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Lawrence Wong

Mrs. Hillesland

AP English LanguageNavy

25 October 2017

Be Yourself

Michelle Obama once said, One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay

true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so

when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don't invest any energy in them, because I

know who I am. She lives without considering what others may think of her and accepts the

vulnerability that comes with striving for ambitious goals. Arthur Dimmesdale from Nathaniel

Hawthornes novel The Scarlet Letter had equally ambitious goalshe loves a married woman.

Luckily, that feeling is mutual and they have a child together. Unfortunately, Dimmesdale never

reveals his love for Hester to the town until his near death, leading to an agonizing life. Thus,

through the life of Arthur Dimmesdale, Hawthorne asserts that if we always conform to what

society expects from us, we can never be content with who we are.

Hawthorne assigns Dimmesdale as a minister to make the connection between societal

expectations and our personal happiness explicit: they are mutually exclusive. As Bostons

young and charismatic Puritan minister, Dimmesdales expectations emerge as the highest in the

town in terms of righteousness and morality. However, behind the veil of expectations,

Dimmesdale commits adultery with Hester Prynne without revealing his love. During Hesters

time on the scaffold, she states, I will not speak! And my child must seek a heavenly Father; she

shall never know an earthly one!, to which Dimmesdale then remarks, Wondrous strength and

generosity of a womans heart! She will not speak! (77). Hester, cognizant of Dimmesdales
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position, protects him from scorn and takes all the hate from the citizenry for herself, leaving

Dimmesdale unharmed (for now). Evidently, by not revealing to the town that he is indeed the

father, Dimmesdale does not stay true to his love for Hester. Thus, Dimmesdale feels a sense of

shame for not only committing a sin but also allowing Hester to suffer by herself. This is the first

instance where Hawthorne causes Dimmesdale to feel the effects of not staying true to himself.

The second instance occurs when he elucidates why Hester should be allowed to keep her child.

He states that God gave Pearl to Hester as a constant reminder of her sin (126). Instead of

accepting responsibility that Pearl is a shared sin between him and Hester, he pins all the blame

on Hester. Yet again, Hawthorne forces Dimmesdale to endure the shame and regret that come

with not saying what needs to be said.

In addition, Hawthornes deterioration of Dimmesdales health signifies that the

ministers actionslying to keep his mask uprequire reformation. Frequently, on any slight

alarm or other sudden accident, he put his hand over his heart with a flush and then a paleness,

indicative of pain (133). From a psychological perspective, this behavior is likely reflexive;

Dimmesdale notices that he always places his hand on his heart, but he cannot do anything to

stop it. It is as if even though he does not have to wear an A on his chest like Hester does, he

believes that the A is there and that he needs to cover it to prevent it from exposure. Therefore,

while he still feels the shame of not admitting to his sin, he struggles to be expressive about his

true intentions, a desire for Hester. Even when they are alone, Hawthorne includes no dialogue

on their relationship, rather only Dimmesdales constant bickering of his sinful ways.

Accordingly, his passing is equally horrendous: he dies on the scaffold despite the fact that he

confessed that he was Pearls father and that he should have stood with Hester seven years earlier

(280-283). If those seven years earlier he had taken a stand and announced that he was the father
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even before Hester was placed in prison, he could have lead a much more peaceful and joyful

life. Hawthorne hints the life that could have been for Dimmesdale by sharing that Hester dies a

self-actualized and fulfilled woman.

In her TED Talk titled The power of vulnerability, Bren Brown puts Hawthornes

message, stray away from expectations, in a more modern and scientific perspective. While

Hawthorne utilized fiction to demonstrate his purpose, Brown presents her cold, hard research.

Among those with a strong sense of love and belonging, all fully embraced vulnerability

(Brown). This means that if those with a true sense of love and contentment are placed in

Dimmesdales situation, they would all disclose that they love Hester knowing that that is the

only method to attain joy, gratitude, happiness, etc.

It is vital that we, as humans, accept our faults and embrace our strengths. If we avoid our

true selves and allow society to dictate how we act, as Dimmesdale demonstrates, we will

inevitably die a slow and painful death. At the time, Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter to sway

the Puritan ideology of sin. He wanted the people to question what was happening in their

society and understand that change was required. In the modern era, this message still applies.

Many of us are addicted to pleasing others that we forget that we also need to be selfish at times.

Only by wearing what we want to wear, saying what we want to say, and doing what we want to

do can we truly be the content people we are destined to be.

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Works Cited

Brown, Bren. The Power of Vulnerability. TEDxHouston, TED, Jun 2010,

https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Everbind Anthologies, 2001.