SAT Essay Help: Sample Essay 4

Prompt:

The worship of artists as heroes is both commonplace and misguided. Why does the creation of a work of art impose on the artist the obligation to lead an exemplary life? The artists have fulfilled their contracts with us by producing work that gives us pleasure or insight or both. Why hold them to an unwritten morals clause?

—Adapted from "Loves of a Poet," by RHONDA KOENIG

Assignment:

Is it valuable to view artists and other public figures as heroes? Organize and compose an essay that establishes your viewpoint on this issue. Substantiate it with examples and evidence derived from what you have read, studied, experienced, or observed.

Essay:

There have been heroes throughout recorded history. From the hero cults of ancient Greece to present day movie stars, people seem to need to look up to, and even to worship, those deemed to be of a higher caliber. However, there is a serious downside to valuing an individual as a hero—both to the person and to the worshippers. Heroes, because they're human and therefore flawed, can never live up to the image. Heroes are doomed to either pretend to be better than they truly are, or show themselves honestly (or be found out) and fall from grace. Those who worship them view life through black and white lenses. To them, everyone is all good or all bad, and this view keeps them from seeing the truth about anything or anyone.

In The Scarlet Letter (1850), Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates the ill effects of hero worship in the character of Arthur Dimmesdale. This minister is respected by his congregation as a pure and saintly man of God. However, Dimmesdale is also the lover of the married Hester Prynne, and therefore guilty of the sin of adultery. He works very hard to keep his relationship to Hester, who is severely punished by her community, a secret. The more Dimmesdale leads a double life, wearing "one face to himself, and another to the multitude," the more he deteriorates physically. Hawthorne describes him as emaciated and sickly, and by the end of the novel, when he finally reveals that he is not the hero they thought he was, the health effects of his double life cause his death.

However, those who worshipped him, even in the end, fail to understand this significant point. The Puritans' strict moral code and intolerance for dissent of any kind make them incapable of seeing the truth. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne describes the way that his followers, by holding him up as a hero, misinterpret Dimmesdale. As he becomes more frail, they believe it is a sign of his sacrifice. As his sermons become more meaningful, they attribute his "gift" to God, when instead his words are inspired by his own inner wrestling with his sinfulness. The most important misinterpretation comes when Dimmesdale is on the scaffold with Hester, and a meteor seems to make the letter "A" in the sky. Dimmesdale sees it as a sign that he should be wearing the letter with Hester, while the community believes it stands for "Angel." In the end, the Puritans, although they have been given ample evidence to the contrary, still find value in the strict moral code that deems people either saints or sinners. They are stuck in their black and white world that cannot see the truth.

Hawthorne showed us, over 150 years ago, that it is not always valuable to hold people up to be heroes and that it can be dangerous both to the worshipped and the worshipper. If we heed his lesson, seeing shades of grey rather than black and white, we can move a step closer to living in truth.

Your Notes and Reactions

Score and Analysis

This essay received a 12. It demonstrates the kind of clear and consistent mastery required to achieve the highest possible score from both readers. Overall, it creates a strong argument that there is a serious downside to valuing an individual as a hero—both to the person and to the worshippers. It explores this point of view through an in-depth discussion of The Scarlet Letter that is developed in great detail.

1. Developed a point of view supported by appropriate examples and evidence? The writer shows outstanding critical thinking by focusing on two aspects of the novel as they relate to the thesis: the effects of hero worship on Dimmesdale and the effects on his community (because he is a minister, those who hold him up to be a hero can literally be called worshippers). Each example is developed with many details. Dimmesdale's double life and its effects on his health are described, and a quote from the novel is included. The thesis is strongly supported by a description of the various ways his worshippers' blindness to the truth cause them to misinterpret both Dimmesdale and the world around them.
2. Wrote with a clear focus, transitioned smoothly from one point to the next? The use of heartbeat words (value/valuable and hero(es)) helps to establish a link to the assignment throughout the essay; they are used ten times in four paragraphs. Note that only one example, The Scarlet Letter, is used; however, the writer is able to argue both points well. The third paragraph provides an interesting transition, concluding a point made in the preceding sentence.
3. Avoided errors in grammar, mechanics, and usage? The essay shows a skillful use of language. The introduction begins with a confident statement, and the conclusion offers a suggestion. It is also free of grammar, mechanics, and usage errors.
4. Varied sentence structure? Simple, complex, long, and short sentences are used in the essay.
5. Showed evidence of a varied and intelligent vocabulary? Words such as caliber, emaciated, and dissent demonstrate a varied and accurate vocabulary.