Final Sin Essay

Daryl Thomas

AP English- Mr. George

23 February 2009

Sin Essay

Salvation through Repentance

            Adam and Eve did not fathom the severity of taking fruit from the tree. Working the land for food, feeling pain during child labor, and shame for their bodies were something out of the ordinary in the utopian Garden of Eden, but these punishments were manageable. In actuality, they were only the first repercussions of a sin that would bring about the fall of man. Wars, slavery, death, and evil became social norms as years passed as a result of their disobedience. It was not until a starry night in the little town of Bethlehem that a Savior came to save humanity from all sin. The center of Jesus’ ministry was to repent: “I have […] come to call the […] sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). Jesus preached that salvation from sin could only come through repenting for it. Under the influence of Lord Henry Wotton and Basil Hallward’s portrait, Dorian Gray could not find salvation: “The prayer of your pride has been answered. […] I worshipped you too much. I am punished for it. You worshipped yourself too much. We are both punished” (Wilde 162). The pride he felt because of the painting’s power and the evil influence of Lord Henry nourished the seed of evil in his heart. Basil did attempt to persuade Dorian to repent, yet evil had enveloped his soul, and that evil, manifested on the canvas, forced him to kill Basil. Without repenting for his sin, Dorian Gray suffered a far worse punishment than Adam and Eve- death without entrance into heaven. No one can be saved from sin without repentance.

Basil Hallward seemed to be a simpleminded artisan, yet he committed a major sin by breaking a commandment. Basil’s infatuation of Dorian Gray was unusually strong; his “mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself” (8). The first commandment states, "I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-3). Dorian became a false idol to the painter. Through Dorian’s conversion, Basil was shown the truth of good and evil in Dorian, similar to the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve telling them “that when you eat [the fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Luckily, Basil recognized his sin and confessed to Dorian of his obsession. After seeing the painting, he then prayed to God for forgiveness. Though Dorian ended up killing Basil, it can be assumed that Basil found redemption. His repentance cleared the imperfection in his soul, allowing him to pass through the gates of Heaven. Similar to Basil, John Proctor repented and found God in the end.

After committing adultery with Abigail Williams, Proctor took a step in finding absolution by confessing to his wife, Elizabeth. Though their relationship suffered greatly, Proctor had commenced his conversion from evil to good. Later when Dorian was accused of witchcraft, he confessed his adultery to Judge Danforth to prove that Abigail was only looking for revenge: “But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it; I set myself entirely in your hands. I know you must see it now” (Miller 110). Proctor was then able to understand that he redeemed himself on earth and that his death would bring him to his final judgment from God: “God sees my name; God knows how black my sins are!” (142). Proctor left Salem heading toward Heaven. His repentance required much courage, but for Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, a strong self-esteem was needed to bear the ignominy of their sin.

Hester and Dimmesdale committed adultery together, yet they differed in how they dealt with their sin. Hester confessed her sin and publicly bore her actions with the scarlet A upon her chest and her daughter Pearl. While Hester and Pearl were condemned to standing on the scaffold for daily public shame, Dimmesdale hid his sin from everyone. Though he was safe from public eyes, Dimmesdale faced a far worse punishment for not repenting immediately. He would occasionally fast and scourge his body, destroying his youthful physique. When seeing Pearl, Dimmesdale would be reminded of the sin and face guilt and torment. There was also his former colleague, Roger Chillingworth, who was actually Hester’s husband. Chillingworth promised to “seek this man [that Hester cheated with], as [he] sought truth in books, as [he] sought gold in alchemy” (Hawthorne 70). Chillingworth’s punishment for this man would be unbearable.

Once Chillingworth found out Dimmesdale was the man who sinned with Hester, Chillingworth continued to keep the priest alive, in order for Dimmesdale to let the shame and guilt eat him up inside: “To sum up the matter, it grew to be a widely diffused opinion, that the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, like many other personages of especial sanctity, in all ages of the Christian world, was haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan’s emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth” (116). After all of Dimmesdale’s torment, he was able to find redemption when he showed the Election Sermon crowd the A seared upon his chest, standing with his family. Dimmesdale had repented and left the people of Boston with an important message: “[be] true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!” (231). Dimmesdale entered Heaven completing his redemption, and left earth as a prophet repeating Jesus’ message of repentance. As for Hester, she became a guidance counselor to the people of Salem and when death arrived, following Dimmesdale into Heaven. Hester and Dimmesdale found redemption to be the only way to be freed from sin. As for Roger Chillingworth, the poison of evil in his soul would not be cured.

Chillingworth dedicated his whole life to get revenge on Dimmesdale, and when the priest found his redemption and died, there was no point to his existence: “[he] had made the very principle of his life to consist in the pursuit and systematic exercise of revenge, and when, by its completest triumph and consummation, that evil principle was left with no further material to support it, when, in short, there was no more Devil’s work on earth for him to do” (232). Chillingworth was the leech that sucked the life out of Dimmesdale. Without Dimmesdale around, the leech lost all its nourishment and withered to death. Chillingworth was unable to absolve his sin and the evil in his heart remained forever. The Devil had done his work on Chillingworth and would do the same to Abigail Williams.

From vengeance to pure evil, Abigail Williams fully transformed into the Devil. The amount of sins she committed were innumerable. Abigail lied to save herself from accusations of witchcraft saying, “I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus” (Miller 48). This lie led to her falsely accusing others of witchcraft, breaking the eighth commandment: "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). These accusations gave her an opportunity to get her revenge on Elizabeth Proctor.  Her actions led to chaos in Salem and the death of innocent people. The shame and guilt of her actions were too much to handle, and Abigail decided to flee Salem to Barbados. Though she may have run away from the responsibility on earth, God would always see her sin.  Her refusal to repent resulted in her prostitution in Boston and never finding absolution. Dorian Gray had a similar fate to that of Abigail because he also never acknowledged his sin.

            When Dorian was first seated for a portrait, he was seen as a youthful, beautiful, innocent boy. Basil beseeched Lord Henry to not “spoil him. Don’t try to influence him.  Your influence would be bad” (Wilde 16). Lord Henry refused Basil’s plea and decided that “he would seek to dominate [Dorian]. […] He would make that wonderful spirit his own” (40). Dorian was then poisoned by Lord Henry’s words: “There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!” (25). Dorian then realized how special and rare his beauty was. After seeing the portrait, Dorian grew jealous of the youth it would retain for eternity. He wishes that the portrait would age instead if himself: “For that- for that- I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!” (28). Little did Dorian know that he would get his wish.

            When Dorian first noticed a change in the painting, he could not believe what he was witnessing: “Such things were impossible. It seemed monstrous even to think of them. And yet there was the picture before him, with the touch of cruelty in the mouth” (95). After his emotions settled, Dorian realized that the “picture [...] would be to him the visible emblem of conscience” (96). Dorian now could use the painting as a guide to see his wrongdoing and repent for his actions to find redemption. Unfortunately, Dorian strayed from this idea when he realized that he could also use the portrait to take the fall for all of his actions, even his aging: “And yet who that knew anything about Life would surrender the chance of remaining always young, however fantastic that chance might be, or with what fateful consequences it might be fraught?” (110). The portrait would also remove all feelings of guilt from his mind and allow him to sin without remorse. Dorian was then corrupted by the pride elicited from the power of the painting, leading to his sinful deeds of killing Basil and Sibyl and corrupting Alan Campbell. To hide the sin of his past, Dorian realized he had to destroy the only evidence remaining of his actions- the painting: “It would kill the past, and when that was dead he would be free” (228). Dorian would never become free after destroying the painting, for it was his only and last hope for redemption. Dorian’s life ended with his body feeling the repercussions of all his sin: “He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage” (229). Without repenting for the evil and sin in his life, Dorian Gray died without finding goodness or redemption.

             As the legendary prince Hamlet once said, “Confess yourself to heaven;/ Repent what's past; avoid what is to come/” (Hamlet 3.4.149-150). Hamlet agreed that repentance was necessary in order to circumvent suffering and to find redemption. Putting aside his evil, Dorian did say, “it was his duty to confess, to suffer public shame, and to make public atonement. There was a God who called upon men to tell their sins to earth as well as to heaven. Nothing that he could do would cleanse him till he had told his own sin” (Wilde 228). Humanity was supposed to deal with their sin and to repent, or else they would face unendurable emotional and physical suffering on earth and would never find eternal life with God within the gates of Heaven.

 

Works Cited:

Church, Episcopal. The Holy Bible. Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1903.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Books, 1986.

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2003.

Miller, Arthur. “The Crucible”. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 1952.

Shakespeare, William “Hamlet”. Classic Books Company, 2001.