The Irrepressible Nature of Fear as Seen in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The idea of fear is a fairly simple concept, yet it carries the power to consume and control lives. Fears have stemmed from an inadvertent psychological response to situations deemed threating to one’s personal safety, but have evolved into a complex web of often illogical misconceptions which are able to cloud a person’s judgment and result in situations often worse than originally intended. Fears can be hard to quell, but it has been shown the best way to overcome fears is often to face them, as author James Baldwin asserted when he wrote, “To defend oneself against fear is simply to insure that one will, one day, be conquered by it; fears must be faced.” Baldwin makes strongly qualified statement, and his idea fears must be faced to ensure one is not conquered by them is evident frequently, and is especially visible in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, The Scarlet Letter. In The Scarlet Letter, two characters are placed in situations in which they are directly confronted with their fears, but react much differently, resulting in contrastingly different consequences. Baldwin’s assertion is qualified by the journeys of Hester Prynne and the Reverend Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter, who show how facing one’s fears can have a positive outcome while defending oneself from their fears can have detrimental consequences.

In The Scarlet Letter, the trials of Hester Prynne depict the same conclusion about fears asserted by Baldwin. Hester was placed in a situation she was tremendously fearful of, but by confronting her fears directly, Hester was able to largely overcome them and create a positive outcome. After Hester was imprisoned for having a child out of wedlock, she was forced to stand upon a platform wearing a mark of shame for...

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... conquered by it; fears must be faced.” Baldwin’s words rang true in the case of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, where the characters of Hester Prynne and Revered Arthur Dimmesdale personified the different ends of the fear-conquering spectrum. By facing her fears, Hester was able to conquer them and turn them into something positive, while Dimmesdale suppressed his, and in the end he they consumed and conquered him. Fears are something which can never be fully suppressed. Fear is a powerful force which demands to be felt. One can either conquer it or fall to it, but by avoiding it, one is cementing their fate in which they will eventually be consumed by it. The Scarlet Letter is one of many works which support Baldwin’s ideas of fear, but the consensus is unanimous: facing one’s fears is the only way one can ensure a peaceful and purposeful life.