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Arthur Dimmesdale In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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Does lying to a community make a person feel better as a sinner? Does acting to a community help hide one’s true self? Arthur Dimmesdale, a hypocrite, depends on lying to survive. He loves but cannot show it in public; he is depressed but tries to hide his pain within his sermons. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale is depressed, loving towards Hester and Pearl, and religious within the Puritan society. Trying to live the life of a reverend, Arthur Dimmesdale struggles with amenable desires. He is a religious authority in the Puritan society that he lives in, so he is an eminent figure. Mr. Dimmesdale is so religious that even after he has sinned, he does not know how to go against God’s will again. His weakness of mind makes him say “The judgement of God is on me. It is too mighty for me to struggle with” to Hester and asks her to decide for him what he should do (Hawthorne 187). He does not know whether to run to Europe with Pearl and Hester or stay and live his ignominious life. So he decides to have Hester decide for him. Dimmesdale will follow Hester because he does not have the mind to make his own decision. Furthermore, Dimmesdale, whose “rapture broke into speech,” gives his best sermon he has ever done during the ceremony for the new governor of the town (Hawthorne 235). The copious cheers just come pouring in from the crowds as he gives this heartfelt sermon. His sermon touched so many souls that it left “the market place absolutely babbled, from side to side” and had everyone cheering (Hawthorne 235). The great response that Reverend Dimmesdale got helped him make his decision to commit to the adultery. In …show more content…

He lies and scandals his way through life just trying to survive. Reverend Dimmesdale lives his life trying to right his wrongs, but he only feels more pain and

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According to Hawthorne, the consequence of sin is mental deterioration as represented by Reverend Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale is a priest that has committed a vile crime, although only a scanty amount of people know about it. Dimmesdale has not publically announced his sin, which in turn worsens his mental health due to guilt. Dimmesdale stood in front of the town when his past lover, Hester, was being publically humiliated and never uttered a word, only placed “his hand upon his heart” (59). The consequence of not admitting his immoral sin was ultimate guilt.

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Dimmesdale and Hester suffers because of the sin they did. Dimmesdale feels guilt even though he never confesses that he is the farther. He would go to the scaffold at night and stand there screaming trying to get the people to come outside to see him but it was just all in his head when she would stand on the scaffold during the day with the red A on her chest she felt guilt even though she would not tell anyone who the farther is and for having an affair while her husband was missing for years. For example, Dimmesdale does not want to confess about his sin because he does not want to face the consequences. This is illustrated when Dimmesdale says, “then and there before the judgment-seat, thy mother and thou, and I must stand together” (Dimmesdale 139).

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