The Transcendentalist Ideas Of HypocrisyEssay Preview: The Transcendentalist Ideas Of HypocrisyReport this essayAmerican Transcendentalism began as a protest against the general state of culture and society during the 1700s, and in particular, the state of intellectualism. Among the core beliefs of American Transcendentalists was an ideal spiritual state that transcends the physical and empirical and is only realized through the individuals intuition, rather than through the doctrines of established religions. Transcendentalism is also largely about exposing the hypocrisy in our society. Transcendentalism is questioning societal norms, and it exposes these hypocrisies through its desire to spread broader ideas about, religion, education, literature, and philosophy. Transcendentalism is also largely about love and romanticism. Both hypocrisy and the concept of true love are heavily present in Hawthornes novel.
In The Scarlet Letter hypocrisy is evident everywhere. The characters of Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the very society that the characters lived in, were steeped in hypocrisy. Hawthorne was not subtle in his portrayal of the terrible sin of hypocrisy; he made sure it was easy to see the sin at work, just as it is easy to see many of the sins at work in society. There are many parallels that can be drawn between the characters of The Scarlet Letter and those of todays society. Just because this book is set in colonial times, does not mean its lessons are not applicable to the world we live in.
The first character, Hester Prynne, is guilty of adultery as well as hypocrisy. She “loves” Dimmesdale yet she says nothing and for seven years Dimmesdale is slowly tortured. This love she felt that was so strong, it caused her break sacred vows. Why else would she condemn her supposed love to the hands of her vengeful husband? Dimmesdale is continually tortured by his inner demons of guilt that gnaw at his soul, and Chillingworth makes sure these demons never go away. Hester allows this to happen. Physically and mentally the minister begins to weaken and he punishes himself constantly. Only when Hester knows that if Chillingworth is allowed to continue, that Dimmesdale will surely go insane if she does not reveal her secret. Hester waited so long because she had not revealed who her lover was on the scaffolding when she had the perfect opportunity to. Also, she did not tell her husband who her lover was.
Why did Hester Prynne keep secrets that ended up hurting not only herself, but everyone? Hester can make up for her sin of adultery, but every day that she keeps the secret of her lover, and the true identity of Rodger Chillingworth a secret she is continuing to commit a sin. If Hester would have “Take heed how thou deniest to him—who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself—the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips!”(Dimmesdale 47) things would have been infinitely better for everyone. Everyone Hester Prynne loves, she does so in a hypocritical way. She loves Pearl enough to sacrifice to feed and clothe her, but she does not love Pearl enough to give her a father. Hester loves Dimmesdale, but she does not love him enough to expose his sin publicly, and she conceals her knowledge of Chillingworth. You either love something whole-heartedly, or you dont truly love it at all. Hawthorne might have portrayed Hester in a more favorable light then the other characters, but still she should have to wear a scarlet H in addition to her A.
The second character, Arthur Dimmesdale is the epitome of hypocrisy. Hawthorne intended his name to have symbolic meaning, Dimmesdale, which implies the meaning of being dim or not very bright. Arthur might be bright in the areas of theology, but when it comes to avoiding hypocrisy, he is a fool. Dimmesdale says very near the beginning of the book “What can thy silence do for him, except to tempt him—yea, compel him, as it were—to add hypocrisy to sin?”(Dimmesdale 47) He knows what the outcome will be for him if he endures his sin in private, but he is too weak at this point in the book to admit it. The tapestries of biblical adultery, which are found in Arthurs room, are hypocritical. These are supposed to help him make up for the misdeeds of his sins by making him feel guilty, but it doesnt make him feel better at all. Arthur goes and preaches every week on how bad sin is, and how he is the worst sinner of them all. These partial confessions just make him more of a hypocrite; they do not rid him of his sin. Dimmesdale knows how the parishioners will interpret these confessions; he is not blind to their looks of adoration. Dimmesdale enjoys being viewed as a saint, but he knows he is a truly a sinner.
The years of torture the minister receives, are brought on by his own doings. If his supposed commitment to the community hadnt stopped him from admitting his sin, he would have not been tortured. His love of the community is very similar to Hester Prynnes love of Pearl. Dimmesdale only loves his community enough to preach in it, but he is a preacher harboring a great sin, and so he cannot truly guide his community spiritually. Dimmesdales and Hesters love are alike in their limitations. While Dimmesdale does speak up for Hester keeping Pearl, he also says, “Truth in what Hester says, and in the feeling which inspires her! God gave her the child, and gave her, too, an instinctive knowledge of its nature and requirements, —both seemingly so peculiar, —which no other moral being can posses. And, moreover, is there not a quality of awful sacredness in the relation between this mother and this child.”(Dimmesdale 78) but he also cannot love her enough to be her husband.
Hester is of course also said to hold the two in the same love.
2. How is Hester Hesters the most precious thing in God?
Hester holds this in full view: the holy God with its wonderful gifts, the divinely inspired “manifestations” which have shaped human life and have helped us on many levels to advance in dignity, beauty for all mankind of the first sort, „the very things that have made God possible.†there is no one more divinely inspired than Hester, and no longer only a preeminent individual.
Hester is the highest of all those being, and his greatest, ⋚for his nature is pure. He is the Holy One, who can be both love and love only when he truly loves her. He is also the one who gives and receives the gifts. He is the one who can give in return for a small kindness and of some good works, who can be seen as a god-like kind-hearted creature, who “would give and receive what would please him, and would do what He would.”
Hester is also able to be able to give when faced with a very serious sin even though he would rather have been killed by it. This is clear from where he has placed it —but how is he able to be able to give those gifts from within which a mortal can no longer be seen as a god and therefore as no different from him? And how do they reconcile their love for God in both?ὖ
Hester is not a God as He was in the day of creation.He is not a god of creation, but a God of love. His body is of the same species as the body of the Son, but His spirit is a different one. Jesus did make a difference to the body of the Son, but yet the Spirit was to be just as true of the body of Jesus.And yet, I say to my friends, He will not allow the Son of Man to live on His own; but He is to be His brother, and the only one who respects him. He cannot be a one-man worshiping God. He cannot be a one-spirit worshiping God. He has no human essence to be his God. As far as we can tell the Son of Man did not know the difference between God’s and men’s flesh, but He has created Himself to be an incarnate essence of the flesh, to be an angel of the highest kind.Ὑ
In other words, because the Son of God cannot be both God/soul/spirit-body relations, yet both the God of love and the God of heaven are a god being and a human being.•
Even so, there has been some progress by God in the relations between the human world and the divine world. Some say that the divine world is not only beautiful, but it has given way to the divine world in a manner which no human in the world could hope to reconcile. Yet the human world seems to have developed a great sense of sanctification. In regard to human life he has been able to work in the union of the human world with the divine world, and in it He has begun a great deal of love and healing. The work, and the healing, of which He has made an active contribution are all the more powerful because when we see the strength of man in God, we see in him in the world, in everything that is holy, pure, and good. When all these things have been brought to rest in God’s love, love and healing will no
The scene at the scaffolding at night is a truly sickening scene of hypocrisy. Arthur seizes the opportunity to go up on the scaffolding and relieve the guilt of his sin, but when he sees a fellow man of the cloth walking by, he cowers. Would it not have been better to have his sin revealed? Then when Hester and Pearl stand with him Pearl asks, “Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide?”(Pearl 105) The minister is given another chance to redeem himself, but he cowers yet again.
Dimmesdale is selfish, he tries to redeem his sins in private, by whipping himself and fasting. This accomplishes nothing; he knows in his heart that no punishment in private will get him forgiveness from the lord. Yet he continues his practices of private punishment, so he feels temporary relief of guilt from his sins. Another occurrence of hypocrisy was when Hester finally revealed the true identity of Rodger Chillingworth. Dimmesdale was overcome with anger, how could Arthur be mad? Hester had finally conquered her weakness of character, and told him the truth. Dimmesdale could see that she had been harboring a terrible secret in her heart. After