ipl-logo

Comparing Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter 'And David Brooks' The Shame Culture

585 Words3 Pages

Shame is a social punishment that everyone goes through at some point in their lives. It is meant to embarrass the person being shamed so that they may either learn or fix something, or it may even cause someone to change their life behaviors afterwards. In Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, as well as David Brooks’ The Shame Culture, shame is depicted as a very powerful tool that can be used at both the giver and receiver’s discretion to cause a course of action for change. Brooks’ The Shame Culture elaborates on how certain wrong social conducts or morals can shape a person’s behavior. “Many people carefully guard their words, afraid they might transgress one of the norms that have come into existence. Those accused of incorrect thought face …show more content…

In the beginning of the book when Hester is recieving her punishment for her adulterous relationship, Hawthorne. Describes the situation by saying, “there can be no outrage, methinks, against our common nature-whatever be the delinquencies of the individual- no outrage more flagrant than to forbid the culprit to hide his face for shame; as it was the essence of this punishment to do” (Hawthorne 53-54). This portrayal of Hester’s punishment shows how shameful it was made out to be for her. She is forced own up to her sin and take the shame publicly upon the scaffold. And much like in Brooks’ The Shame Culture this begins to shape behavior. After having been Hester being publicly shamed in such a dreadful manor, dimmesdale was definitely not going to put himself through that. This idea of public shaming scares people, and especially Dimmesdale here, into changing their behaviors. In this case, however, instead of the shame causing someone to conform to society, it caused dimmesdale to do the opposite , to hide from society, and to thus avoid this shame. However, despite the difference in course of action in both instances, in school today, and in the Puritan society back then, the people were trying to avoid the shame that was made out to be a dreadful consequence for

Show More
Related

  • Arthur Dimmesdale Quotes From The Crucible

    190 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the well-known novel The Scarlet Letter one of the protagonists, Hester, commits a horrible sin that in her culture was considered to be as bad as murder. Hester committed adultery with one of the most holy people in her community, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Reverend Dimmesdale tried to hide his mistake of adultery and conform to the norm of the society he lived in. Many people consider his cowardice to be his worst action. A famous quote contradicts that notion, “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, but conformity.”

    Read More

  • How Did Arthur Dimmesdale Believe In The Scarlet Letter

    935 Words  | 4 Pages

    One spontaneous but significant mistake made by Arther Dimmesdale caused him to live the rest of his life crawling with guilt. Arthur Dimmesdale, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, had an affair with a married woman, and that crime ruined the lives of almost everyone in the novel. The Scarlet Letter remains a classic to this day because it emphasizes harsh penance which highlights the difference between the treatment of sinners today and those during the 17th century. The way Puritans view sin and guilt cause Dimmesdale’s life to come to an unfortunate end.

    Read More

  • How Is Dimmsdale Presented In The Scarlet Letter

    741 Words  | 3 Pages

    In chapter 11 especially Dimmesdale struggles to come to terms with his sin and it weighs heavily on him but he is still not willing to sacrifice his respect within the community. Dimmesdale struggles to come to terms with his sin because he knows that he will be unable to fully redeem himself if he continues to hide his sin from puritan society but he feels extremely conflicted because he doesn't want to sacrifice his reputation. ”They deemed the young clergyman a miracle of holiness. They fancied him the mouth-piece of Heaven’s messages of wisdom, and rebuke, and love. In their eyes, the very ground on which he trod was sanctified”(pg.94).

    Read More

  • Who Is Dimmesdale's Decay In The Scarlet Letter

    417 Words  | 2 Pages

    Similarly, Dimmesdale envies the closure that Hester’s punishment has brought her: “‘Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly open your bosom! Mine burns in secret!’” (151). In this dialogue, Dimmesdale articulates how differently their sin has been treated. In Hester’s case, public punishment initially brought disapproval, but eventually led her to charity and a general acceptance by members of the society.

    Read More

  • Shame In Lydia Woodyatt's 'Power Of Public Shaming'

    638 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shame in the Face of the Public Consequences of crimes are often unfit or unjust, but public humiliation serves as a fit consequence to any situation. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Lydia Woodyatt’s “The Power of Public Shaming, for Good and for Ill,” and Herbert Wray’s “The Two Faces of Shame,” the authors convey the effectiveness of public humiliation. Public shaming is effective by impacting a person’s character through guilt and embarrassment. Public shaming became a way of reshaping human character.

    Read More

  • Scarlet Letter Good Vs Evil

    1029 Words  | 5 Pages

    This shows that Dimmesdale suffers from his reputation with his society but also shows his cowardness. Dimmesdale was becoming more popular His hypocrisy shows from the beginning when he calls Hester out for not talking the truth but he himself is too scared to tell due to how he is viewed in this society. He can 't be classified as evil or purely

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter Penance Vs. Penitence

    604 Words  | 3 Pages

    Penance vs. Penitence In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes of the hypocrisy of the Puritans in the 1600’s. He expresses the hardships of Hester Prynne and her adulterous lover, Authur Dimmesdale, who is also the town’s preacher. Because Reverend Dimmesdale is a very noble preacher, he has to persist with the guilt of his sin and continue to preach how one should live a holy and pure lifestyle.

    Read More

  • Shame In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

    963 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the book “The Things They Carried” two stories show that shame is a strong feeling that human beings experienced and can make humans do things that they wouldn’t do. In the story "On The Rainy River '' By Tim O’Brien the example below shows what the feeling of shame can do mentally to a person “my conscience told me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward the war. What it came down to, stupidly, was a sense of shame.

    Read More

  • Arthur Dimmesdale's Guilt Quotes

    1158 Words  | 5 Pages

    Dimmesdale suffers differently from Hester, because while she “bore it all” to the townspeople (181), his fears forced him to hide his sin, living a life full of “nothing but despair” (177). Hester, though made a social pariah of the town, has a more honest and healthy way of dealing with her sin. Because Hester is forced to face her wrongdoings under the watchful eye of her Puritan neighbors, she did not have the same guilt of secrecy that Dimmesdale did. Dimmesdale, by hiding his sin, allows himself to become a captive to his guilt. The way that Dimmesdale dealt with his guilt was unhealthy for him, both mentally and physically.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Minister's Black Veil And The Scarlet Letter

    119 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” and the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the stories of two men who keep their sins secret and are hurt deeply. In The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale does not reveal his sin to the community and experiences far more pain than Hester, whose sin is revealed. Years after the original sin, Hester has healed and is accepted by the community, while Dimmesdale still feels guilty, as can be seen when he mounts the scaffold. Dimmesdale’s experience is similar to that of Reverend Hooper, who covers his face after a secret sin and is eschewed by the community. When we refuse to admit our faults, we will feel guilty

    Read More

  • Guilt Obsession In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    1152 Words  | 5 Pages

    Dimmesdale knew that his choice to step back and allow Hester to bear all the punishment was not morally just, and that choice forever ate at him until he revealed his true self. As the guilt grew stronger, he grew sicker and weaker. He was so afraid to ruin his reputation that he would rather suffer in silence. Hawthorne states, “…all the dread of public exposure, that had so long been the anguish of his life, had returned upon him; and he was already trembling at the conjunction in which- with a strange joy, nevertheless-he now found himself. ”(140).

    Read More

  • Hypocrisy Of The Puritan Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

    936 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the “Scarlet Letter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays hypocrisy of the Puritan society, where the protagonist Hester Prynne face many consequences of her actions and the how she tries to redeem herself to the society. During the seventeenth puritans believe that it is their mission to punish the ones who do not follow God’s word and it is their job to stop those from sinning. Therefore, the hypercritical puritan society punishes Hester harshly for committing adultery, but in Hester’s mind, she believes that what she did was not a sin but acts of love for her man. Eventually, she redeems herself by turning her crime into an advantage to help those in need, yet the Puritan society still view her as a “naughty bagger.” (Hawthorne 78)

    Read More

  • Sin And The Chance Of Redemption In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

    1029 Words  | 5 Pages

    Effect of Sin and the Chance of Redemption Sin is a powerful action that has an everlasting consequence of guilt. Once done, the person wants to forget about his felonious actions; however, hopefully a person’s conscience is a constant, nagging reminder. In order to be free of the constant pain, redemption is pursued for even the person who sinned in public or private. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne proves that the truth of sin eventually need to be confronted in order for a person to stop suffering.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Treatment Of Men And Women In The Scarlet Letter

    999 Words  | 4 Pages

    In this essay, we will focus on the effects this ideology had on the treatment of Hester and Dimmesdale, and the effects it had on Dimmesdale after he confessed to committing adultery. The Puritans’ treatment of women is blatantly evident at the beginning of the book where Hester is awaiting conviction upon the scaffold for her act of adultery. The townspeople present at the trial presented a very negative sentiment towards Hester,

    Read More

  • Theme Of Suffering In The Scarlet Letter

    1662 Words  | 7 Pages

    The hardships and punishments of both Hester and Dimmesdale, while difficult to endure at the time, were eventually beneficial and allowed them to free themselves from the Puritan community and escape their pain. Hester, throughout the beginning and middle of the book, is forced to face alienation and humiliation from her town, though by the end of the book, she is able to use her punishment to set her free from her society. First, Hester reflects on the effect of her sin, and realizes, “ . . . the torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul . . .” (72).

    Read More

More about Comparing Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter 'And David Brooks' The Shame Culture

Open Document