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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

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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.”

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How Did Arthur Dimmesdale Believe In The Scarlet Letter

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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Scarlet Letter Good Vs Evil

1029 Words | 5 Pages

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604 Words | 3 Pages

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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.

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1158 Words | 5 Pages

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

119 Words | 1 Pages

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Guilt Obsession In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

1152 Words | 5 Pages

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936 Words | 4 Pages

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1029 Words | 5 Pages

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999 Words | 4 Pages

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1662 Words | 7 Pages

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