Scarlet letter guilty heart
Scarlet letter- guilty heartA great deal of blood has been shed and many wars have been fought during the history of civilization; however, man's greatest battle and most formidable enemy is only himself. Humans like to think of themselves as faultless, but sin is inevitable. Mankind is a sinful race; therefore, everyone has sinned. This has been made only more evident with the passing of time and the development of the human character. Not every person has the ability to address the concept of sin and also display it in a way that causes others to look at their lives through critical eyes. However, one factor that has remained constant in the human character through this development is conscience. As conscience continues to consume all that is his very essence, the struggling Arthur Dimmesdale, illustrates Hawthorne's theme of the negative affects of a sin-stained conscience and a life of secrecy in The Scarlet Letter.
In this story, an anguished Arthur Dimmesdale struggles to pacify his conscience and withhold the secret of his sin from being known. He did not reveal to anyone the revenge he felt in his heart, and he tried to keep anyone from realizing that his revenge was slowly taking over his life. Nathaniel Hawthorne was successful in writing a novel that accentuated sin and guilt interchangeably, while revealing to the readers the consequences of living with sin as a guideline. The letter A proved to be the primary focus because it had direct influence on every person in the novel. His characters lived interchangeable but distinct lives with different joys, loves, sins, and morals.
Arthur begins to feel that if he confesses to the crime he has committed he will end the personal stress on his soul. Feeling full well the torment of his own secret, Arthur proclaims that those who hold such "miserable secrets will yield them up that last day with a joy unutterable" (Hawthorne 91). By this expression, Arthur offers a glimpse into his tortured heart and shows how heavy a burden his secret is. This is where the novel begins to delve into the heart and conscience of Arthur Dimmesdale when Roger Chillingworth questions him about his thoughts on sinners and their secrets. When Chillingworth further inquires about such sinful secrets, Arthur holds his hand to his breast, a motion that he performs frequently (Hawthorne 91). The reader is presented with the thought that this gesture possibly is not done as much out of physical suffering as spiritual suffering. It almost shows a red stigma or burden on the life of Dimmesdale. Not only is the health of Arthur's body in question, but also the condition of his heart, his soul, is dubious.
The engraving on Arthur's chest suggests that the burden of his sin had seeped so deeply within him, it has now forced its way outside. Although Hawthorne lets this aspect of the novel remain ambiguous, we as the reader now know that Arthur's sin has begun consuming...
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