Scarlet Letter Paper

Scarlet Letter Paper In every society there are flaws, and throughout time people have dreamed of creating a perfect society; however, when attempt to rid their society of flaw they, in turn, create other problems that are possibly worse than the flaws they are trying to eliminate. The puritan society did just that. In an attempt to remove all sin and crime from the world, the puritans created extremely harsh punishments for any sin or crime committed. The fraudulent society the puritans created, depicted by Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter, as well as the horrible society that was created in Lord of the Flies by William Golding deliver insight into all of the problems that people experience when trying to self-govern themselves and the people around them. In both The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the authors suggest that ignoring the flaws in one’s own society will lead to a deterioration of morality. In The Scarlet Letter a very prominent message delivered throughout the book is holding oneself to a standard of high morality. It doesn’t matter what society has to say about a person, but what that person has to say about themselves. The Puritans views on religion and law, “as befitted a people [The Puritans] among whom religion and law were almost identical,” were almost exactly the same (Hawthorne 33). This creates a major flaw in puritanical society because the punishment does not fit the crime but the religion. Typically, in most nations a separation of religion and state is instituted in order to remove this flaw, much like the way that 1700s France kept the church from developing a stranglehold on the nation’s laws and punishment, France accomplished this by having religion controlled by the monarch or ruler. The deterioration of morality that presents itself in overly harsh punishments results in people being abused and ridiculed and creates emotional and physical pain for a person. People are publicly humiliated and even killed for crimes that today would receive a slap on the wrist and a lesson for the future. However, the extremely harsh punishments construct a precedent for obeying the laws in a very strict manner. People want to remain equal with each other, and that is the way Chillingworth felt towards Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter. Chillingworth craved, in an ever so brutal manner, to attain equality with Dimmesdale for his sin, of which is committed against Chillingworth. The crave for vengeance in a society is far worse than a desire for any other sin because when someone is being vengeful, they are committing a sin just for the bettering of themselves. Vengeance is, “a sin blacker than Dimmesdale’s [adultery],” and in a way revenge is the worst sin that is committed (Hawthorne 130). Vengeance can relate to all seven of the seven deadly sins. Lust, the great desire, Chillingworth was lustful in attaining vengeance upon Dimmesdale. Chillingworth devotes the rest of his life to leeching away Dimmesdale’s and even tries to prevent his death in order to continue executing his revenge. Greed, the want for purely oneself, Chillingworth is greedy because he is doing something for the well-being of just himself. The strength of Chillingworth’s greed exceeds that of his morality and ultimately leads to his moral downfall. Wrath, pure anger, Chillingworth became so enveloped in his revenge plot that he ignores his downfall from any morality, which only causes more deterioration of his morality. Pride, the high opinion of oneself, Chillingworth is too prideful to forgive Hester and Dimmesdale for their sin, and instead remains on the path of revenge. A tremendously simple solution presents itself to Chillingworth, and that is to just forget about Hester and Dimmesdale, but due to the fact Chillingworth is prideful he does not. Chillingworth ignores his deterioration of morality, which ultimately causes his own death. Gluttony, self-indulgence, Chillingworth transforms himself into a “moral parasite” indulging on Dimmesdale. Sloth, laziness, Chillingworth is lazy in the fact that he ignores what he is becoming; a morally devoid person that, in the end, is how he is at the time of his death. The biggest flaw society faces is the one flaw that can be so easily changed, stop ignoring the problem it is creating for itself. While Chillingworth still had an opportunity to escape the gravitational pull that the moral pit had on him, he simply did not. This causes Chillingworth to fall into the moral pit, at which, he loses all remaining morality, of which Chillingworth can never have again. Chillingworth causes his own death, “At old Roger Chillingworth decease (which took place within a year),” by becoming a parasite that feasts on Dimmesdale, and a parasite can only survive as long as the host; with the host dead, the parasite follows shortly after (Hawthorne 176). Society cannot ignore the flaws that present themselves. Ignoring obvious flaws is like causing someone emotional pain every day, and wondering why that person wishes that everything would end. For a society to ever become flawless, the people in that society need to accept they will always be flawed themselves. In Lord of the Flies the loss of morality comes from a different stand point, yet still revenge is the main theme. Perhaps what the authors are saying is that revenge is the only way that morality can be completely eradicated. No sin can reach a point of no return, except for revenge. The choir boys take a vote about who will be in charge, and when Ralph is decided over Jack again, Jack leaves, “I’m not going to play with you, not anymore,” and seeks vengeance upon Ralph (Golding 132). Simon is beaten and killed trying to tell the boys that a beast does not dwell on the island, “Simon was crying out something about a dead man on hill…Simon’s dead body moved out toward the open sea,” (Golding 144). This proves that the boys need not worry about a beast on the island threatening to kill them, but worry about the beast inside of themselves. The beast the boy’s face is a moral beast that can never be touched or smelled, never heard, or even seen, because the only threat to the choir boys is themselves. Simon may be the only person who can help keep the boys with a small sliver of morality, and because of this it can be inferred that when the boys kill Simon they lose their chance of keeping morality with him. The flaw that deteriorates the boy’s morality is ignoring the problems that are presented to oneself. This deteriorates morality because nothing can fully stop a person from losing their own morality except for themselves, and if it is ignored it is hard to get back. The boys face a flaw when they didn’t realize they had become so animalistic that they didn’t have much morals left. They had ignored themselves, and much like Chillingworth had ignored himself they had deteriorated the small amount of morality left. The children lose all innocence and morality in the end, “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.” (Golding 176). The hunters acted like primal killers with no regard to anyone but themselves, and through this it is shown that people that are not governed simply just look out for what is best for them. Chillingworth looks out for himself, and no one else. He did not care if he killed or hurt anyone as long as he was able to achieve his vengeance, and his as well as the hunter’s morality in the novels are completely deteriorated. In both The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the authors suggest that ignoring the flaws in one’s own society will lead to a complete deterioration of morality. Especially, when someone is committing a sin solely for themselves, because that is when the deterioration of oneself is the most prominent. The authors of these two books are suggesting that the common theme of deteriorated morality can always be saved in all cases except for the times that someone wants to acquire revenge.

Works Cited
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. Print.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Glencoe/McGraw- Hill, 2000. Print.

Cited: Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. Print. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Glencoe/McGraw- Hill, 2000. Print.