Theme of Mercy in The Scarlet Letter Essay Example

📌Category: Books, The Scarlet Letter
📌Words: 598
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 23 February 2022

Bryan Stevenson, an influential lawyer and equal rights activist, emphasizes that “​​each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”  He is an advocate for mercy and second chances, because in a community in which mercy is unattainable, everyone suffers.  In rigid communities with strict laws, such as the Puritan community in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, mercy is often a foreign concept, as the rigidity doesn’t allow for any infractions in the theocracy.  Throughout the book, Hawthorne encourages mercy by explaining that in a society in which forgiveness is not possible, many people are put in a position where they don’t feel comfortable confessing to their sins for fear of being ostracized and never being able to redeem themselves.

Hawthorne encourages mercy by attributing Reverend Dimmesdale’s horrible situation to the fact that forgiveness was not available.  Dimmesdale is tortured by his sin, and this is severely affecting his health.  However, he explains that he can’t reveal his sin because when people do so, “no good can be achieved by them; no evil of the past be redeemed by better service” (120).  Hawthorne is encouraging mercy because the people of the Puritan community feel the need to keep their sins inside, as redemption is impossible.  This creates a hostile environment in which nobody can be open, suppressing innovation and individuality.  While Dimmesdale is afraid to confess to his sin, it quickly becomes evident that he needs to do so.  He makes it apparent that he has not found inner peace, and says that “of penance, I have had enough!  Of penitence, there has been none” (173).  One major cause of Dimmesdale’s death is his inability to speak his inner truth, which internally tortures him.  At this point, Dimmesdale had not publicly confessed to his sins, and felt extremely guilty about this.  This leads to the theme that it is necessary for one to publicly confess to their sins, as hiding them can lead to too much self-punishment and doesn’t allow one to move onward in life having repented.  Hawthorne explains the necessity of forgiveness in society, as without it people hide their sins and can’t be open with themselves and others.  

Hawthorne continues to encourage mercy for everyone at the end of the book.  Dimmesdale clearly was not the only tortured character throughout the book, as Chillingworth was both tortured and driven by his hatred and revenge.  When Dimmesdale died, Chillingworth, left without a purpose, “withered up, shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun” (232).  The strong simile evokes feelings of pity and sorrow for the miserable man who destroyed himself in his quest for revenge.  The comparison to an uprooted weed shows that Chillingworth was unwanted and parasitical, like a weed.  Also, the use of the words “wilting in the sun” implies that Chillingworth was killed by hope and truth, as that is what sunlight has come to symbolize in The Scarlet Letter.  Despite this extremely negative description of Chillingworth, Hawthorne still says in regard to Chillingworth, “we would fain be merciful” (232).  Hawthorne goes on to raise an interesting point regarding the differences between love and hatred.  He explains that both passions are essentially the same as they are both consuming and obsessive passions.  The only difference between them is the way they are seen, as “one is seen in a celestial radiance, and the other in a dusky and lurid glow” (233).  This leads to the possibility that if the values of society allowed people to be more open, passionate hatred could be redirected and shifted to love.  Hawthorne blurs the line between good and evil, and as a result argues that everyone is deserving of mercy.

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