Guilt

本文将分析内疚的原因在书中“红字”视角提出的原因为什么人们会内疚，内疚的优点和缺点。为什么人们会被判有罪？不同的人会有不同的原因和经验，这种特殊的感觉。现在，让我们分析一下那种情绪开始的原因吧。

We all know that people are emotional animals. We can show the different emotion in the distinguished situation. For example, we can not help to smile when we have the happy things. We use the smile to demonstrate the happiness. On the contrary, we will be sad when we lose the important thing or person. We may cry because we are so sad. There are also some other emotion in people’s lives, such as astonish, excitement, guilt and so on. A common saying that: “To err is human.” It is a fact that no one is perfect, everyone will make mistakes in the daily life. When people make the mistakes, they will often be guilty for their behaviors. So the guilt is a common emotion. Among these emotions, guilt is a kind of emotion which will make people suffered a lot self-accusation and regret. No one wants to be guilty for his unaware behavior or other people. However, to some extent, the guilt will make us reflect on our manners and correct our mistakes in the future. The Scarlet Letter is a famous book. The Scarlet Letter is a work of fiction in the genre of romance and written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story is set in the 17th century Boston, and the city in accordance to the era depicted in the story is a puritan society. (Hawthorne, 3-88). The major themes of legalism, sin and guilt are explored throughout the story by the author.The characters and the plots in the novel are well-organized. But what really attracted me are the emotions in the content of the book. In this book, the essence of the human nature, the guilt and the sin has greatly shown from all of the content in this book. (Williams, 25). The title of the book is the scarlet letter, which contains the guilt of the central character. This emotion enhances the development of the story through the whole novel.  

This paper will analyze the reasons of guilt in the book “The Scarlet Letter” from the perspective of theorize the reasons why people can be guilty, the advantages and the disadvantages of the guilt. 

Why people will be guilty? Different people will have different reasons and experiences for this special feeling. Now, let’s analyze the reasons for the start of the kind of emotion. 

Firstly, people will be guilty when they did the wrong thing. In the book “The Scarlet Letter”, we can see that the Hester Prynne who is the central character of this story was punished to a scarlet-the character A to show the sin of the adultery. Hester Prynne is escorted from a prison with her young daughter in her embrace and the scarlet letter “A” marked on her breast. The context being that Hester has indulged in adultery while her husband has been presumed to be lost at the sea hence the child being labeled as an illegitimate one. (Hawthorne, 3-15). She has not yet revealed her lover’s identity and has suffered the punishment for this in the form of being made a pariah by the society. In the puritan’s view, she’s behavior beyond the base line of moral. Hester’s husband had gone for many years. Her adultery was certainly a wrong thing for both her daughter and herself. On the one side, she would get the punishment for her mistakes. In the story, we can see she worn the scarlet letter “A” for many years. (Hawthorne, 3-88). She not only suffered from the people’s contempt, but also the guilt for her husband and daughter. On the other hand, her adultery brought some trouble for others. Her daughter looked down up by the people in the village. Her husband suffered from indignation and extremely wrath. He had changed his name to Roger Chilingworth, he tried to revenge for his self-esteem. There all due to her worry acting. (Hawthorne, 3-88).

In our society, we will also do various worry things. When we take the mistakes, we could be guilty for our behavior. For example, when I was a little child, I had broken my father favorite vast. When he came back home, he found the vast was broken. So he was very angry. I was afraid of punishment. When he asked me who had broken the vast, I told the lie to him. He believed what I said. I had escaped from punishment. But I do not happy. On the contrary, I was very guilty for my lie. I did not want to be a liar. I was afraid that my parents found the truth of the thing. The feeling of the guilt made me very uncomfortable. I could not sleep at night. I had think over what I had done and then I told the truth for my parents. When I got the forgiveness from my parents. The sense of the guilt was disappeared and I was very happy to get the freedom from my heart. 

In the book, at the end of the story, Hester and Dimmensdale had admitted their crime for other people. (Hawthorne, 80-85).Why did they do the things? To some extent, they all had suffered a lot from the sense of guilt. When they were brave to face the fact. They got the freedom from their heart. So it is common that people will be guilty when they did the wrong thing.

Secondly, people will be guilty when they realize their acting can not be accepted by the ordinary people or the society. That is to say, their acting has brought the great damage to the other people. 

In the book “The Scarlet Letter”, the story is set in the 17th century Boston, and the city in accordance to the era depicted in the story is a puritan society. The story starts in the backdrop of seventeenth century Boston which was then a settlement with puritan values. The novel on a whole is a reflection on the situations prevalent in those times and the prejudice to women that was practiced by the common people. (Hawthorne, 50). In that period, her acting was against the moral standard in the society. Social prejudice aside, her acting had caused the negative influence on the society. It is clear from the story that the people regarded the quality of people around them to be in direct correlation with their adherence to religious allegories while disregarding a person’s good behavior and charitable work. So she should get the punishment. In addition, she refused to say who was the father of the little Pearl. In fact, the young minister who was called Arthur Dimmensdale was her lover. But he was also afraid to tell the truth to everyone. No one had known the fact of the whole thing. Arthur Dimmensdale who appears to be suffering from a heart condition that itself has been brought in due to heavy psychological distress. To some extent, he also got the punishment. (Hawthorne, 3-88).

With the development of the society, the society is not feodal and conservative as that period. However, there are many laws and regulations in our society. For example, Stealing and vandalism are criminal acting, no matter what the motives. If a person who is poor and tries to steal something, once he was arrested by others. He will be called theft. He will not only get the punishment in law, but also get the condemn by the ordinary people. People all hate the stealing. This acting is not allowed by social opinion. So with the pressure of the social opinion, the thief may be guilty for his acting, because his acting can not be accepted by our society. Once he realize his mistake, his felling of the guilt will be stronger and stronger. (Johnson, 245). Just like the central character in the book “The Scarlet Letter”, her acting was not accepted by the social moral standard, so she had got the punishment for his fault. So people will be guilty for this reason. (Hawthorne, 3-88).

Finally, people will be guilty when they are forced to do something. Arthur Dimmensdale should got together with Hester to face the punishment. Both he and she should take responsibility for the crime of adultery. In fact, She has not yet revealed her lover’s identity and has suffered the punishment for this in the form of being made a pariah by the society. We do not know why Hester did not point out Pearl’s father-Arthur Dimmensdale. But when she preferred to take all of responsibilities.(Reynolds, 44). She was forced to face all the difficulties in the future. She would be guilty for the “A” which on behalf of her humiliation. As for Arthur Dimmensdale, he was a young minister. He looked his lover was be punished by the law but he had to be silent. (Hawthorne, 10-88).Once he was forced to be silent for the fact. We was so guilty for it, because he did not get the corresponding punishment. He was very conscience-stricken for Hester. So he suffered from great guilt in mind. (Gerber, 319). 

In our daily life, we are always doing something which is not in accordance with our real ideas. We will be guilty for what we do. For instance, most people have the plan or calendar for their daily life. Once others ask them to help for a long time. If they waste much time to provide the help for others, their own things will be put off. To some extent, this acting will over set plan. They will be guilty for their failure. On the other hand, if we refuse other people’s asking, we may be more guilty for our indifference. The sense of the guilt can hamper our normal life. The people’s inner contradiction will enhance this kind of felling. In this situation, we are in a dilemma. No matter what we do, we will be forced to the feeling of the guilt. 

I have deeply got this kind of experience. In the high school, once my good friend asked me to explain the math problems. When I found there were too many math problems, I was too whiny to help him. I had many other problems to do. I did not want to waste my time. So I said that: “I can not do these math problems”. When he heard what I said, he was very upset. In the math class, my math teacher asked me to explain those problems. I forced to do it. After the class, my friend was angry for my behavior. He thought I did not take him as the good friends because I have the ability to help him but I did not do it. So he regarded me as a selfish person. Then he showed the indifference for me. I was very guilty for my acting. I did not want to hurt my friend’s heart. This felling made me on pin and needles. So I tried to do something to make up for my mistakes. 

Just as Arthur Dimmensdale, he was miserable inside. The felling of guilt almost damaged his life. So we will be guilty when we are relevant to do something. After Hester is openly shamed and forced by the people to wear a badge of disgrace, her reluctance to leave the town may seem bewildering. For Hester, running away or removing the letter would be recognition of society’s power over her; she would be admitting that the letter is a mark of embarrassment and something from which she desires to break out. She herself may feel guilty of the act that she committed but does not give way for her emotions to get the better of her and expose the minister as her lover and the secret that her husband is alive.(Hawthorne, 55-88).

We all that most people did not like this kind of feeling, because of the disadvantage of the guilt. 

On the one side, people who is guilty will suffered from the mental anguish. In the book, Dimmensdale made a scarlet scar in the shape of letter A on his breast. (Hawthorne, 53).We can see that he had exposed to heavy psychological distress. He could not forgive himself. He was so guilty for what he did. In this aspect, the guilt brought the negative influence on people. In our society, people who had this kind of feeling will be not eating and sleeping right at night, not paying attention to the work or study. The sense of the guilt had became the instrument of torture. 

On the other hand, people who under the guilt will get unequal treatment. Hester supported herself by working as a seamstress her daughter Pearl by her side, still shunned by the community whose officials try to take away Pearl from Hester. People thought she was not good for taking care of the little Peal. (Hawthorne, 23-28).She was so desperate for the treatment. In the village, many children did not play with little Pearl because of her mother’s sin. All of these unequal treatment made Hester and Pearl went through many problems. 

However, the guilt will bring the advantage to people. That is to say, people will value what is right or worry by themselves. They will think over what they had did. If they really did the worry things, the sense of the guilt will make them turn over a new leaf. They will not take the same mistakes. As Confucius said, “Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes”. We often inevitably took some mistakes. But once we learn from the mistakes and try to improve ourselves. Everything will be right in the future.( Bercovitch, 3). 

In conclusion, The scarlet letter is not a love story but rather an allegorical account of what the thought process was and how people were forced to follow the whims of others. This story by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a mirror to the fact that in his days justice and religion were inseparable this is shown by the fact that Hester is persecuted to have been an adulterer even when her husband has been missing for a long time and nobody actually cares to understand what she has been through in his absence. Dimmensdale is shown to be suffering from a mystery heart ailment that is a result of psychological distress. From this story, we can see all of the central characters-Hester, Pearl, Arthur Dimmensdale and Chilingworth suffered from the guilt. (Hawthorne, 3-88).

After analyzing and theorizing the guilt in the book “The Scarlet Letter”, we can get the reasons why people will be guilty and know the advantage and disadvantage of this kind of feeling. Different people had different reason for guilt. As an ordinary people , we inevitably do the worry things. We will be guilty for these mistakes. To same extent, the guilt is not a so terrible thing. The sense of the guilt will damage one’s life, but it will also let people think over their manners. When we are in trouble of this kind of feeling, we should find the root of the guilt and try to make up for our mistakes and take our from this emotion. 

Work cited
Bercovitch, Sacvan. "The office of the Scarlet letter." Office of the Scarlet Letter (2013).
Gerber, J. C. "Form and Content in The Scarlet Letter." Hutchinson Literary Extracts 10.4(2007):373–384.
Johnson, Claudia Durst. "Understanding The Scarlet Letter: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents." Microsoft Outlook Programming (1995):241–257.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, foreign languages press, (2008), 3-88. 
Reynolds, Larry J. "The Scarlet Letter and Revolutions Abroad.."American Literature 1(1985):44.
Williams, Kipling D., et al. "The Scarlet Letter Study: Five Days of Social Ostracism." Journal of Personal & Interpersonal Loss 5.1(2000):19-63.


51Due网站原创范文除特殊说明外一切图文著作权归51Due所有；未经51Due官方授权谢绝任何用途转载或刊发于媒体。如发生侵犯著作权现象，51Due保留一切法律追诉权。