The Scarlet Letter Essay by Lewis Sheridan

Scarlet Letter
By: Lewis Sheridan

When you look back into the history of mankind, you always find that there is a person or group of people that are used as a scapegoat to cover up a society's failures or flaws as a whole. Take Nazi Germany for example. Back in the early to mid-1900s, the people of Germany were experiencing an economic meltdown from World War I. They had gotten too far into the war, and now the government was making the people pay for the war debts. A man by the name of Adolf Hitler came along and revived the people, using Jewish people as his scapegoat. Hitler blamed the Jews for all the problems that Germany was experiencing, and soon the people of Germany rallied behind him. Soon Jews were being exterminated left and right. Nowadays, this period of history is known as the Holocaust. The Holocaust is just one example of human nature's problem of choosing a scapegoat in a society. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is that scapegoat. Hester is used as a scapegoat, by her society, because she commitsstay in present tense adultery. Even though many people in the society probably did this act, Hester was singled out of the whole group. Three reasons why human nature usually causes us to choose a scapegoat are jealousy of others, fear of failure, and the fear of judgement.try to word your thesis in a parallel manner. For example jealousy of others, fear of failure, fear of judgement.
Jealousy is a powerful trait of the human mind. People will get jealous over just about anything, the most common being wealth, looks, and possessions. Hester Prynne was more than likely singled because of her youth and her beauty. In the beginning of the Scarlet Letter, when Hester is standing on the scaffold, one of the ladies watching comments, "If the young hussy stood up for judgement before us five, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not!" This lady is obviously jealous because Hester is a young woman that has received a punishment that the lady does not think is enough. The punishment Hester receives is already bad enough, but this woman wants it to be even harsher. In today's society, people's jealousy makes them choose a scapegoat, such as when the media makes a huge deal about celebrity's that have big problems. These celebrities are always singled out by the media, just for drinking and driving or being addicted to cocaine, while the average Joe, serves his sentence, gets out, then goes on with his life without the whole United States knowing about it. The reason for this is because people are jealous of celebrities, usually because they are young, attractive, and extremely wealthy. As you can see, jealousy is a very powerful trait that will sometimes lead humans to choose a scapegoat in their society.
Another reason why people tend to choose a scapegoat is because they are afraid to admit their own problems. A prime example in the Scarlet Letter is Arthur Dimmesdale. He feels so guilty about what he has done that he will go in the middle of the night and stand on the scaffold to confess his sins, and put himself in Hester's shoes. Granted, he will do this, but he will not dare go to the scaffold in the middle of the day and have the people of the town see him doing this. By standing at night, he is showing his guilt for committing adultery, but he is not admitting his own problems. An example in real life would be the Senator Larry Craig of Idaho. His problem is what we call homosexuality. He would not come out in public and admit that he was gay. In order to cover up his problem, he would stay as far away from the gay situation as possible. Every single issue that came up about homosexuality in Congress was voted down by Larry Craig. So instead of coming out with his problem he kept it a secret, and it ended up costing him his dignity.
The last part of human nature that causes us to choose a scapegoat is the fear that people will find out that you have done something wrong and frown down upon you. It is the old get him before he gets me theory. The Scarlet Letter's own Arthur Dimmesdale once again comes up in this example. In the third chapter, while preaching to Hester he says mockingly, "Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart! She will not speak!" He is pretending like Hester is horrid for not saying who the father is and is cutting her down while talking to her. He does this so it will sound like the people think he is Godly and great for speaking to her like this. He shot her down before she could do the same to him. Nowadays, people do this all the time, destroy people before those people have a chance to destroy them. Politicians do this all the time, find problems with their opponents to cover up their own problems. This may be the biggest of all the reasons why people choose a scapegoat in society.
Human nature tends to make us choose a scapegoat. People are so jealous of others that they will get rid of them, people are afraid to admit their own problems, and people fear that if they don't get someone else, that person will sneak up and get them. Hitler once used scapegoats, and we all know how that turned out, so there really is no point in picking a scapegoat for society.