숨은 죄의식에 의한 자기 파멸

Self-destruction by hidden guilt focusing on “The Fall of The House of Usher” and The Scarlet Letter

This paper is a study self-destruction by hidden guilt in Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works. The protagonists―Usher and Dimmesdale― in the works have hidden sins, and feel severe guilty conscious. In the process, they have doubling characters being tormenting feeling guilt. Such a sense of guilt brings mental and physical destruction to the heroes. Usher gets mental disease and Dimmesdale also suffers from a nervous breakdown. They aren’t punished by outside pressure― the law― but are ruined by themselves. Eventually, they confess their guilt and die. Desire is embedded in the works. The desire is described as the adherence of pure blood in the Ushers and Dimmesdale’s religious violation due to his love. It causes the characters to be misfortune. These works can indicate that desire against ethics ends up self-destruction.