Masks In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter talks about issues many issues of that time which apply to today. To me, one that stood out was the fact that many of the characters put on “masks” or suppressed who they really are. Some of the characters in the book wear masks by choice to be able to do things they could not before and others wear masks to hide themselves. However, even though the mask can sometimes be the more dominant and it raised the question of whether the mask can become what’s inside. It is true that many people today wear masks to fit into society. However, the suppression of one’s self can render the person miserable and I think that it is living a lie. In fact, I believe that Hawthorne was trying to say that one can never truly get rid of who they really are.
To me, Chillingworth is an example of being unable to erase who one really is. In the beginning of the book, Hester describes him as being a happy scholar and Master Prynne later admits that all he wanted to feel was passion and love and describes himself saying:
But all my life had been made up of earnest, studious, thoughtful, quiet years, bestowed faithfully for the increase of mine own knowledge, and faithfully, too, though this latter object was but casual to the other--faithfully for the

Kasten essay, Romanticism is about transcending the prison of society and masks to become who one really is. Both Dimmesdale and Roger were wearing masks for 9 years but in the end they were unable fully replace who they were with the alter ego’s they wear. To me, this book shows that one cannot really break from who they truly are by running away or wearing a mask, and it is only once you put down the mask and truly embrace yourself that you can achieve true happiness in life. Thus, I believe that too live a happier life as a human being one should fully accept themselves as who they are and drop the masks that they wear to hid who they are and embrace themselves for who they really