The Importance Of Guilt In The Tell-Tale Heart

Lady Macbeth and the narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart are unable to properly deal with their guilt. Although due to the short nature of the story we are unable to determine the final outcome for the narrator, we know that Lady Macbeth is unable to cope with the significance of her guilt and ends up committing suicide. In contrast, after a long time of living with the burden of their guilt, Briony and Dimmesdale are able to achieve a level of redemption. Dimmesdale finally explicitly confesses his sins to his community, standing at exactly the same platform where Hester was judged. The author describes the “flush of triumph in his face” and says that “in the crisis of acute pain [Dimmesdale] had won a victory” to show that Dimmesdale is now satisfied and is able to obtain a guilt-free heart. For Dimmesdale, revealing the dark truth about himself to his community is the most successful way of suppressing his guilt, which is partly because of the nature of his guilt –that he was not punished and only Hester was. Briony also ‘confessed’ through her novel, but is mainly able to successfully atone herself by allowing Cecilia and Robbie the happy ‘Hollywood’ ending that she prevented. In contrary to what others might think about her novel (many viewers, including myself, feel that her novel is selfish –it is only to make herself feel better), Briony herself is content and feels that she has made things better by writing the novel –during her interview, she says with confidence, “I gave them their happiness” and that this was her “final act of kindness”. However, Wright shows us through the parallel costume of the 13 year old and 77 year old Briony, that despite all her years and efforts of atonement, she feels some ties to her past and her sin, suggesting that she feels traces of her guilt still. Although both Dimmesdale and Briony achieve some degree of atonement, it is important to note that they only achieve this close to their death. …show more content…
Dimmesdale dies immediately after his confession due to the deterioration of his health as a result of his self-punishments. Likewise, Briony publishes her novel while dying from vascular dementia. It is unfortunate that even those that are successful at repressing their guilt cannot enjoy it for long. In all four texts, the characters’ lives are strongly influenced by their guilt, and in three of the texts (Macbeth, Atonement, The Scarlet Letter) they are gripped by it basically until their death. The director and authors of all four texts seem to portray the message that guilt is a natural mechanism that ensures that we are punished for acting against our morals. Hence they warn us of the consequences one could have when we ignore our conscience; it is often difficult to suppress one’s guilt and in the extreme cases of guilt portrayed in the four texts, guilt can haunt the individuals for an extended time. The four characters and their dark but satisfactory endings allows the readers and viewers to experience catharsis; we feel cleansed emotionally. Like The Tell-Tale Heart, a limitation in Macbeth is the lack of Lady Macbeth’s character development around her guilt. The ever reducing appearance of Lady Macbeth in the play means that except for the short sleepwalking passage, the readers are left guessing about the influence of