Secrets. We Have Them, We Hide Them, but Can We Live With Them?
Deception is defined by Webster's Dictionary as the art of misrepresentation.
Throughout the history of mankind, the use of deception to promote oneself to a higher
level, or to hide one's past, has been a common occurrence. In the novel The Scarlet
Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne , Chillingworth and Dimmesdale both use deception to hide
secrets from each other, and from the rest of the town.
Hester Prynne is the only one who knows the secrets that Dimmesdale and Chillingworth
are hiding from the townsfolk. Hester has to control her desire to tell the truth and
practices the art of deception to hide these secrets. When she will not reveal the
father of Pearl, Reverend Dimmesdale says, "She will not speak." It is ironic that the
person who committed the sin with Hester is the one who announces publicly that she will
not reveal the name of the other sinner. Later, Chilling worth wants to know who it is
and he says, "Thou wilt not reveal his name?" Hester refuses and continues to hold her
silence. Then Chillingworth, still trying to find out the name of her lover, comments,
". . . but Hester, the man lives who has wronged us both! Who is he?" When he says this,
he is hinting that he is going to do something to Dimmesdale. This is why Hester makes
Chillingworth promise not to kill her lover if he finds out his identity. Chillingworth
deserves to know who slept with his wife, although Hester should not have had to tell
him. I think that Dimmesdale should have admitted that he was Pearl's father. Today, if
a priest admitted such a crime, he would probably be sent to jail. However, in the
novel, had Dimmesdale confessed, the townsfolk would have liked him even more. Hester
also has to live with, and conceal, the secret that the scholar, Chilling worth, is her
husband. When he comes to visit her in jail he says, "Thou hast kept the secret of thy
paramour. Keep, likewise, mine! There are none in this land that know me. Breathe not,
to any soul, that thou didst ever call me husband." Hester shows great strength of
character by her ability to keep the secret identities of her lover and her husband.
There must have been times when the temptation to reveal her secrets was overwhelming.
Dimmesdale chooses to conceal his guilty secret from the townsfolk, but this
causes great personal suffering and the gradual deterioration of his health. He shows
that he is having trouble dealing with his sin when he keeps his hand over his heart to
hide an imaginary "A" on his chest, just like the one embroidered on Hester's bodice.
Dimmesdale believes that everyone can see this imaginary "A". This is shown by the
quotation, " Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with in a great horror of mind, as if the
universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart." This
feeling of guilt is a very natural one that we have all experienced some time in our
lives. The irony of the situation is shown by the quotation, "People say, that the
Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such
a scandal should have come upon his congregation." Dimmesdale is so successful at
hiding his secret, that the townsfolk believe that he is shocked that a scandal could
happen in his congregation. As a clergyman, Dimmesdale is aware of the mental torture
caused by guilty secrets. He describes these feelings with reference to his
parishioners, but they could easily be applied to himself, " they shrink from displaying
themselves black and filthy in the view of men;....... So to their unutterable torment,
they go about among their fellow- creatures looking pure as new-fallen snow; while their
hearts are all speckled and spotted with iniquity..." Finally, Dimmesdale cannot live
with the secret any more, and confesses his sin before the townsfolk, "Hush, Hester,
hush!.......The law we broke! -- the sin here so awfully revealed!". It is interesting
that Dimmesdale is convinced that there is an "A" on his chest. Was this "A" carved in
his flesh by his own hand, was it placed there by God , or was it just in his
imagination? We will never know the answer to this question, but I think that Hawthorne
meant it to be an imaginary "A".
Doctor Chilling worth, knowing that he has been betrayed, dedicates seven years to
identifying his wife's lover. The reader first learns of this when Chilling worth says
to Hester, ". . . but Hester, the man lives who has wronged us both! Who is he?"
Chillingworth has already decided to find this man and to torture him. When he realizes
that Hester will not tell him who it is, he says, " He bears no letter of infamy wrought
into his garment as thou does; but I shall read it in his heart." He believes that he
will identify this man by the the sign of his sin embedded in his chest, like the "A" on
Hester's cloths. This literary foreshadowing hints that the secret will have something
to do with the word "heart." Whenever the author talks about the "A" or about Hester,
not referring to Dimmesdale, he uses the words " bosom" or "chest".
In the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and
Doctor Roger Chillingworth hide secrets from the other characters. Hester Prynne is the
only character who knows about these secrets. Dimmesdale and Chilling worth are masters
in the art of deception.
|