The Wages of Sin in the Old and New Testaments - Essay Example

The wages of sin: Punishment vs. Forgiveness The difference between the Old and New Testaments are characterized by the teachings of Jesus that emphasize love and forgiveness for man’s sins as opposed to the punishment and death that are spelt out as the wages of death in the Old Testament. The God of the Old Testament is portrayed as a divine entity who is to be feared, who is hard and quick to bring down his wrath and punishment upon those who err. The quality of forgiveness is however the dominant theme of the New Testament and the sinner in the New Testament is one who is assured of God’s mercy and forgiveness, provided that he/she is truly repentant. The effect of sin upon the human soul is the prevailing theme in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Book: “The Scarlet Letter” and he examined the unforgiving attitude of the Puritans towards sin in their treatment of adulteress Hester Prynne and their cruel punishment, which is akin to the harsh punishment and judgmental attitude of God as portrayed in the Old Testament. On the other hand, the book “Moby Dick” was written during the era of Protestantism when people were exhorted rather than coerced into conventional morality, where independence of thought and religion had set in and man was allowed a greater degree of flexibility in the wages for his sin, as exemplified in the New Testament through the teaching of Jesus where even the most grievous sinner could seek and find forgiveness. The quality of flexible thought is portrayed in the differing perspectives of the white whale that are presented in the book, Mody Dick. It may be viewed as an agent of evil or of good, depending upon the perspective of the viewer. This is the essence of the difference between the Old and New Testaments as well. As opposed to the harsh wages of sin in the Old Testament, the New Testament offers forgiveness to those who believe, therefore the wages of sin will depend upon the attitude of the sinner. The contrast between the attitude towards sin that is reflected in the old and New Testament is also revealed in the two works “Scarlet Letter” and “Moby Dick” with the former representing the path of the Old Testament and the latter the path of the New Testament. Hawthorne’s book centers around a female protagonist Hester Prynne, whose husband is captured in America and is away for many years. Hester commits adultery but refuses to divulge the name of her partner, who is later revealed to be none other than the priest of the community – Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester is publicly humiliated by the rigid Puritan society and forced to wear a scarlet “A” on her breast as a symbol of her shame for the sin that she has committed. The irony of private knowledge versus public persona is finally dispelled when Dimmesdale publicly acknowledges that he is her lover and the father of her child. Puritan society was characterized by a close tie between Church and State and the novel represents this unity in the characters of Mr. Roger Wilson who represents the Church and Governor Bellingham who represents the State. Citizenship in those days was equated with blind obedience to religious laws, which declared women inferior and demanded superhuman moral standards from them that were infringed by the character of Hester. The “path of righteousness” was to be adhered to in every instance and the law had no mercy, thereby suppressing its citizens into a repressed lifestyle where they always lived in fear. The effect of sin upon the human soul is the prevailing theme in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Book: “The Scarlet Letter”. Different characters react to sin and the knowledge it brings in different ways. The three scaffolding scenes reveal the effect of sin upon the two main characters in the book – Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Hawthorne studies the effect of sin upon his characters and examines the human alienation it brings, tormenting the human soul, through the excessive punishment and harsh condemnation for sin. As Hester is brought forth from the jail and made to stand on the scaffold for several hours on public display, she ““underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung into the street for them all to spurn and trample upon.” (Hawthorne 1362). The Old Testament message of terrible punishment being mandatory for a sinful person is further exemplified in the attitude of Dimmesdale, who finally has the courage to confess his role in Hester’s ‘crime’ and he declares; “God knows; and He is merciful! He hath proved his mercy, most of all, in my afflictions. By giving me this burning torture to bear upon my breast! By sending yonder dark and terrible old man, to keep the torture always at red-heat!  By bringing me hither, to die this death of triumphant ignominy before the people! Had either of these agonies been wanting, I had been lost for ever!” (Hawthorne 1470). Hester reacts with defiance at the punishment for her sin and Dimmesdale with self torture, but both of them are conditioned by the harsh Puritan standards of sin and morality. Examples of this may be seen in the condemnation that greets Hester’s sin; “At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead” while another echoes Puritan sentiments as she declares; “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly, there is, both in the Scripture and the statute book.” (Hawthorne 1361). The Old Testament provides this image of God –as a being that rains down fire and brimstone on the sinners. So great is the fear that this angry and jealous God incites in the human soul that the pastor Dimmesdale actually finds a scarlet “A” – the symbol of his sin – appearing upon his chest, as his inner torment at his sin reveals itself outwardly. This novel effectively demonstrates how people were pushed too far, forced to adhere to standards too rigid because the law in Puritan society was too harsh and punitive, making it difficult for an ordinary human being with normal human weaknesses to survive openly and honestly in such a society. The black forest that is supposed to be evil, turns out to be a refuge for Hester and Dimmesdale, where they can withdraw into a safe haven where society’s rigid laws are not enforced upon them and where Dimmesdale is not forced to don the mantle of holiness that forbids him from revealing any human weakness. The area that was supposed to be devoid of law and order is actually the place where the couple is able to actually find peace and justice. Thus the novel effectively symbolizes the too-harsh philosophy of the Old Testament. The novel “Moby Dick” is however open to interpretation. The whale that is the subject of this novel and makes for many exciting chase scenes in the sea, but it is represented with eyes on the opposite sides of its head, so that it can view two different perspectives at the same time; “he can at the same moment of time attentively examine two distinct prospects, one on one side of him, and the other in an exactly opposite direction? If he can, then is it as marvellous a thing in him, as if a man were able simultaneously to go through the demonstrations of two distinct problems in Euclid.”(Melville 329). Through this important aspect of being able to view two perspectives at the same time, Melville demonstrates the essential character of the New testament – that of consideration and understanding of the view points of others. Jesus articulated this philosophy as “Love one another as I have loved you.” The philosophy of the New Testament is based upon love and forgiveness, unlike the Old Testament that is based upon wrath and punishment of an angry God. Love and forgiveness of an enemy is possible only through an understanding of his perspective and this forms an important theme of Moby Dick, which reflects the New Testament. The theme of different points of view pervades the entire novel, showing the different perspectives are not necessarily wrong – they are just different. For example, a gold coin is viewed by three different men from three completely different perspectives.(Melville 427-432). In the novel, Melville presents the concept of whaling itself as one that can be viewed from different perspectives. For those who are interested in highlighting the white man’s tyranny as manifested in his assumed superiority over the colored races, the discover of the superior colored races in Moby Dick is a revelation, the grandeur and scale of the chase and the excitement generated will all contribute to the impression of grand victory. However for those animal rights activists who abhor the killing of animals, the chase after the whale and the terrible scenes portrayed by Melville at the slaughter houses will only serve to highlight the horrors of whaling and the cruelty and death that are the result. The New Testament scene where Jesus over throws the tables of the merchants at the temple is an example, where the thrill and greed of merchandising has become so overpowering that man has failed to see the horror inherent in it alla and the cruelty that he displays towards animals and slaves in the inhumane killing of sacrificial lambs and bulls and the sale of slaves in the temple marketplace. Thus, the book Moby Dick is all a matter of perspective. But this is geared towards the achievement of a deeper purpose. In accentuating this message numerous time in numerous ways throughout the novel, Melville has demonstrated the value of being able to view things from another person’s perspective. In the New Testament, Jesus viewed the sins of the sinner from the humble perspective of the sinner himself to see the repentance in his heart which therefore led to forgiveness, rather than from the perspective of the infallible God which is portrayed in the Old Testament, resulting in less tolerance for the sins of man. The message of love and tolerance of the New Testament is nowhere more clearly revealed in Melville’s book than in the friendship that springs up between Ishmael and Quequeg and it demonstrates how a white American man comes to understand and love a man from a different culture and to respect his customs and find the humanity in the person whom others thought of as a savage. In the novel, Ishmael articulates many times, his impressions of Queequeg and the manners possessed by the savage as opposed to himself, the white man who was supposed to be civilized; “Thinks I, Queequeg, under the circumstances, this is a very civilized overture; but, the truth is, these savages have an innate sense of delicacy, say what you will; it is marvellous how essentially polite they are. I pay this particular compliment to Queequeg, because he treated me with so much civility and consideration, while I was guilty of great rudeness; staring at him from the bed, and watching all his toilette motions; for the time my curiosity getting the better of my breeding.” (Melville 27). In this friendship lies Melville’s underlying hope that although the various peoples of the world have different customs and cultures and experience different points of view, nevertheless the common thread of humanity binds us all and in time, we can indeed come to love and understand one another. This is also the message in the New Testament which Jesus demonstrated through his unconditional acceptance of non Jews into his band of followers. Thus, these two novels represent the conflicting views of God and humanity as portrayed in the Old and New Testaments – God as a harsh and angry God, versus God as a loving and merciful father who wants us all to love one another. Works cited: * Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1850. “The Scarlet Letter” In “Norton’s Anthology of American Literature, 6th Edition. New York: W.W Norton Co. * Melvile, Herman.1819-1891, 1952. “Moby Dick to The Whale.” New York: Hendricks House. [online] Available at: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/modeng/modeng0.browse.html Read More