The Saddest Prison

"The saddest of all prisons is a person's own heart." This is a quote from Nathaniel Hawthorn. The quote suggests that the worse kind of prison is one where a person bottle up their emotions. This seems to be a prevalent theme with many of Hawthorns works. Many of his stories have to do with guilt and hidden sins. Take on of his most famous works as an example: in the Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale, a revered minister in the Puritan community has a hidden sin. He had committed adultery but was not brave enough to stand up for his sins. The guilt in his heart weakened him day by day. In the end, he decided to kill himself (right after he announced to the public that he has sinned). There are many other stories like these, but most of them happened in the past. Would people today still pine away in their guilt? For me, the answer would be yes. I believe that some people nowadays may still hide guilty feelings and feel bad about it. I think it depends on the person’s personality whether they would hide their sins or admit it to the public. I do not think that people in the past would be more likely to hide their feelings than people in the present would.