Essay On The Scarlet Letter Guilt

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter there are many abstract ideas and concepts that make readers ponder and think deeply. One of these major concepts is guilt. Guilt can be defined as, “a bad feeling caused by knowing or thinking that you have done something bad or wrong” (Merriam Webster). However, in Hawthorne’s novel guilt has a much deeper meaning which includes the suffering of a person’s mental health, physical health, and how it can make someone feel and become isolated from others. Hawthorne shines a new light on the concept of guilt by showing it as something that deeply affects one’s mental health. Throughout the novel both Hester and Dimmesdale have to suffer the effects of guilt, but Dimmesdale had a much worse mental response to it. Dimmesdale never shared that he was the one who committed adultery along with Hester. He had to keep that guilt trapped inside his mind, and he could not talk or relate to anyone besides Hester. As stated in Chapter 18, “[...] the …show more content…

Dimmesdale can not talk to others because only one person, Hester, knows about his guilt. She is the only person he can talk to, so he feels alone and detached from his community. In Chapter 17 Dimmesdale says, “ [they] look inward and discern the black reality of what they idolize?” Dimmesdale asks Hester this because he sees that no one else truly knows who he is, because his guilt holds him back from interacting from others. Hawthorne displays a new definition of guilt by showing it creates the suffering of one’s mental health, physical health, and it can cause someone to feel isolated. This definition is still true today. If someone is guilty, they often act differently and shy away from others. People still feel the same effects of guilt that Dimmesdale did. The Scarlet Letter shows how a novel written years ago can still relate to society today and give new definitions to common

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