Scarlet Letter Essay

Hannah McCaffrey
AP English: F- Mr. George
January 13, 2008
Scarlet Letter Essay

Everyone faces the obstacle of dealing with sin. There are a variety of paths that can be chosen to reach redemption. The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter present lessons relating to sin, forgiveness, and ultimately, redemption. The main characters in both of these stories each begin in the same situation. However, they take different courses of action in dealing with their sins. The characters in each of these stories demonstrate that it is more successful to publicly bear one’s sins than to solely deal with them privately.
One of the four characters that is observed in going through the process of reconciling a sin is Abigail Williams from The Crucible. However, Abigail takes a completely different attitude toward sin than the other characters. The only similarity that Abigail shares with the characters she is compared to is that, like the other characters, she started out with the original sin of adultery. She committed adultery with John Proctor. Abigail chooses to keep her sin a secret instead of revealing it to the public. What is even worse than being dishonest, is that she does not feel the slightest ounce of remorse for her sin. This lack of guilt leads the audience to hate Abigail for not doing what is right: revealing her sin and asking for forgiveness.
Furthermore, in addition to not uncovering that she committed adultery, Abigail runs away from Salem. Abigail’s disappearance from Salem allowed the townspeople to realize Abigail’s original sin and its results: "I cannot think they would run off except they fear to keep in Salem anymore"(Miller 127). The act of running away, which Abigail thinks will solve all of her problems, will, in fact, make things much worse. Running away solves nothing, and it will not create Abigail an escape from sin. Since she did not seek redemption, her sin will relentlessly consume her conscience and remain in the way of gaining God’s forgiveness.
Abigail also receives punishment in addition to being in disharmony with herself and with God. As a product of running away from Salem, "Abigail turned up later as a prostitute in Boston"(Miller). She never returned to Salem. By not returning, Abigail’s sins were not reconciled, and it is almost certain that by not preforming penance on earth, she would be sentenced to perform her penance eternally in Hell.
Abigail’s choice to not grapple with her original sin, or its results, led her toward a life consumed by sin. Had she confessed, and not run away, the audience would have had much more respect and tolerance for Abigail, and the people of Salem would have more than likely eventually forgiven her. However, she instead chose a direction comprised of being overtaken with sin. She could not forgive herself because she did not seek forgiveness from anyone at all, she tried to escape the wrongs she committed. It can also be said that she was not redeemed by God because she did no earthly penance and never asked for forgiveness. Abigail was the only character out of the four who completely avoided struggling and coping with sin.
In The Crucible, unlike Abigail, John Proctor eventually brought his sin to the public. The audience views Proctor as a good and honest man. Although he committed adultery with Abigail, he tries to repent for what he has done wrong. A major reason that Proctor at first tried to deal with his sin privately at first was because he came "to regard himself as a kind of fraud"(20). Similarly to Arthur Dimmesdale of The Scarlet Letter, if Proctor confessed his sin, he would be viewed as a martyr. This discouraged Proctor from revealing his sin because he felt that his sin was so great, he did not deserve to be seen as an honorable man: "I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud. I am not that man"(136).
Proctor eventually reaches the decision with inspiration from his wife, Elizabeth, that confessing his sins outwardly and setting the truth free is God’s will. Proctor uses publicly proclaiming his sins as a way of reconciling with God. When Proctor realizes that God is the one who will give final judgement, and that it does not matter how the townspeople view him, he is able to let go and forgive himself, as well. Proctor realizes that he is doing his best in trying to be forgiven. Through that, he is able to forgive himself and leave his judgement up to God.
Since Proctor did the honorable act of admitting his sin, he was viewed as a martyr when he died. At first, Proctor felt he did not deserve this title, however he realized that the judgement of others was not important, and God is the greatest judge. However, Proctor’s act was actually honorable. The audience and the people of the town gained a great amount of respect for Proctor because of the strength that he exhibited in revealing his sin and remaining an honest man. By revealing his sin, Proctor also gained his own forgiveness: "I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor"(144). Also, through doing God’s will of setting the truth free, he gained redemption from the ultimate judge, God. It is easily recognized that Proctor made much more respectable decisions by publicly revealing his sin which allowed him to be redeemed.
In The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale took a path to redemption that was very similar to John Proctor’s. Like Proctor, Dimmesdale also resolves to bear his sin privately at first. By keeping his sin only to himself, Dimmesdale is in a constant state of torture. He is tormented by his constant guilt. He beat himself physically "by inflicting a hideous torture on himself"(Hawthorne 230), because of how ashamed he is of his sin. Roger Chillingworth’s presence is there to solely keep Dimmesdale in a state of guilt and suffering. Dimmesdale endured seven years of private suffering due to keeping his sin private.
Dimmesdale believes that publicly bearing one’s sins is easier than keeping them concealed. He is seen a countless number of times "with his hand over his heart"(217). His hand covers an "A" similar to Hester Prynne’s, although, it is burnt into his chest. Dimmesdale describes this agony, "Happy are you, Hester that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret! Thou little knowest what a relief it is, after the torment of a seven years’ cheat, to look into an eye that recognizes me for what I am"(173). He firmly states that it is easier to openly be judged by others than to be constantly be looked down upon by oneself and by God.
Although Dimmesdale believes that privately bearing a sin causes a greater amount of suffering, he chose to do this for a reason. He believed that he deserved this suffering for the sin that he committed. He wanted a greater amount of suffering because he felt that his actions were deserving of a great punishment. While Dimmesdale knows he suffered immensely, he realizes that it was nothing compared to an eternity in Hell. He believes that God is merciful for giving him an earthly punishment in hopes that he and Hester could meet in heaven "in everlasting and pure reunion"(229).
Dimmesdale recognized, like Proctor, that God is the ultimate judge. Dimmesdale is also an honest man and he felt that he should try to break his cycle of guilt and tell the townspeople the truth about his sin. Dimmesdale was still a priest and wanted to fulfill God’s work, resulting in him being truthful and revealing his sin to the town. Being honest allowed Dimmesdale to forgive himself and recognize that God is the final judge of our actions. Making his sins public allowed Dimmesdale to free himself of the burden he was carrying. It also allowed him to let go, and let God be his only true judge. The people still loved Dimmesdale, and they loved him even more for telling the truth, as did the audience. Proclaiming his sins outwardly was the guiding force in Dimmesdale gaining forgiveness.
Like Proctor and Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter shared her sin publicly. She was not given a choice of dealing with her sin publicly or privately because committing adultery with Dimmesdale resulted in her becoming pregnant with her daughter, Pearl. Hester was forced "for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom"(59). Everywhere she went, Hester was looked down upon: "All the world had frowned on her,– for seven long years it had frowned upon this lovely woman,– and still she bore it all, nor ever once turned away her firm sad eyes. Heaven likewise had frowned upon her, and she had not died"(176). However, although Hester went through unbelievable hard times, she was able gain forgiveness easier than the characters who waited to publicly bear their sins. Even though she was forced to proclaim her sin, it worked in Hester’s favor. Not keeping the sin built up inside of her conscience meant that she was not consumed by it. Her burden and sin was shared by the people of the town, whereas Proctor and Dimmesdale’s sins were carried alone. Hester was able to forgive herself, and not let the judgment of the townspeople affect her. She was not consumed with sin, she was able to let it go and accept Dimmesdale’s wise advice that God is the ultimate judge, as he exclaimed, "Praised be His name! His will be done!"(229). Hester was able to forgive herself of sin early on, not let other’s judgments affect her, and finally accept that God was the only judge that would matter.
Even though Hester knew that God’s judgement was final and the most important, because Hester’s sin was public, the audience felt compassion toward Hester even though she sinned. Continuing this trend, the townspeople eventually absolved Hester of her sin: "the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence, too"(234).
The characters in The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter demonstrate that it is necessary to publicly bear ones sins to gain redemption. All of the characters started out with the same sin and illustrated different ways to go about dealing with sin. However, in their differences, the characters who gained forgiveness and redemption all included the process of publicly proclaiming a sin. While public declaration is necessary, it is not the only component. It is the foundation that allows sinners to forgive themselves and leave their judgement up to God.