The Intersection of Pride and Wrath

Despite the notion of a utopian society, absolute perfection ceases to exist simultaneously with the human race. Mistakes have inevitably plagued humans since the commencement of civilization, but it is the accountability for these failures, not the failures themselves, which serve to characterize the human species. Archaic works such as Antigone by the classical playwright, Sophocles, testify to the timeless nature of human malevolence. In Antigone, a sage named Teiresias observed that a virtuous man seeks to reform and repent once he becomes conscious of his moral shortcomings. Only a prideful individual who refuses to admit his faults resides at the epitome of evil. As one of the deadly sins, pride encourages individuals to pursue personal gain, even if it means the annihilation of themselves and their loved ones. Certain literary characters such as Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Lord Macbeth from William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, provide validation of the wrath that pride harbors.

Arthur Dimmesdale, the cherished reverend and saintly man of Puritan Boston, took immense pride in his public image, which ultimately led to his deterioration. Because he could not confess his sin of adultery to his congregation, Dimmesdale presented Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, with the ideal opportunity to punish him for his affair with Hester. In his pride, Dimmesdale convinced himself that his capability of generating good by continuing God’s work outweighed the benefits derived from his confession and his removal from the ministry. In reality, Dimmesdale’s pride made him terrified of the abasement that Hester endured, so he decided to let her face the ignominy alone. In doing so, Dimmesdale betrayed Hester and abandoned his innocent child, Pearl. Although he lamented for his crimes, only his voluntary relinquish of pride and the public confession of his deeds to the townspeople could remedy Reverend Dimmesdale’s guilt.

In a more malicious sense, Roger Chillingworth’s pride ignited his quest for vengeance against Arthur Dimmesdale. As Hester’s husband, Chillingworth could not accept that Dimmesdale had managed to evoke passion from Hester, especially since she had never been able to reciprocate Chillingworth’s tender feelings. Chillingworth was adamant on seeking revenge, and his pride prevented him from repenting. On several occasions, Hester Prynne even offered Chillingworth the chance to “forgive, and leave his further retribution to the power that claims it!” She said that God would pardon him if he refrained from his relentless torture of Dimmesdale, but Chillingworth responded by saying that he had transgressed too much to atone now for his evil deeds. Equipped with his pride, Chillingworth brought Dimmesdale to the brink of death, indirectly killing him with torment. Essentially, Chillingworth’s pride transformed him into an unhappy person who devoted “himself for seven years to the constant analysis of a heart full of torture, and deriving his enjoyment thence, and adding fuel to those fiery tortures which he analyzed and gloated over.”

Pride is an ancient crime that had existed centuries before Hawthorne authored The Scarlet Letter. For instance, Lord Macbeth from Shakespeare’s tragedy originally resided as a loyal warrior who slaughtered MacDonwald, an infamous traitor, in order to preserve the reign of his cousin, King Duncan, over Scotland. After the three witches issued a prophecy concerning Macbeth’s imminent rise to kingship, his hubris overwhelmed his logic. He instantly complied with Lady Macbeth’s demands to commit regicide so that he could replace Duncan as the king of Scotland. Furthermore, Macbeth’s pride caused him to extinguish the life of another human being, which eventually engendered further murders, including the ambush of his best friend, Banquo. Macbeth’s narcissism resulted in his resentment of Banquo since the witches had prophesied that Banquo’s children would become greater than Macbeth’s own descendants. Most detrimental of all, during the final siege on his castle, Macbeth’s pride prevented him from fleeing, and instead, he remained to fight MacDuff, which led to his untimely death.

As Teiresias stated in an excerpt from Antigone, while men make many mistakes, pride is the only fatal crime. The truth of this statement has resonated in both archaic and contemporary literature through the characterization of individuals such as Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, and Lord Macbeth, who irreversibly inflict harm upon themselves and others. These dangerous individuals facilitate their personal demise by yielding to their pride and refusing to admit that they have erred. They seek to maintain utter dominance over their own lives because of their conceit and desire for power. In essence, few forces have existed with the capacity to yield as much catastrophe as pride.