For my presentation, I dove into the more psychological aspect of the book and came up with the question: Why is public humiliation better than internal guilt?

The first argument is that some would say that hiding your shameful deed and carrying that guilt is much better than being humiliated because of a confession.

Although, others could argue that coming forth with your sin and guilt— even at the expense of ridicule, brings healing and relief, and that coming clean gives you a sort of freedom.

One of the sources I found summarizes the pros and cons of confession vs. secrecy. In Eyal Pe’er’s “Telling the Whole Truth May Ease Feelings of Guilt,” it states that “people who confessed part of their wrongdoing were judged more harshly by others than people who didn’t confess at all.” This gives understandable reasoning for not wanting to confess, due to fear of humiliation, similar, to Hester being judged and ridiculed much more than Dimmesdale, because of her confession and exposed sin.

In another portion of the article, Eyal Pe’er’s research shows that “People feel worse when they tell only part of the truth [or none at all] about a transgression compared to people that come completely clean [...].” Again, similar to Reverend Dimmesdale’s experience of terrible inner turmoil because he did not confess (until the end).

Ultimately, the quotes and research support my own belief and opinion, that coming clean with shame and being washed by confession,—EVEN at the risk of being outcasted or humiliated like in the Scarlet Letter— brings wholeness, relief, and healing. This is why I sincerely believe that public humiliation because of confession IS better than internal pain because of secrecy.

Works Cited

Eyal, Pe’er. “Telling the Whole Truth May Ease
Feelings of Guilt.” American Psychological

Association, American Psychological Association,

January 23, 2014, www.apa.org/news/press/

releases/2014/01/truth-guilt, Accessed 24 August

2019.


Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Ticknor

& Fields, 2005.