The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne reveals a lot about the human condition. A theme that is consistently expressed throughout this novel is the drastic effect of committing a sin, or something that is considered immoral in society. Specifically the book focuses on how secrets can weigh on a person’s mental state and lead to a heavy toll on their daily livelihoods. Hester Prynne, and Arthur Dimmesdale both have to pay a hefty price for the toll that keeping secrets has caused and that is what the novel reveals about the human condition. In The Scarlet letter, Hester Prynne is the protagonist and the bearer of the titular scarlet letter, which is a scarlet letter A, which represents her adultery. The secret Hester keeps is one that …show more content…
Dimmesdale is Hester’s partner in sin, and he is the father of Hester’s baby Pearl. He is the minister in their town and therefore knows the consequences of his sin very well. Due to cowardice he is unable to tell the town that he is a sinner and the pressure continues to increase to the point where he is physically ill and mentally unstable. At some point Dimmesdale’s has that “All that guilty sorrow, hidden from the world, whose great heart would have pitied and forgiven, to be revealed to him”. He feels unworthy of being on the receiving end of the Lord’s will. The stress and guilt of keeping a secret and leaving Hester to suffer alone continue to overwhelm him as he falls deeply ill. Keeping this secret also leaves him at the mercy of Roger Chillingworth who is Hester’s husband and a physician. Under the guise of caring for Dimmesdale, Chillingworth torments Dimmesdale and speeds up the deterioration of his mental state. If Dimmesdale had fought past his feelings of cowardice and revealed his hand in Hester’s pregnancy, Chillingworth would not have had a chance to get close to Dimmesdale because Dimmesdale’s mental state wouldn’t be decreasing rapidly. So far, the two main characters of the aScarlet Letter have been shown to suffer consequences for the secrets they kept. This is a major theme in the novel and it also reveals a lot about the human condition. While keeping secrets is not always
In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Hester commits adultery with Dimmesdale and gets pregnant. The worst part about this sin is that this action affects so many people other than Hester. This sin affects two people in particular- Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Her action causes a man of God, Dimmesdale, to become corrupt with many other sins and Chillingworth to become obsessed with revenge. Dimmesdale, a town minister, commits adultery with Hester and is the father of her daughter.
He repeatedly asked her who the father of her newborn child was knowing that it was himself all along. He did not join Hester on the scaffold when he was just as deserving of the punishment. This kind of behavior showed just how harsh his personality was to be able to stand there and watch the public display of his secret lover. The book also described him as “stone faced,” showing no emotion towards Hester as he was constantly harassing her with questions that he already knew the answer to. In this way it is also easy to see just how cowardly the young Dimmsdale was at the beginning of
Another thing we learn about Dimmesdale is that he is quite envious of Hester. Since she gets to wear her scarlet letter in front of everyone and everyone knows of her sins unlike Dimmesdale who is the only one other than God who knows of the
Dimmesdale is described as a persuasive speaker and exhibits his power to do so, as he sways the magistrates and Governor Billingham to change their mind. Dimmesdale is able to do so by in cooperating puritan ideals and prove how Hester’s parenting is sufficient. Dimmesdale uses religion to his advantage, first by stating that God bestowed Pearl to Hester, then explains why Hester chose to tell Pearl- her birth was a religious “Burden”. (Hester told pearl that she has no knowledge of an earthly father and instead a heavenly one – As Pearl is a Living “A” or a scarlet letter). Dimmesdale continues to use this as a reason for the community an example of sins and its affects.
There is a chance that if Dimmesdale confessed his sin when Hester was on the scaffold he might’ve not have suffered so badly. Dimmesdale was also physically tortured by Chillingworth, “... appearance of an immense letter-- the letter A-- marked out in lines of dull red light” (Hawthorne 107). Dimmesdale agrees that he should have confessed sooner because he says, “‘... behold me here, the one sinner of the world! At last!- at last!-- I stand upon the spot where, seven years since, I should have stood; here, with this women…’”(Hawthorne 174). Chillingworth tortured Dimmesdale when he was living with him as his doctor.
During a conversation between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale, Chillingworth attempts to gather more information about Dimmesdale. However, Dimmesdale begins to grow suspicious. He wants to confess but instead, Hawthorne depicts him as “gripping hard at his breast, as if afflicted with an importunate throb of pain” (Hawthorne, 119). The Reverend was filled with so much remorse it began to ache him in the very place Hester wore her Scarlet Letter. His crime has not yet been forgiven because of the damage it is doing to his mind.
In Chapters 7-12 Dimmesdale's character development advances the power of guilt in this section of the text. We see Dimmesdale's guilt surface at the end of chapter 10 when Chillingworth finds some sort of figure on Dimmesdale's chest. Although we don't know what this figure is, the audience can assume that this is an "A" that has been spotted. This "A" helps to elaborate the guilt that Dimmesdale is bearing both internally and externally for his role in the bearing of their child Pearl. Dimmesdale's guilt continues to surface when we see his health continue to decline because of the weight he bears for not releasing his name along with Hester's as an adulterer.
Hawthorne explains, “... Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him, for believe me, Hester though he were to step down from a high place and stand there beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. (Hawthorne 63). This quote shows that Dimmesdale is begging Hester to tell them it was him so that she won't go through suffering alone out of guilt. Hawthorne explains, “All that guilty sorrow, hidden from the world, whose great heart would have pitied and forgiven, to be revealed to him, the pitiless, to him, the Unforgiving. (Hawthorne 127).
Dimmesdale suffers differently from Hester, because while she “bore it all” to the townspeople (181), his fears forced him to hide his sin, living a life full of “nothing but despair” (177). Hester, though made a social pariah of the town, has a more honest and healthy way of dealing with her sin. Because Hester is forced to face her wrongdoings under the watchful eye of her Puritan neighbors, she did not have the same guilt of secrecy that Dimmesdale did. Dimmesdale, by hiding his sin, allows himself to become a captive to his guilt. The way that Dimmesdale dealt with his guilt was unhealthy for him, both mentally and physically.
Chillingworth wants revenge towards Hester´s lover and he won´t rest until he finds him. Roger tells Hester not to tell anyone that he is her husband, he doesn´t want people to know that Hester is his wife because people would think of him as the betrayed husband and he would live in shame. Chillingworth pretends to be a doctor, that way he won´t drag too much attention since the town is small and the people living in it don´t have access to good
Hester and Dimmesdale had planned to escape their sins to Europe, however, after his last sermon, Dimmesdale realized that he yearned for a public confession. Therefore, though he was scarcely strong enough to walk on his own, he summoned Hester and Pearl to the scaffold and proceeded to mount it with them. Proceeding to confess in the presence of the entire town, Dimmesdale tore off his minister’s robe to reveal a concealed scarlet letter of his own. After bidding farewell to Hester and their child, Dimmesdale, relieved once and for all from his guilt, died a peaceful death on the scaffold. Thus, Dimmesdale had finally realized that the guilt of his adultery with Hester was inescapable by ordinary means, and only such a public confession could free his
It further explores the nature of sin, and that regardless of the sin itself, the truth will ultimately be exposed. It becomes clear that Dimmesdale should reveal his sin before it has the power to destroy him. Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, sought to destroy Dimmesdale after discovering his involvement with Hester. He succeeds until Dimmesdale confesses his sins to the town. When Dimmesdale finally confesses, “[o]ld Roger Chillingworth kneeled down next to him, his face blank and dull, as though the life had drained out of it.
Hester and Dimmesdale each are equivalent in the sin that they commit, but their lives and fates are different because Hester had to repent for her crimes while Dimmesdale bottled up his guilt inside. The indirect result of Dimmesdale’s concealment of the truth was Chillingworth’s torture, which played a large role in Dimmesdale’s untimely death. Chillingworth snapped when Hester did not reveal Dimmesdale’s crimes. Hester, in part, helped Dimmesdale in
Symbolism Within The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne created symbolism throughout The Scarlet Letter in order to develop the theme throughout Hester’s life. Hester is portrayed as a sheltered soul, shunned from society due to her adulterous acts. The red A and her daughter, Pearl, are symbols of Hester’s shame which she bares proudly despite society's harsh judgements. Hawthorne is able to use symbolism to develop themes, characters, and analogies in the Scarlet Letter.
The Scarlet Letter is a book about Puritan Society, adultery, and punishment. The attainment of wisdom through suffering is the main theme developed by Nathaniel Hawthorn In his book The Scarlet Letter. However, in The Scarlet Letter, it seems that the attainment of wisdom through suffering only works if one fully accepts the root of their suffering - their sin. The theme is developed using the characters in the book, mostly through Hester Prynne who accepts her sin, but also through the failure of Minister Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth, who do not accept their sin.