Character Transformation in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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There are far too many instances in the world in which situations, actions, or emotions lead us to be different people than who we truly are. There are many ways that one can become stressed or upset, and there are various different ways that one can go about dealing with it - ways that can cause one to lose friends, family, or even oneself. For instance, when I was young girl, my grandfather had begun to become very stressed due to problems at work, and he was beginning to ache all over his body. He would often turn to alcohol in order to escape his troubles, but the alcohol led him down the wrong path, and he suddenly became very angry and cruel towards his family members and friends. He understood that he was treating everybody cruelly, but he still could not seem to grasp the strings that controlled his life. He felt horrendous and he loathed the man that he had become. He eventually grew exhausted of himself and he gradually stripped himself of the monster and found himself once again; he finally became the man that he and his family knew and loved. It is easy to lose oneself in the midst of a stressful drama, but it is extremely important to remain true to oneself.
Sadness for the transformation of a pure person into a completely different character portrays a similarity between the main character in “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been” and one of the main characters in The Scarlet Letter. “It is inconceivable, the agony with which this public veneration tortured him! It was his genuine impulse to adore the truth, and to reckon all things shadow-like, and utterly devoid of weight or value, that had not its divine essence as the life within their life. Then, what was he?—a substance?—or the dimmest of all shadows? He longed t...

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...ity becomes a jittery, on-edge fuse ready to explode at any moment. Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, Hester, and the main voice in the song, “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been”, all share this commonality in losing themselves along a rough path in their lives, and they experience dread, sorrow, shame, and loneliness in their perpetuating journeys. It seems with every waking step, humans are still attempting to learn who they are; they are constantly changing due to various different situations that they have encountered, and it is important that they stay true to who they are at heart instead of who they are pushed to be.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Scarlet Letter”. 1850. New York: Signet, 2007.
Reliant K. ""Who I Am Hates Who I've Been" Lyrics." RELIENT K LYRICS. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. .

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