Dimmesdale And Chillingworth In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tackles the issue of hiding sins by using Dimmesdale and Chillingworth as pawns to portray his view on sinful secrets. Dimmesdale’s main argument relies on divine powers, while Chillingworth focuses on nature in his argument.
Dimmesdale argues that sometimes people want to confess their sins, but cannot because they fear they won’t be able to redeem themselves, so instead of confessing, they just leave their secrets for the divine powers to reveal. While Dimmesdale and Chillingworth are talking about the man from the grave, Dimmesdale points out the fact that “‘he earnestly desired [to reveal his sin] but could not’“ (123). He is able to state that so easily because the man he is actually

Dimmesdale truthfully wants and feels the need to reveal his sins, however because he is afraid of the backlash, he cannot. Afterwards he goes on to argue how there is “ ‘no power short of the Divine mercy’ “ that could reveal the secrets hidden in someone’s heart (123). Due to Dimmesdale’s profession of ministry he believes that divine powers are the only ones who can reveal secrets. The Divine mercy is this higher power that nothing can compare to, and its power is so immense that it is the only way to get a secret revealed from someone's heart. Dimmesdale also tells Chillingworth that many men may choose not to confess their sins because they don’t want to be “ ‘displaying themselves black and filthy’ “ (124) as in Puritan society, many things were considered sins, and sinning was the worst thing that could possibly be done. Blackness is the absence of light, and

Unlike Dimmesdale’s positive association with secrets, Chillingworth argues that nature encourages men to confess their sins as a means of cleansing their minds. After Chillingworth tells Dimmesdale that the herbs came from the graveyard, he mentions the man who has weeds growing out of his heart, Chillingworth mentions that the weeds are a “ ‘hideous secret that was buried with him’ “ (123). Weeds are dead plants that have roots buried deep into the ground, just like how Dimmesdale wants his secret to die buried. Chillingworth connects the secrets to the heart because sinning blackens the heart. When one sins and attempts to keep it a secret, he believes that nature will try and extract it after death. This connection between nature and death represents the contrast between the beautiful heart and ugly sin. Chillingworth truthfully believes that confession allows the soul to be cleansed as he argues “ ‘the guilty ones [should] sooner avail themselves’ “ (124). Those who have sinned would have a much easier time in life if they had just sooner confessed. In Chillingworth’s mind, if one is guilty of something, the best thing to help one would be to confess the