Kevin McAdam

AP English 11/ Mr. George

4/5/10

Final Essay on Sin Topic #1

Doing what is right during times of tremendous adversity is one of the most difficult challenges one must face as a human being. Sometimes we obey our conscience and do what is right, but other times we may succumb to temptation even when we know it is wrong. The true measure of the moral stature of a human being is not how often one does the right thing, but how often one admits their wrongdoings and attempts to gain redemption for their sins. In The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, several characters are presented with situations in which they chose to either bear their sins publicly, privately, or to ignore their sins altogether. The decisions made by these characters dramatically impacted how these people thought and acted for the rest of the novel, resulting in both good and bad outcomes. In reading the texts, the outcome of characters who admitted their sins to a public audience was generally greater than the outcome of characters that chose to keep their sins private or to ignore their sins. There is undoubtedly much truth in the quote that the topic of this paper is based on. There are, however, certain sections of this quote that apply to different characters in the three novels. The sections of the quote that are most relevant to the texts are, “Yet it was his duty to confess, to suffer public shame, and to make public atonement” (Wilde 228), “to tell their sins to earth as well as to heaven” (228), and, “Nothing that he could do would cleanse him till he had told his own sin” (228).

As previously stated, one’s character can be defined by how often they repent for their mistakes. Even after you commit a sin, your conscience still rings in your head telling you that you did something wrong and you must make corrections in your life to make yourself a better person. Throughout the three novels, there were numerous examples of characters that admitted their sins and accepted their punishment while others kept their sins to themselves. In The Scarlet Letter, one great example of someone who felt the moral, “duty to confess, to suffer pubic shame, and to make public atonement” (228) was Hester Prynne. Whether or not Hester actually desired to make her sins know publicly, her adultery was displayed to Boston because of her pregnancy. The fact that Hester’s sins were revealed involuntarily actually can be looked at as a good thing for her. Since Hester had no choice in the matter, she was able to accept her punishment much easier, and fight to work her way back to being an upstanding citizen in Boston. As is the case with most, if not all, of the characters involved in scandalous events, admitting their sins is definitely the most difficult obstacle to overcome. Because Hester’s sins were presented for her, she was given a leg up on the other characters on her road to redemption. The fact that Hester did not have the responsibility to confess her sins only gave her more incentive to accept her punishment and prove that she was truly sorry for what she did. By admitting her sins, the town of Boston would be able to tell that Hester regretted her actions, but she was stripped of that opportunity. Through her penance, Hester proved to the town, herself, and to God that she was sorry. And in the end, Hester’s strategy to gain redemption and peace paid off as eventually “many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able” (Hawthorne 146).

Although Hester Prynne was one character who confessed her sins publicly and found redemption, there were many other characters that hid from their “duty to confess” (28) for various different reasons. On example of a character who decided not to admit his sins to the public was Reverend Dimmesdale, also from The Scarlet Letter. His motives for concealing his true identity were not out of selfishness or pride, but because of his faith in God and his desire to keep the same faith alive in the citizens of Boston. In Boston, Dimmesdale was townspeople’s spiritual leader. Before Dimmesdale even committed the sin of adultery, people in the town looked at him as its most noble subject as he, “was considered by his more fervent admirers as little less than a heaven-ordained apostle, destined… to do great deeds for the now feeble New England Church” (109). If Dimmesdale had confessed his sin of adultery alongside Hester, most likely the faith of the townspeople would go down with him. In knowing this fact, Dimmesdale attempted to keep his sin a secret, and he punished himself for what he did for many years. However, this method of gaining inner peace was unsuccessful as Dimmesdale could not gain redemption if the people did not know he did anything wrong. A great example of this is whenever Dimmesdale would try to say to the townspeople that he was a bad person they only thought better of him for being modest: “He had told his hearers that he was altogether vile, a viler companion of the vilest … They heard it all, and did but reverence him more” (131). The only time when Dimmesdale gained true peace within himself was when he finally confessed his sin to the public and tried to make things right. Dimmesdale’s only flaw on his quest for redemption was that he failed to recognize that the publicity of his sins was necessary for him to reach his goal. Dimmesdale had suffered within for so long with only negative results, but the moment when he finally accepted his fate publicly is when he found the redemption and forgiveness he had been searching for all those years.

The third subject, Dorian Gray, failed all three aspects on the road to redemption which resulted in arguably the worst result for any character out of all three novels. At the start of the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray was stymied by a whirlwind of confusion. His naiveté kept him from recognizing the bad influence that Lord Henry had on him. Once Dorian made the switch with his soul and the portrait, his life immediately started to go downhill. Dorian had finally realized how rotten his life had become after years of developing a bad reputation around London and witnessing the portrait deteriorate from the effect his sins had on it. Even after this realization, however, Dorian still had no intention of admitting to the public the secret he had kept hidden for eighteen years. In the other two novels, there were definitely characters who sinned, but in the end, they eventually confessed and gained redemption. But Dorian, however, became so twisted that, at the end of the novel, he decided that it was better to completely get rid of his own soul, which was represented in the portrait, than to make his sins known to the public and accept the shame for what he did: “As it had killed the painter, so it would kill the painter’s work and all that that meant. It would kill the past, and when that was dead he would be free. It would kill this monstrous soul-life, and without its hideous warnings he would be at peace” (Wilde 228-229). Dorian Gray foolishly believed that the best way to gain peace and redemption was to hide his sins which ultimately resulted in his own death. In the presentation of these three examples, it is obvious that there were many different reactions from the characters when presented with the opportunity to confess their sins and accept responsibility for their actions.

There are two major components that are involved with redemption and forgiveness: people and God. In the three texts, the concept of feeling remorse for one’s sins and seeking forgiveness appears quite often. Someone like John Proctor from The Crucible desired to be forgiven for his sins for a long time, but was afraid of the consequences. Living in Salem, a very strict theocracy, Proctor was forced to hide his dark past every day from the judgmental townspeople. In order to put an end to the witch trials, Proctor made the decision to reveal his sins to the public. When Danforth and Hathorne try to get Proctor to write his confession on paper, he refuses because he believes that his word is good enough. His confession was to gain God’s forgiveness, not theirs, and he did not want to tarnish his own name: “How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Miller 143). While Proctor recognized the importance of making his sins known to the public, his true goal was to profess his sorrow to God and to gain redemption before his death. This sense of peace that Proctor found at the end of The Crucible was an equal accumulation of redemption from the townspeople and forgiveness from God, allowing Proctor to accept his fate. Conversely, throughout Dorian Gray’s lifetime, he had shunned God and morality out of his life forever. The fact that Dorian had no desire to embrace God at all was another factor that led to him to being lonely and miserable. Not only did Dorian hide his sins from others, he kept his sins from God. He threw away all affiliation to God when he gave up his soul for eternal beauty. Even though Proctor did not go to church, he still had the ability to believe. Dorian gave up that ability and lost all connection with God. An example of how Dorian could not reconcile his past is when he attempted to change his ways and not attempt to seduce Hetty. However, when he looked at the portrait, it only mocked his efforts because there was no penance that could take back all the pain and suffering he had caused to other people: “A cry of pain and indignation broke from him. He could see no change, save that in the eyes there was a look of cunning, and in the mouth the curved wrinkle of the hypocrite” (Wilde 227). Dorian had pushed God so far out of his life that it was impossible for him to call on God when he needed Him most.

In the three novels, without a doubt the biggest factor that went into making the decision of whether to bear one’s sins publicly or privately is the burning desire deep down inside their soul telling them to confess their sins. As we see with Dimmesdale and Proctor in both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible respectively, is that they did choose to hide their sin initially, but in the end, they chose the righteous path to redemption. They each had their own reasons for hiding their sins, but their conscience told them towards the right decision. At the end of both of their novels, both Proctor and Dimmesdale knew they were going to die, and neither man yearned to have their sin remain with their soul as they passed on. However, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian never makes the decision to confess his sins to the public because his soul had been taken from him and embodied through the portrait. The loss of his own soul ended up being Dorian’s demise as without his own soul, he had no basis to help him get back on the road towards redemption for his sins.

In all walks of life, whenever someone has a problem, the hardest thing for them to do is admit that problem and accept the consequences of their actions. That situation is apparent time and time again in The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. The decisions by the characters in those novels influenced how they lived their lives and whether or not they reached their ultimate goal of peace. The characters in the novel that searched for redemption and purification were often the ones who attained peace, but those who rejected their sins and the necessity to repent came up empty handed when they reached the pearly gates.

Works Cited

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. United States: Viking Penguin Inc, 1953

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray, New York, New York: Barnes & Noble Inc, 2003

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York, New York: Bantam Dell, 2003