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Critical analysis of the Scarlet letter
Theme of adultery in the scarlet letter
Theme of adultery in the scarlet letter
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Mentally, his guilt strains his mind, which causes his physical deterioration, and the weakening of his body. As Dimmesdale finally admits his sin to the townspeople, his guilt is lifted, and he is able to release himself from his captivity. Though he deteriorated both mind and body from his guilt, by telling the townspeople of his sin, it was as if “a spell was broken” (238). He no longer needed to force himself to hide his sin, which was what was hurting him. By finally dealing with his sin in a similar way to Hester, Dimmesdale was able to free himself of his self-imposed captivity and
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’s True Colors Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, also the father of Hester’s child, showed prominent parts of his character throughout the story. The first trait the reader becomes aware of is Dimmesdale’s cowardice. He has no intentions of revealing his sin to the public, due to how highly he is seen in the community’s eyes. Remorse, or guilt, is another term that can be associated with Dimmesdale, growing increasingly more prominent as the novel goes on. Cowardice, a lacking of bravery when facing danger, was a trait that Dimmesdale carried.
A man named Chillingworth, who claimed to be a doctor, made Dimmesdale feel worse about his secret, Dimmesdale let him get in his head. Reverend Dimmesdale was very weak for being a priest and putting no faith into his God. Reverend Dimmesdale is afraid of his town and his people finding out about his sin. As a priest he wants to seem holy and sinless like the people think him to be, so he hides the fact he and Hester committed adultery. When Hester is on the scaffold, Dimmesdale is asked to try and get Hester to confess who the father is, “If thou feelest it to be for thy soul’s peace, and that thy earthly punishment will be made more
In order to reveal Dimmesdale's sorrowful nature. Hawthorne describes the different actions the poor minister takes in order to attempt to atone for his sins such as “[fasting]” and his use of a “bloody scourge” he genuinely believed that this would help to purify himself of his sins and to relieve the burden that he was forced to bear upon his shoulders, however his attempts to atone ultimately lead to even more torment. Hawthorne discloses this by describing Dimmesdale’s visions of the “herd of diabolic shapes, that grinned and mocked at the pale minister” this further reveals the utter anguish that he is going through another example of this is the vision of his mother “turning her face away as she passed by” the emotional
Erin Joel Mrs. Janosy English 2H P 5 22 October 2015 Quote Explication Dimmesdale is trying to overcome a conflict within his own soul, defying his own religion, and choosing to do wrong by keeping his sin to himself. In a theocracy type community like Dimmesdale's, God is known as the supreme civil ruler, and a crime would be known as a sin. On the other hand, Hester’s sin was made known to the public, receiving the public shame and ridicule she deserved. During the duration of time when the public knew Dimmesdale was hiding his sin, “the agony with which this public tortured him” (Hawthorne 119).
Dimmesdale starts living with Chillingworth so the doctor can keep the feeble minister ‘healthy’; the doctor, reversely, tries to make Dimmesdale feel conflicted about his morals which leads to Dimmesdale obsessively whipping himself “...on his own shoulders” and“... fast[ing]...in order to purify [his] body… rigorously...until his knees trembled beneath him[self]...” (132). He is enveloped in his sin, and cannot escape it unless he tells the truth. In fact, Dimmesdale could not stop thinking about his sin which “...continued to give Mr. Dimmesdale a real existence [which] was the anguish in his inmost soul” (133).
Originally, the minister Dimmesdale had been a stable, respectable man of God; but as the story progresses, he is reduced to a life of pain and penance, walking around the world with “a hand over his heart”. The weight of DImmesdale’s sin has taken it’s toll upon his soul, and his guilt is consuming him. As of the? point in the story where Chillingworth opens up and discovers what is beyond Dimmesdale’s robes , we know what lies under Dimmesdale’s hand, on his chest we see a constant reminder of his greatest sin. Along with discovering what, assumed as self-punishment, is on Dimmesdale’s chest the readers also learn that Dimmesdale truly does feel bad for his sins and wants to repent. The protagonists are not the only people that change within
He then resorts to self inflicted pain and self punishment as a way to serve his sentence. All of Dimmesdale’s feelings are due to his own cowardice and inability to take blame. Unable to tell the truth,
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.
Dimmesdale’s health begins to fail, Mr. Chillingworth becomes a live-in doctor to provide around the clock care. Upon further conversations with Mr. Dimmesdale, Mr. Chillingworth begins to suspect the ministers illness is the result of psychological stress, some unconfessed guilt. Roger Chillingworth then begins to test his suspicions of what the root of the stress is. With ever-failing health and unable to live with the guilt, Reverend Dimmesdale climbs the scaffold one evening and confesses his sin to Hester and Pearl who happened to be in the town square at night, but he is unable to publicly confess. Realizing the torment her husband was placing on Mr. Dimmesdale, Hester seeks out Mr. Chillingworth and requests that he stop his obsession of revenge.
Because of the effects that Dimmesdale’s sin has on Chillingworth, the town suffers as well. The betrayal of their pastor leads them to refuse to see the truth when he pleads for the public to see his guilt at the end of the novel, and his secrecy from the people that adore him is one of the slyest and vile parts of his sin. The blind faith that the public has in their reverend is mislead by his deceit, which causes his sin to grow to a scale that Hester’s never did. Dimmesdale also harmed Pearl, by not standing with her and Hester on the day they were condemned. When she is grown, she asks, “Doth
He was the last person that people would think as a sinner. Dimmesdale was sin when he was committed adultery with Hester. He broke the law of church, but he was afraid to face the punishment and indifferent attitude from he masses. As a faithful follower, Dimmesdale also afraid the punishment of God, so he flog himself with a whip. The physical and spiral torture and the control of Chillingworth stranded him in a world that he cannot contact with others.
In reality, he is the reason for Dimmesdale’s suffering. Chillingworth’s sin causes him to be so obstinate that he One may ask why Hester, Dimmesdale, or society are not worse sinners. When looking at each party’s sin it is easy to see who is the most corrupt. While Hester is unfaithful and Dimmesdale is culpable of living a lie, they both are able to accept their wrongdoing. The society is not guilty for their actions and beliefs as they are a product of their time.
Freedom. The importance of freedom is often forgotten as Americans live day by day taking this gift for granted. In this day and age, freedom seems as a “simple gift’ obtained by every American, but one forgets to think about those who were once unable to enjoy the freedoms one is promised daily. Back in the day, freedom seemed as nothing more than a dream to those of color. Everyday of a colored person’s life consisted of harassment and discrimination as no one cared to treat them as equals.
