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Dimmesdale As A Symbol In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

920 Words4 Pages

The scarlet letter begins its role as a symbol in the novel by bearing a penal meaning, as a punishment for an adulterer. The scarlet letter initially manifested itself as the embodiment of sin. If the sacred command, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” did not exist the rest of Hester’s existence would completely change and the sin would disappear. But alas, for Hester the strict puritan community forces her to wear the scarlet letter. Consequently, she must bear with her the association between the ornate fabric has:
“The magistrates are God-fearing gentlemen, but merciful overmuch,—that is a truth," added a third autumnal matron. "At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne 's forehead. Madame Hester would …show more content…

Pearl and Dimmesdale both look upon the scarlet letter through the lense of their own experiences with Hester. Dimmesdale sees the scarlet letter as a symbol of his own guilt. Dimmesdale, unlike Hester never confessed his sin to the entire community, unlike Hester. The birth of Pearl allows Hester to embrace the sin, instead of hiding the sin itself and living in constant fear that thin facade of purity and chastity is torn down. Dimmesdale is haunted by the scarlet letter, perhaps he even feels at times jealous of the symbol. Dimmesdale wants to overcome the adultery and embrace his child, must like what Hester did but does not want to embrace the shame of unmasking himself. Pearl inquires why Dimmesdale cannot be with them in …show more content…

“Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?”
“Not now, dear child,” answered Hester. “But in days to come he will walk hand in hand with us. We will have a home and fireside of our own; and thou shalt sit upon his knee; and he will teach thee many things, and love thee dearly. Thou wilt love him; wilt thou not?”
“And will he always keep his hand over his heart?”
Dimmesdale 's shame seems to cause him pain in the same location where the beautiful letter resides on Hester’s body. The shame becomes so overwhelming for Dimmesdale that he cannot dear the sight of Hester or the Scarlet letter, a symbol that he played an active role in reacting. To Dimmesdale, the letter is not only a symbol of the sin committed by Hester but also evolves as a symbol for his guilt and the sin the two committed together so many years

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Throughout the beginning of The Scarlet Letter the marking on Arthur Dimmesdale’s chest is not directly mentioned, and it would appear that Dimmesdale has no correlation with the main character Hester Prynne at all. The only indication that the reader is given is Hester’s child Pearl reaching up at Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 40), but this is well before the marking is ever mentioned. Dimmesdale just seems to be a regular priest, or clergyman as they were called, who is trying to figure out with whom Hester had committed adultery. This can be seen as how guilt will conceal itself and hide away before it begins gnawing at a person’s insides. The guilt will slowly

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Consequently, Arthur Dimmesdale is the cause of Hester Prynne's shame for he is the man whom Hester loves. No one knows he is the father of Pearl, Hester won't say and he isn't strong enough to speak up. He struggles with this knowledge that Hester is being punished and not him. The only truth that continued to give Mr. Dimmesdale a real existence on this earth was the anguish in his inmost soul, and the undissembled expression of it in his aspect, (Hawthorne 142). Being a minister of God the citizens look up to him, and he feels guilty about his hidden sin.

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Several days later, Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest, where she removes the scarlet letter from her dress and identifies her husband and his desire for revenge. In this conversation, she convinces Dimmesdale to leave Boston in secret on a ship to Europe where they can start life anew. Renewed by this plan, the minister seems to gain new energy. Pearl, however, refuses to acknowledge either of them until Hester replaces her symbol of shame on her

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Hester and Dimmesdale have both committed adultery, but Hester accepts and embraces what has happened. Alternatively, for Dimmesdale, enduring seven long years of guilt and sin are required to get him to finally reveal the truth. Taking so many years to do so shows how

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In addition, Dimmesdale fells guilt even though he still does not confess. Narrator says, “The scarlet letter burned on Hester Prynne’s bosom. Here was another ruin, the responsibility of which came partly home to her” (narrator 154). This ruins Hester life. People in her town wanted her to leave the town or be punished such as wear a big red A on her bosom for the rest of her life.

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(82) Ever since Hester Prynne received the scarlet letter on her chest as punishment, Dimmesdale developed an impulse to cover up his chest with his hands from the guilt of not sharing the public shame with Hester. He is punishing himself for that and the gesture is a way of reminding himself of his cowardice. Even with ominous signs of impairment and culpability as the consequence of his sin, Dimmesdale still conforms to the rest of the Puritan society and even receives praise for his powerful sermons. However, since he has not confronted his sin, Dimmesdale is slowly dying

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Reverend Dimmsdale’s development through the text of “The Scarlet Letter” was that of positivity and peace. Dimmsdale was the secret father of Pearl and the secret lover of Hester Prynne. He was the reason for Hester’s torment and it showed on him through the book. Dimmsdale’s progression through “The Scarlet Letter” was a positive one because in the beginning he was unempathetic, in the middle of the book he was guilt-ridden and sympathetic, and at the end he was joyful and relieved. At the beginning of the story, Reverend Dimmsdale was introduced as a judge at Hester Prynne’s public shaming.

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“And the infectious poison of that sin had been thus rapidly diffused throughout his moral system” (Hawthorne 174). In The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale serves as the holiest person many people meet in their moral lifetime, and as the purest embodiment of God’s word. However, Dimmesdale has a wounding secret, a cancer, that tears his soul apart throughout his time in America. Dimmesdale falls prey to sin in a moment of passion with Hester, resulting in her condemnation by the townspeople, and the birth of their child, Pearl. For years, Dimmesdale’s life is defined by an internal conflict - his job demands his purity in the eye of the townspeople, but he desires the acceptance of herself that Hester achieves through her sin being made public.

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By Dimmesdale's hand always on his chest, everyone makes the connection that he is the father of Pearl because of the Scarlet Letter on Hester’s

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In the book The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrated Dimmesdale suffering and regret over the years that build him up and lead him to many obstacles and challenges that killed him in the inside. Also, Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the agony of Dimmesdale`s conscience as his guilt that is eating away at him until he confesses. In addition, Dimmesdale’s faces many obstacles and challenges that killed him and eat him from the inside. For example, of a challenge that he faces is not confessing to Hester Prynne up front to the townsfolks that he was Hester partner in the affairs. Another example is that when Hester walk up on stage and confess that she was responsible for the adultery and while she was talking, she has

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516 Words | 3 Pages

Dimmesdale, knowing that he is the father of Pearl, keeps it a secret for a very long time. Dimmesdale had burned an “A” on his chest. In the book he states “At last… I stand upon where, seven years since, I should have stood; here, with this woman, whose arm… sustains me, at this dreadful moment, from grovelling down upon my face! Lo, the scarlet letter which Hester wears! … it hath cast a lurid gleam of awe and horrible repugnance round about her.

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Pearl is the living embodiment of of the scarlet letter. Pearl constantly reminds Hester of her sins, without meaning to. Whenever she asks questions about Dimmesdale or about the scarlet letter, Hester is reminded of the things she did wrong. Pearl is very smart child, and she likes to ask questions and learn about things. If she sees something that confuses her, she will ask her mother about it.

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940 Words | 4 Pages

Hawthorne uses symbolism throughout the Scarlet letter to display the sin and indecency people see Hester as. The detail represents ,the deep beauty Hester has inside although most people do not see her as a beutiful women. The deep red is a representation of adultery which shows her being an oncast from society. The symbol of the letter “A” is repetitive throughout the novel and grows with Hester and overcomes this with time as people start to see her as a person again and not just a adulterer. Hester acknowledges her sin in her puritan faith but swears to secrecy on the father of Pearl.

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2234 Words | 9 Pages

There I laid on the hard and rigid mattress, in a room so cold and damp that you could hear water dripping continuously out of the battered and rusty pipe. As the young guard approached my cell, slightly vigorously threw a ration through my cell hatch. “время есть! (Time to eat!)” lilted the guard. Rations are military made for soldiers on the battlefield and are specially made foods inside the ration pack that can last for days on end.

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In Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen, of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester recognizes her true hatred of Chillingworth just before she finds Pearl, playing at the beach, and creating a green letter A on her own chest out of seaweed. Later, Hester goes to hopefully “run into” Dimmesdale in the forest to reveal to him the truth about Chillingworth’s identity. Pearl comes along, and as they wait, she curiously asks her mother about the Black Man. When Pearl sees Dimmesdale’s figure appear in the distance, she asks whether the approaching person is in fact the Black Man himself, which Hester rejects. Pearl, however, ponders if Dimmesdale clutches his heart, as he does, because the Black Man has left his mark on him, similar to how the

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