"Be true!"

Truth and double life in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter is, in many ways, an accurate portrait of a past time: the Puritan society of New England at the beginning of the XVII century. As we can notice through reading the story, Hawthorne was self-conscious of the atmosphere that reigned in those Puritan comunities, and he reflects it in the book with great detail. I am going to focus on one very important subject which cand be found underlying the actions and thoughts of some characters: the idea of a double life.

It seems that Hawthorne is plainly aware of this hypocrisy that ruled the life of many people living in those communities. “We must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us in the forest”, says Hester Prynne to her daughter. This phrase expresses in a few words how the lives of many people were split into two. On one hand, the public life, represented in the novel by the market place. It is the place where people are exposed to the “public gaze”, as said in the book. On the other, the private life, represented by the image of the forest, also related with the wilderness of human nature and its passions. I think that his kind of schizophrenia is somehow instigated by the Puritan mentality, which regarded human nature as something corrupted, source of wicked actions. 

The character of reverend Dimmesdale, the minister of the community, is highly representative of this idea. He has commited adultery with Hester Prynne, but he keeps silence and tries to behave before his community as if nothing had happened. Nevertheless, he finally realizes that this double life is, in fact, a life of lie. The narrator –which the writer has introduced at the very beginning of the book, and seems to have many things in common with Hawthorne- makes an interesting reflection on Dimmesdale’s behaviour. “To the untrue man, the whole universe is false—it is impalpable—it shrinks to nothing within his grasp. And he himself in so far as he shows himself in a false light, becomes a shadow, or, indeed, ceases to exist. The only truth that continued to give Mr. Dimmesdale a real existence on this earth was the anguish in his inmost soul”. The feeling of anguish, though being painful, is presented as a way by which Dimmesdale admits his error and recovers the unity of his life few moments before dying, when he goes up to the scafold and confesses before all the people his guilt.

Hester Prynne acts in an opposite way. She does not have a double life. However, the only life she is allowed to live is her private life, since the letter “A” on her breast excludes her from public life. “The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude!”. Once again, we see the unnatural division, consequence of this Puritan set of mind, between public life and private life. This sorrowful situation is also positive for Hester Prynne, since it humanized her and turns her into a more mature person. I do not think that Hawthorne presents sin as a way of maturing, however, the acceptance of one’s wicked actions is always step in the search of self indentity. “Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!”, says the narrator.

“Macbeth shall sleep no more!”

The feeling of guilt in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Macbeth is, perhaps, Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy. Though the time and place in which the story takes place is very specific –Scotland, XI century-, Macbeth is –like all the work of Shakespeare- a story of universal proportions. It reveals, through the different characters and their actions, many important aspects of human condition. I am going to focus on how Shakespeare represents the feeling of guilt in the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, his wife.

Through all the play, Macbeth appears as a man who is constantly tortured by his conscience. At the beginning, he is fearful of murdering Duncan, although he realises it is the only way for him to become king of Scotland. “Stars, hide your fires! / Let not light see my black and deep desires” (Act I, scene IV), cries Macbeth. I some ways, he sees the murder of Duncan as something unavoidable, since it has been revealed to him by the three witches. “Is this a dagger, which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?” (Act II, scene I), says the thane.

Once he has committed the terrible crime, a total darkness seizes the soul of Macbeth, and the feeling of gilt hurts his conscience with deep wound. From that moment on, Macbeth sees himself as a damned being. This feeling is properly expressed when the thane listens the guardians asking God for His blessing. “But wherefore could not I pronounce «Amen»? / I had most need of blessing, and «Amen» / Stuck in my throat” (Act II, scene II). Lady Macbeth persuades her husband not to think in his crime, lest he would go mad. “These deeds must not be thought / After these ways; so, it will make us mad” (Act II, scene II). However, neither of them will be able to avoid this madness.

Shakespeare uses a powerful metaphor to represent the gilt of Macbeth: the sleep. The sleep represents the peace of the innocent conscience. In contrast, the lack of sleep is a synonym for the pain and the unseasiness of the guilty conscience. There something very significant Macbeth says after murdering Duncan: “Methought, I heard a voice cry, «Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep» - the innocent sleep” (Act II, scene II). Further on, he repeats: “Still it cried (…) / «Glamis hath murdere’d sleep, and therefore Cawdor / Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more!»” (Act II, scene II). It is interesting how Shakespeares writes about the murderer as someone who is interiorly divided, and thus he expresses this in the words of Macbeth, who refers to himself as three different persons.

The spot of blood is another metaphor used to refer to the guilt both of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?” (Act II, scene II), says Macbeth. It is interesting how Lady Macbeth -who refuses at the beginning to accept the wickedness of the crime- cannot keep herself distant and she finally falls in a deep feeling of gilt which drives her mad. She cannot sleep anymore and walks through the corridors rubbing her hands. “What is it she does now? Look how she rubs her hands”(Act V, scene I), says one man. “Will these hands ne’er be clean? (…)“What’s done cannot be undone” (Act V, scene I), says Lady Macbeth.

Shakespeare shows guilt as something that the criminal cannot avoid. It is, certainly, the worst punishment for the crime committed. If it is not accepted and redeemed, guilt can torture a man for the rest of his life.