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Destruction Due To Personal Guilt In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Destruction due to Personal Guilt Adultery negatively impacts the lives of all individuals involved. Hester and Dimmesdale were each equally responsible for their shameful sin of adultery. “The Scarlet Letter” reflects what can result from this sin with the individuals’ two separate scenarios. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses how Hester and Dimmesdale deal with their sin to prove that private guilt is more damaging than public shame. The public shame brought unto Hester by the townspeople was used by Hawthorne to acclimate the reader for the horrors to come. In the town square, Hester “sustained herself as best as a woman might, under the heavyweight of a thousand unrelenting eyes” (Hawthorne 54). To be able to stand this public scrutiny, Hester …show more content…

For Hester, the letter later “meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (Hawthorne 146). To be compared to a biblical reference, especially a positive one, is a huge compliment for Hester in the Puritan time period. This view on Hester is a complete 180 degree spin from what the town previously thought of her. Sadly, Dimmesdale’s character also had to change. After giving his final sermon, “with a convulsive motion, [Dimmesdale] tore away the ministerial band from before his breast” (Hawthorne 228). No person, especially Dimmesdale, would act in this manner. All of Dimmesdale appears to fall from his high public stature meanwhile Hester rises from the depths of public scrutiny to be praised. As Hester and Dimmesdale changed throughout the story, their deaths each memorialized the legacy they had ended with. Dimmesdale ended his life with an odd spectacle as he died with great pain, withering away until his last breath. This showed Dimmesdale’s personal sunken state has he had fallen to his lowest. This is much different than Hester who continued charity work until she died from natural causes. Meanwhile, Dimmesdale had a drama-filled death, Hester died happily knowing that she was no longer looked down upon by

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He feels he shouldn't be a minister or have people look up to him. On the last day of his life he sees Hester in the woods, they talk and make a plan to runaway together. Leaving, Hester, Dimmesdale feels a million times better. The excitement of Mr. Dimmesdale’s feelings as he returned from his interview with Hester lent him unaccustomed physical energy, (Hawthorne 204). That night he writes his speech to step down as a minister.

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1158 Words | 5 Pages

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale commits a mortal sin by having an affair with a married woman, Hester Prynne. As a man of the cloth in Puritan society, Dimmesdale is expected to be the embodiment of the town’s values. He becomes captive to a self-imposed guilt that manifests from affair and his fear that he won’t meet the town’s high expectations of him. In an attempt to mitigate this guilt, Dimmesdale acts “piously” and accepts Chillingworth’s torture, causing him to suffer privately, unlike Hester who repented in the eyes of the townspeople. When Dimmesdale finally reveals his sin to the townspeople, he is able to free himself from his guilt.

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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

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1227 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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1464 Words | 6 Pages

Arezu Lotfi Mr. Burd, Block A American Lit 11 November, 2015 Fight or Flight With the inner struggle of guilt, a person can either be redeemed or destroyed. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester Prynne is ridiculed publicly by the Puritan community for adultery. Mr. Dimmesdale, the man Hester cheats with is a young minister in the town, and hides his sin from the community. Together the two have a daughter named Pearl, that Hester raises.

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933 Words | 4 Pages

Dimmesdale remembered all th pain and embarrassment Hester had felt on the scaffold where she was punished for the sin she had committed. He goes to the scaffold and lets the guilt build up. “And thus, while standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his breast, right over his heart. ” Not just the guilt of himself and what he had done, but of what Hester had gone through and kept his secret all along.

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523 Words | 3 Pages

Many characters from The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, changed throughout the progression of the novel, — including Chillingworth, Hester, and even Pearl herself. No character, however, has changed as much as Dimmesdale has. Towards the beginning of the novel, Dimmesdale tries to ignore his sinful actions. Near the middle of the book, the clergyman, with the ‘help’ of Chillingworth, is able to realize his wrongdoings, and starts obsessively thinking of those wrongdoings. Around the end of the novel, with the help of the forest’s freedom, is able to finally repent correctly for his sin.

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We are introduced to Hester by hearing the description of fervor, “A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments, and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and other bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes” (Hawthorne 45). The idea that a character is introduced with such distinction shows the ostracization the character will deal with. The importance of this quote is not only exhibited by its words but also it’s place in the novel, by being the introduction to Hester and the first words of the novel, immense value and deeper meaning is added than it would have if the quote had been later on. Hester is talked among the townspeople as a “... woman [who] has brought shame upon us all, and [she] ought to die.” This is the pinnacle of shame she experiences and as the novel progressed so did the towns folks’ opinions.

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1318 Words | 6 Pages

Yet when walking through the town’s streets, Hester never raised her head to receive the people’s greetings. If they approached her, she would only lay her finger on the scarlet letter and pass on silently. While this may have been pride, the public saw it as humility (3). Thus, they were inclined to perceive their former victim more kindly than she wished for, or perhaps, than she deserved. The rulers and the wise and learned men of the community took longer to acknowledge Hester’s good qualities.

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1213 Words | 5 Pages

He shows how Hester highly values ideals such as independence, honor, love, and freedom. As a result of showing the morals of Hester, Hawthorne is able to show the true meanings of his work. He demonstrates how although Hester is known in the city as a sinner, the city is full of sinners and Hester, in reality, is representing an angel who stands up for what she believes in. Through the process of showing Hester’s Sacrifices affect what her true values are, Hawthorne is able to show the larger picture and the true meaning of the themes of the

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830 Words | 4 Pages

Although it is not stated in the text, Dimmesdale, similar to which is further elaborated on by Mary Diorio. She discusses the issues that Dimmesdale faces, such as how being a preacher and a man of God is pulling him down. Diorio demonstrates the challenge Dimmesdale must face, ultimately deciding that “His fear of losing his good reputation is greater than his love for Hester. (Diorio

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878 Words | 4 Pages

The book “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a complex novel that has underlying themes of sin and the responsibility for sin. The novel takes place in a Puritanical society, but two people, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, fornicate with each other, even though Hester is married to someone else. Only Hester is punished, so Dimmesdale keeps his guilt inside, not revealing it to anyone. Hester’s husband, Chillingworth, then proceeds to ruin Hester’s partner in crime, corrupting his soul and being the ultimate cause for his death. Hester, on the other hand, leads a relatively happy life after she had repented for her sin.

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905 Words | 4 Pages

In the corner of Northeast Indiana, just five miles from the border of Ohio, and five miles from the border of Michigan, there is a small lake. This is a place where everybody knows everybody. A 20-year-old would hang out and watch the Notre Dame game with a 70-year-old. This is a place where your neighbors have been your neighbors for longer than you even remember. This is a place where everyone goes to Pizza King, for ice cream five minutes before closing.

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754 Words | 4 Pages

However, at Dimmesdale’s deathbed, when he finally confesses, he realizes that his “death [is] of triumphant ignominy before the people! Had either of these agonies been wanting, I had been lost for ever!” (Hawthorne 383). Dimmesdale finally feels the freedom when he steps down to Hester’s level and onto the scaffold. By lowering his belief if his status, Dimmesdale is able to

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936 Words | 4 Pages

In the “Scarlet Letter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays hypocrisy of the Puritan society, where the protagonist Hester Prynne face many consequences of her actions and the how she tries to redeem herself to the society. During the seventeenth puritans believe that it is their mission to punish the ones who do not follow God’s word and it is their job to stop those from sinning. Therefore, the hypercritical puritan society punishes Hester harshly for committing adultery, but in Hester’s mind, she believes that what she did was not a sin but acts of love for her man. Eventually, she redeems herself by turning her crime into an advantage to help those in need, yet the Puritan society still view her as a “naughty bagger.” (Hawthorne 78)

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