Final Essay on Sin

Stairway to Heaven

When one commits a sin, one has the choice to confess it or conceal it. If one chooses to confess their sin, their bond with God becomes stronger. If one chooses to conceal their sin, their bond with God weakens, causing a separation between Him and the sinner. Those who choose to conceal their sins forget that “God sees everything” (Miller 110), which defeats the purpose of concealing a sin. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, John Proctor, Abigail Williams, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester Prynne take different approaches in dealing with their sins. By analyzing their approaches, it can be clearly seen how incorrectly Dorian Gray dealt with his sins in The Picture of Dorian Gray and confirms that “nothing […] he could do would cleanse him till he had told his own sin” (Wilde 228).
In The Crucible, John Proctor committed a sin by sleeping with another woman, which breaks his wife’s trust. Proctor chose to keep his sin private, vowing to never touch his mistress again: “I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again” (Miller 23). Proctor regretted his misconduct and took an approach to better his situation by ending the affair, but he still concealed his sin. By concealing his sin, Proctor fought an internal battle and struggled to regain the trust he lost from his wife. He finally confessed his sin to the court when his wife was falsely accused of doing witchcraft, in hopes to find redemption. When this did not happen and things worsened, Proctor concluded that the court, which was known to speak God’s law, would not give him the absolution he sought for. When it came time to sign his confession, Proctor’s first thought was to sign the paper in order to live, but Rebecca Nurse made him realize he was being selfish, which made him change his mind to be hanged. In the end, Proctor found the absolution he sought for and reached the Kingdom of Heaven.
Unlike Proctor, Dorian Gray chose to do otherwise. Proctor confessed his sin, which led him to be publicly humiliated. Although he “suffer[ed] public shame” (Wilde 228), his great act of “public atonement” (228) was his death. By confessing his sin and making the decision to be hanged, he only gained respect from his community. On the other hand, Dorian laughed at how ridiculous the thought of confessing his sin was: "Confess? Did it mean that he was to confess? To give himself up, and be put to death?" (227- 228). Dorian felt "that the idea was monstrous" (228). Dorian chose to forget his sins instead of finding absolution and lifting them off his chest. In order to be cleansed, he needed to confess. Dorian chose to be selfish by wanting to live, unlike Proctor who put justice before his life, bringing him closer to God.
After struggling to find absolution, Proctor realized he would find goodness in God’s kingdom. He found redemption by putting his trust in God. Proctor went to Elizabeth and the court in search of forgiveness, when he should have allowed God to be his judge. Even though Proctor sought redemption in the wrong places, he was able to find it. Dorian, on the other hand, did not take the time to search for forgiveness. Dorian believed that he "had been forgiven" (100) when he wrote his "first passionate love-letter [...] addressed to a dead girl" (103). Dorian did not physically apologize to Sibyl, who was not even alive to accept his apology, nullifying any atonement. Dorian took the easy way out and thought it was acceptable to write a letter to Sibyl, solely to please her. He did not mean any of the things he said and was not sincerely apologetic for what he did. Instead, he called believed “she ha[d] no right to kill herself. It was selfish of her” (103). Dorian blamed Sibyl for her death, when he was the one at fault. Unlike Dorian, Proctor acknowledged his faults and made an attempt to fix them.
Like Proctor, who said, “God sees everything” (Miller 110), Basil told Dorian of God’s power over man: “Yes […] to see your soul. But only God can do that” (Wilde 156). Although the portrait was hidden behind a purple curtain, Dorian knew it was there and most importantly, God also knew it was there. Thus, it was not actually concealed. God saw Proctor’s moral intentions and was able to cleanse his soul. Dorian, on the other hand, had immoral intentions, which prevented him from being cleansed.
Abigail Williams, in The Crucible, slept with a married man and did not take her sin seriously, making a game out of it with the court. Even after Proctor told her that he would rather “cut off [his] hand before […] reach[ing] for [her] again” (Miller 23), Abigail still tried to convince him otherwise: “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep. […] You love me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” (24). Abigail went to the extent of threatening the other girls from revealing her sins: “Let either of you breathe a word […] about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and […] bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (20). In response to Proctor’s confession, Abigail acted like a drama queen, avoiding her confession: “If I must answer that, I will leave and I will not come back again!” (111). Abigail did end up leaving and lived the rest of her life as a prostitute in Boston, which separated herself from God in the process. As a result, Abigail did not get cleansed from her sin, which remained in her soul.
Like Abigail, Dorian Gray chose to turn away from his sins. Dorian thought he would be able to get away from them by suppressing them behind a purple curtain. Unfortunately, his portrait tricked him when he was about to permanently get rid of his inner ugliness. He could not hide from his sins any longer. Dorian was the "face without a heart" (Wilde 220). His portrait bore the suffering he should have felt. Abigail walked away from her sins and ended up becoming a prostitute. Likewise, Dorian tried forgetting and turning away from his sins, but ended up dying as a sinner without being cleansed. Neither Abigail nor Dorian learned their lessons. The two characters did not confess their sins, which only brought them suffering. If Dorian confessed his sins, he could have gained entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, but instead, he died a sinner.
Arthur Dimmesdale, in The Scarlet Letter, had difficulty confessing his sin because he was a prominent role model in his community. Although he wanted to spill his iniquitous heart and speak the truth, Dimmesdale was hiding his secret to benefit the many people who looked up to him, suffering for his community’s well-being. If his eminence was besmirched, then people would lose the hope he gave to them and the faith they had in him. By keeping his sin within him, he thought he was doing the right thing, but in the end, it caused Dimmesdale to be tormented by God through the diabolical workings of Roger Chillingworth and the physical punishments he gave himself.
With Hester’s support, Dimmesdale confessed his sin and passed away into Eternal Justice, leaving his pain and agony behind. Dimmesdale’s “public atonement” (Wilde 228) was his death, which “impress[ed] on his admirers [that] in the view of Infinite Purity, we are all sinners alike [and] show freely to the world […] some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!” (Hawthorne 231). Dimmesdale may have suffered public shame if he was alive after he confessed, but he died leaving a message behind to his people. After seven miserable years of suffering, Dimmesdale finally realized that God was merciful. This was something Dorian was too selfish to think about. He was more concerned with living than finding absolution and repenting. Although Dimmesdale took a painful path in search of absolution, he was cleansed, and his soul went up to God’s kingdom.
Unlike Dimmesdale, who took his sin seriously and physically tormented himself, Dorian Gray avoided torment and put it all on his portrait, so he would not have to suffer: “Like the gods of the Greeks, he would be strong, and fleet, and joyous. What did it matter what happened to the colored image on the canvas? He would be safe. That was everything” (Wilde 110). When Dorian recognized his ugliness, he thrusted it further away, whereas Dimmesdale took the initiative to change. Dimmesdale may have taken the wrong approach of absolving his sin, but he had good intentions and made the effort to find absolution. Dorian simply shoved it away further and further until he could not take it anymore. Both died in the end, but Dimmesdale was cleansed and went to God’s kingdom, whereas Dorian died as a sinner.
In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne was forced to bear her sin because it was physically visible. The public shame she experienced was brutal. The sin she committed caused a sphere to form around herself as people avoided her, but she accepted her punishment and made the most out of wearing her scarlet letter: “Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity, on wretches less miserable than herself, [and] employed in making coarse garments for the poor” (Hawthorne 77). Hester lived miserably, raising her daughter with what she could provide. Hester turned the other cheek when people would taunt her, like a true Christian: “Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well” (Mt 5: 39-40). Hester bore her sin so humbly that the townspeople could not look at her with scorn: “Many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able. […] The scarlet letter had the effect of the cross on a nun’s bosom” (Hawthorne 146-147). Through Hester's kind actions, "society was inclined to show its former victim a more benign countenance than she cared to be favored with" (147). Out of all the characters from the three texts, Hester bore the most public shame and did so with great humility.
Unlike Hester, who lived out her sin and dealt with her public shame honorably, Dorian did not care. Basil warned him of all the gossip and foul things people were saying about him, but Dorian showed the slightest bit of concern: “I love scandals about other people, but scandals about myself don’t interest me. They have not got the charm of novelty” (Wilde 153). Dorian only got tired of people talking about him, but did not do anything to better his position or reform his ways. Hester gained respect from her community by doing good deeds. In comparison, society may have looked to Dorian for his aesthetics, which only hid his true self, but Hester was respected for her acts of self-betterment and penitence.
Proctor, Dimmesdale, and Hester confessed their sins, bringing them into the presence of God. Abigail and Dorian, who did not confess, were left to the mercy of the Devil. It was their fault that they did not receive God’s goodness. By turning away from their sins, Abigail and Dorian only grew further away from God, which confirms that “nothing [they] could do would cleanse [them] till [they] told [their] own sin[s]” (228). Miller, Hawthorne, and Wilde together voice an important message to society: “Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred” (Hawthorne 231).With this dictum, society is called to replicate the atonement of Proctor, Dimmesdale, and Hester. By following their lead, society will be showered in the light of God.