Dimmesdale And Hester Prynne In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, describes the experiences of a woman, Hester Prynne, who is publicly shamed for adulterous actions, which resulted in a child. The book shows the progression of her life and her daughter’s in addition to the life of Arthur Dimmesdale, who is the father of Hester’s daughter, but never revealed it publicly in fear of being viewed differently by his peers. Dimmesdale and Hester, connected by the act of adultery, have both experienced stress and unforgiveness, resulting in negative changes to their mental states. Troubled by this stress and unforgiveness, both Dimmesdale and Hester reflect the negative changes through internal struggle, yet in slightly different manners.

Suffering from stress

Dimmesdale is unable to forgive himself because Hester and Pearl stood on the scaffold and suffered ignominy while he concealed his identity as an adulterer and Pearl’s father for several years. He has a nervous temperament to begin with but because of the remorse over his actions, he progressively becomes more paranoid and stressed and has problems with falling asleep at night. Christie Hunter, a registered clinical counselor in British Columbia, wrote that people who suffer from paranoia “...can also suffer from hallucinations during a stressful or negative situation” (The Negative Effects of Unforgiveness on Mental Health). Stressed over his guilt, Dimmesdale couldn’t sleep and kept lengthy vigils, night after night, and would stay awake for extended periods of time. As a result of severe sleep deprivation, he would hallucinate, causing him to see visions and ghosts that grinned and mocked at him. Had he not held unforgiveness for himself, he would not have been stressed to the point of insomnia and taunting hallucinations. Dimmesdale’s guilt also leads him to engage in physically self-harming behaviors. In chapter

Several years after her public shaming, Hester has slightly been integrated back into her Puritan settlement. The people no longer gaze at her scarlet letter and see the sin she committed long ago; they see a symbol of ableness and strength of her character. While the people see her as a benevolent Sister of Mercy, Hester doesn’t quite see it that way. David DiSalvo, writer and public education specialist, stated that traumatic events can cause ”...derailing the brain’s so-called reward system, which normally causes pleasurable feelings whenever we engage in fun activities…People who have suffered major stress…often report that they no longer find pleasure in these things”(How Stress Affects Your Mental Health). Hester has lost her “reward system” in terms of finding joy in people addressing her, so she withdraws herself from them because she is unwilling to forgive her own sin, despite everyone else seeming to forget it. When someone tries to speak with her, she points to her scarlet A as if to say “Don’t you know who I am and what I’ve done?” Even after several years, she does not believe she is worthy enough to be spoken to so casually, as if she’d not committed a horrible sin. In addition to her social removal, Hester also suffers from depression. In Chapter 13 of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne describes the