Fatal Guilt

As we read this week in the Scarlet Letter, after formulating a plan to leave to Europe with Hester and Pearl, Reverend Dimmesdale unexpectedly mounts the scaffold, tears off his shirt to reveal his own scarlet letter, and dies immediately after revealing his sins. The guilt of committing adultery with Hester literally killed Dimmesdale. This kind of death can be seen everyday. Many people have extreme guilt about certain things like murder, marital infidelity, or other unspeakable acts. This guilt often causes people to commit suicide in order to escape their extreme guilt. Many people see it as the only way to alleviate their guilt. This can be seen in the murder suicide of famous professional wrestler Chris Benoit. He felt guilt because of his failing marriage with his wife, Nancy, so he decided to take his life as well as hers. Some may argue that guilt is nothing more than some minor personal affliction and that it is not capable of being more than that. On the contrary, guilt can vary from person to person and can most certainly cause people to do extreme, often life changing or life ending acts. The conscience can be very powerful and causes people to do make very powerful decisions that can impact the individual or their family for the rest of their life.