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Elizabeth Tan

Mrs. Hillesland

AP English 11

15 February 2018

Under Pressure

Nathaniel Hawthorne writes within The Scarlet Letter: “No man, for any considerable

period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting

bewildered as to which may be the true.” The two-faced nature of this quote reflects how the

Puritan society depicted in the novel acts towards sin and how they see things. By setting the

novel in this time period, Hawthorne reflects on how judgement affects people; he utilizes

Dimmesdale’s declining health as a visual representation of this concept.

The Puritan colonists within The Scarlet Letter constantly judge based on their ideas of

“sin”. The people believe they’re above people like Hester Prynne, scorning her as she stands on

the scaffold in “The Marketplace”. Notably, some spectators discuss other potential punishments

for her sin such as branding a hot iron on her forehead. Despite these judgements, Hester is

described as a beautiful woman, while the unnamed Puritans are called “hard-faced” and

“pitiless”. Hawthorne writes the Puritans as people who judge visible sins in sharp contrast to

Hester, who “sees” hidden sin. This difference also follows into their perception of things. The

Puritans’ belief in God combined with their need to have people lead them creates a predicament.

Arthur Dimmesdale, their minister, is just as guilty of sin as Hester, yet Hester’s anonymity

keeps him “sinless” in the eyes of the community. He’s still subject to Puritan standards and to a

higher degree because of his position. Since the Puritan’s judgement has most of its roots in

publicity, Hawthorne displays the problems of taking the wrong things at face value. Similar to

an iceberg, what lies in the open for a person condemned or exalted may not contain the whole
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truth.This poor train of thought can be seen in other pieces of literature like The Crucible by

Arthur Miller. The people within the play don’t take the witch accusations beyond face value.

Once a woman Abigail Williams and the other girls accused someone of witchcraft, their

“credibility” with Betty allowed them to alter the people’s perception to get rid of the “witches”.

Since people only believed the girls due to what they perceived, the truth becomes buried under

lies. Basing goodness, sin, witchcraft, or adultery on the physical level isn’t how judgement

should work.

Dimmesdale’s failing health in the later chapters visually represents long-term exposure

to constantly being held to high standards. His constant gesture of putting his hand over his heart

alludes to what hides behind his reputation as a minister. As seen in “The Interior of a Heart”,

Dimmesdale punishes himself with a whip on top of his already weak body. He desperately

wants to tell the truth, since “it was his genuine impulse” to do so, but when he tries to confess,

the Puritans continue to praise him. Hawthorne writes “They little guessed what deadly purport

lurked in those self-condemning words.”, stating that the Puritans don’t throw him out of his

position because of their perception. They still don’t know about Dimmesdale’s sin, so his

“confessions” come off as him being so godly that he had the power to see others’ sin. Their

perception of a sinless Dimmesdale becomes a cycle; the more he tries to confess, the more

Puritans lift him higher as a minister. It creates a situation where Dimmesdale constantly faces

his guilt since by the Puritan standards, he was nothing more than a “remorseful hypocrite”.

Dimmesdale’s position and internal struggle are the results of a high standard society; the

mounting pressure only making him worse as time went on. Combining this building stress with

Chillingworth, the image of both the perfect Puritan and the Devil in Hawthorne’s eyes, only

aids in sending Dimmesdale further into his demise. Ultimately, the people’s expectations of him

become so great that he perishes from the pressure during an important Puritan holiday. The
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Crucible’s Proctor, similar to the minister, has expectations on him due to his reputation. While

he does face pressure from his Puritan community to remain above other humans, his confession

arrives on his own terms, not through being overwhelmed. Although both men do perish after

confessing their sins, the route that is taken to do so is quite different. Dimmesdale’s is quick and

agonizing, while Proctor’s comes around years later. Between the circumstances of the two, the

minister is shown to deteriorate much faster because of his surroundings. A society based on

keeping people to a standard above being human leads to pressure, and this pressure contains

negative effects for anyone who falls under it.

The highly judgemental Puritan society had its foundations rooted in visibility, like in the

Scarlet Letter. This ignorance of personal matters creates a society where no person can truly call

out for help without being outed for it.