to God. Every time she lied and blamed her sins on others, she was staining herself with the poisonous blood the Devil uses when he makes people sign his book. Lies to cover up lies. Abigail’s soul was corrupted by the darkness of dishonesty, which drove her away from God; therefore, she lost her chance to be redeemed from her sin.

Proctor, a sinner who struggled between publicly and privately bearing his sin, failed to get forgiveness from the community, not because confessing publicly is unnecessary, but because he lied to the court and the rest of the town by saying he signed the devil’s book. Fortunately, Proctor later realized that after lying to himself, to the public, and to God, his “honesty is broke” (Miller 136); therefore, he is no longer a “good man” (136). He gained his forgiveness from Elizabeth and God at the end because he opened his long-concealed heart by admitting his sin to them.

The Reverend Dimmesdale suffered profoundly compared with the other characters. Hawthorne writes, “at the head of the social system, as the clergymen of that day stood, he was only the more trammeled by its regulations, it principles, and even its prejudices” (180), to show the readers that unlike Abigail, who does not acknowledge of sin, Dimmesdale oscillated between his conscience and his pretentious obsession with his position. Hester wears her sinful scarlet letter on the outside; whereas, she is actually a faithful and honest saint on the inside. Ironically, Dimmesdale is the reverse, both literarily and figuratively, because he wears his saint-like mask on the outside while his sin is burning inside of him. “He had striven to put a cheat upon himself by making the avowal of guilty conscience, but had gained only one other sin, and a self-acknowledged shame, without the momentary relief of being self-deceived” (Hawthorne 131). In Dimmesdale's mind, confessing his sin in public is only a portion of his redemptive process. He still believes that God, not society, grants the ultimate redemption. He believes that speaking his guilt will only lead to another sin - staining the holiness of God. However, as the quote said, hiding the secret is just deceiving himself. Although the good name of the Church is preserved, his guilt is still there, waiting eagerly to be unveiled. So Dimmesdale is not only suffering from his guilt, but from his lies; yet, dishonesty is still a sin. Therefore, truthfulness can be seen as an essential key to the Kingdom of Heaven – no matter how penitent one is, or how he or she loves God, a person should be honest to himself in order to be open to God. Being honest to the public is a direct outcome of being veracious; thus, being honest is an indispensable step to gain one’s redemption.

Fulton John Sheen, a famous clergyman, said in Calvin H. Chamber’s book Two Tracks, “no person is ever made better by having someone else tell them how rotten he is; but many are made better by avowing the guilt themselves” (Chambers). This shows that concealing guilt from the public would rot one’s heart, although lies can comfort one in the short term. After embracing God’s punishment with faithful hearts, it is important to concentrate ones’ conscience on being truthful. Honesty and confession to the public is the fundamental step to achieve God’s forgiveness, so people should avoid the detours of going back and forth between public and private confession, like what Proctor and Dimmesdale have gone through. Hester, on the other hand, was open with her guilt; thus, open to the punishment that was given by God. Soon her sin dissolved with her dedication to charity, therefore, she was ultimately redeemed by God and lived a happy life. So, be true to the public; be true to oneself; then the sinner will be forgiven by the final judge – God.



Works Cited
Miller, Arthur. “The Crucible”. New York: Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 1976.

Nathaniel Hawthorne. “The Scarlet Letter”. New York: Bantam reissue, 2003.

Calvin H. Chambers. “Two Tracks”. Alcoholics Anonymous AA History and Book Bibliography. 30 May. 2008.