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Graham Jaeger

Mrs. Hillesland

AP English 11

25 October 2017

Inhibition of the Truth

In the 1st grade, I committed an unspeakable crime: I pilfered my friend’s candy bar and

then lied about it. Trivial as it may seem, I was consumed by guilt, and constant reminders from

my parents and teachers impelled me to confess. Oftentimes, however, the truth is not so black

and white, and a variety of factors prevent us from practicing honesty. While humans naturally

tend to lie, society’s exclusive institutions are not exempt from the blame. Societal pressures play

an enormous role in the expression of truth, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the novel ​The

Scarlet Letter,​ explores similar concepts of truth in society through its relation to the

condemnation of sin. ​Through irony and Reverend Dimmesdale’s development as a character,

Hawthorne asserts that society’s attempt to obliterate sin in fact strangles truth and individuality,

and in doing so, he criticizes the hypocrisy of society to impinge the very ideals that it tries to

promote.

Hawthorne early establishes the harmful effects of sin-shaming through the illustration of

the oppressive Puritan atmosphere, criticizing its narrow-mindedness. ​The scaffold, a wooden

platform that exposes perceived sinners in front of the entire town, sponsors the “stings and

venomous stabs of public contumely,” and exemplifies the cruelty of Puritan doctrine (64).

Ironically, Hawthorne positions the sinful above the crowd, implying that they are actually

morally cleaner than the public. In this way, Hawthorne condemns the removal of sin, because it
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impedes the crowd from the moral heights of the scaffold. However, the scaffold effectively

unveils sin, but in doing so, it discourages truth by instilling fear of public exposure among the

people of the town. Indeed, this obstructs willing revelations because “...they shrink from

displaying themselves black and filthy in the view of men…” (146). The fear of exposure

engendered by the scaffold restricts truth in its purest form, and even Reverend Dimmesdale

struggles to resist it. “The godly youth” harbors the guilt of participating in the affair with

Hester, and confession would surely terminate his career as minister (159). Still, with an

immense amount of effort indicative of the magnitude of fear bred by the scaffold, Dimmesdale

endeavors in vain to confess: “He had told his hearers that he was altogether vile...the worst of

sinners...they heard it all, and did but reverence him more” (159). The Puritans perceive

Dimmesdale’s declarations as a mark of his humility, and the failure to consider that he could

even be responsible for the smallest of sins, let alone an enormous scandal, reflects the extent to

which society stifled the truth based on religious assumptions. The Puritans ignore the obvious

indications of Dimmesdale’s flaws merely because his exalted stature, thereby masking the truth

and prohibiting Dimmesdale from repenting.

Hawthorne condemns this suppression of truth by aligning Dimmesdale’s physical

well-being with his fidelity. As Dimmesdale bottles up his guilt, he progressively grows weaker,

indicating that the inhibition of the truth erodes him physically and morally. However, when

Dimmesdale confides his “long-restrained emotions” with Hester in the forest, he emanates an

“unaccustomed physical energy” (212, 238). Through the contrast between his feeble condition

before entering the forest and his enlightenment during and after, Hawthorne suggests that the

revelation of truth induces Dimmesdale’s sudden benevolent transition, and that the accentuation
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of sin, dissolved by the forest, hampers the truth. Since Dimmesdale had to leave the town to

experience relief, Hawthorne implies that the only way to experience truth and discard guilt

involves leaving society altogether.

Hawthorne further demonstrates the toxicity of this exclusive culture through

Dimmesdale’s death. Following his sermon on election day, Dimmesdale erases his reputation

and finally confesses to the people. Unsurprisingly, “the crowd was in a tumult,” and under “the

gaze of the horror stricken...the life seemed to have departed” (278, 281). Since Dimmesdale dies

after confessing, Hawthorne insinuates that the duality of his character killed him. Society could

not comprehend Dimmesdale as both a sinner and a saint, and since it was the Puritan stigma that

created this disparity, Hawthorne asserts that the Puritans are responsible for his death, and that

their intolerance is fatal.

The omission of the truth does not endanger Puritan society exclusively.

Researcher-storyteller Brené Brown explores this concept in the TED Talk, “The Power of

Vulnerability.” Brown argues that “we cannot selectively numb emotion...without numbing the

other affects or emotions.” Hiding vulnerability, the most frequently numbed emotion, restricts

joy, happiness, and other positive emotions resulting in shame, which promotes a number of

harmful consequences including debt, obesity, and addiction to alcohol or drugs (Brown).

Avoiding one emotion diminishes them all, detracting from the important ones and endangering

​ rown asserts that truth and happiness

our lives. Similar to Hawthorne in ​The Scarlet Letter, B

cannot be experienced until the restrictions on unfavorable emotions, are lifted, and therefore,

that limitations on these concepts results in a loss of truth.

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Although the rigidity of Puritan doctrine in ​The Scarlet Letter​ intends to eradicate sin

from society, it exterminates truth and individuality. Hawthorne depicts the effects of the

absence of truth in Reverend Dimmesdale, and through Dimmesdale’s demise, he challenges the

intolerant principles of Puritan society.