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Dimmesdale In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

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Dimmesdale and Hester have both committed the same sin, yet they find different ways to cope with it that match their individual and beliefs. Hester is publically shamed and is forced to wear a scarlet “A” as punishment. Dimmesdale remains with the burden of his sin and is tormented by the guilt. His livelihood is being a preacher and he spends his whole life preaching the truth. He is well loved by the people, which causes inner conflict regarding how he is internally and how he pretends to be in public. He wishes to have an outward sign such as, Hester’s scarlet “A” so that he would no longer be able to deceive people. While “his sin burns in secret”, “she wear[s] the scarlet letter openly upon [her] bosom” (159). He believes that because …show more content…

As a result of committing his sin, he can to better relate with those in his community who are searching for forgiveness. His words are extremely moving and “souls, it is said, more than one, were brought to the truth by the efficacy of [his] sermon[s]” (130). Helping others should give him some relief because he is doing good for society. During their meeting in the wood, Hester asks “and surely thou workest good among them! Doth this bring thee no comfort?” (158), and he replies “More Misery, Hester! Only more misery” (158). In reality, he feels worse about “saving” others because he is really just corrupting the “redemption of [their] souls” by virtue of his own “ruined soul” (158). This quote is important because one argument for not confessing is that you can still help people; however, if your soul is corrupt, how can you save others? In the end, Dimmesdale’s body cannot stand the guilt any longer, and he decides he must confess before he passes away. He rises in front of the whole town on the scaffold and shows his own “scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart” (123). He stands among Hester and Pearl with “a sweet and gentle smile over his face, as of a spirit sinking into deep repose; nay, now that the burden was removed” (209). Finally, he sees that his own internal peace means more than public opinion. He is then filled with overwhelming joy. The burden is finally

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Moreover, In chapter 14 Foster talked about the importance of Christ figure. Hester can be seen as Christ figure in the Scarlet Letter. In order to become Christ figure, a character needs to have a certain characteristic such as “self-sacrificing, very forgiving, good with children, and in agony” ( Foster 125

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Dimmesdale suffers differently from Hester, because while she “bore it all” to the townspeople (181), his fears forced him to hide his sin, living a life full of “nothing but despair” (177). Hester, though made a social pariah of the town, has a more honest and healthy way of dealing with her sin. Because Hester is forced to face her wrongdoings under the watchful eye of her Puritan neighbors, she did not have the same guilt of secrecy that Dimmesdale did. Dimmesdale, by hiding his sin, allows himself to become a captive to his guilt. The way that Dimmesdale dealt with his guilt was unhealthy for him, both mentally and physically.

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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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Dimmesdale is the biggest jerk of The Scarlet Letter. From the beginning of the book, Dimmesdale is a hypocrite. Although it is implied that he preaches against premarital sex as a Puritan pastor, Dimmesdale commits adultery with Hester. After getting Hester pregnant, he avoids visiting Hester and his daughter for seven years.

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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).

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When Hester originally withhold his name from public and this public shame, Dimmesdale goes and says that it is better for shame out in public then secretly in the hearts of the sinner. On the balcony, Dimmesdale says: 000000000000 “Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him—yea, compel him, as it were—to add hypocrisy to sin? Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, that thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over the evil within thee and the sorrow without. Take heed how thou deniest to him—who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself—the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips!”

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523 Words | 3 Pages

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).

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Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister, a clergyman had committed the horrid sin of adultery, the same sin as Hester. Dimmesdale’s holy affiliation gave him a kind and pure disposition and this was solidified by his dimwittedness, making him seem almost childlike. By having a character with these qualities, Hawthorne contradicts the stereotype he has set up by having Dimmesdale be “unworth... [y] to [complete his] humblest mission” (71), a quality virtually unheard of among ministers. The author then has Dimmesdale confess his “sin so awfully revealed!”(211) in order for both Hester and Dimmesdale to redeem themselves of sin and restore the goodness.

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830 Words | 4 Pages

The result of pride leading to the downfall of a well-respected man is also present in the character of Arthur Dimmesdale. Unlike John Proctor, Dimmesdale wants to confess to his sins. Unfortunately, due to his high ranking position, he cannot bring himself to blacken his own name, slowly torturing himself with the unknowing help of Roger Chillingworth. In the Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers, further elaboration on Dimmesdale's pride is discussed, stating that: “[...] the tormented preacher cannot make himself admit his affair with Hester publicly” (Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers 271).

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354 Words | 2 Pages

Hester makes most of the sin. Hester and Dimmesdale can be compared and contrasted in the way they handled their scarlet letters. While Hester is stubborn, Dimmesdale is extremely cautious. Hester and Dimmesdale both committed a sin and were affected by that sin greatly. Additionally, keeping a secret from others can be a sneaky task and may turn out bad for an individual.

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878 Words | 4 Pages

Hester and Dimmesdale each are equivalent in the sin that they commit, but their lives and fates are different because Hester had to repent for her crimes while Dimmesdale bottled up his guilt inside. The indirect result of Dimmesdale’s concealment of the truth was Chillingworth’s torture, which played a large role in Dimmesdale’s untimely death. Chillingworth snapped when Hester did not reveal Dimmesdale’s crimes. Hester, in part, helped Dimmesdale in

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940 Words | 4 Pages

It reveals how the character Dimmesdale evolves as time progresses, in the beginning he asks Hester to stand with him so he can confess his sins but only for a minute because he doesn't want to admit the sin. This adds to the guilt that increases with time but also foreshadows his final coming out with the truth and death caused by this action. Hester's past will always be apart of her although others have forgotten about the sin that tore her life apart. The scarlet letter becomes apart of her and also turns into a symbol of redemption and how she overcame the difficulties in her life. Although she was emotionally tormented as a young woman she was able to overcome and become a light to others.

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696 Words | 3 Pages

First, she tells him that he has aided the others in spirituality. Hester specifically said, “The people reverence thee, and surely thou workest good among them! Doth this bring thee no comfort?" (Hawthorne 172) She is trying to say that the people look up to him and that this should ease his mind.

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The townspeople “[began] to look upon the scarlet letter as a token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since.” This quote exemplifies how sin is not a death sentence for Hester. Through hard work and charity it allowed the rigid Puritan society to see her as something different, and as someone who would not let society define who she was. Hester, thus, was not only able to change herself, but also the image in which society viewed her by working hard to benefit the public. Likewise, the scarlet letter which was supposed to represent sin was instead “fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom.”

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When you hear the word family, what is the first thought that comes in mind? The definition for family according to the dictionary is: All the descendants of a common ancestor; genealogy, lineage, bloodline, etc... The first thought for me are the people that live with me, along with the people that I grew up with, that is family to me . Family is a word used to identify those who are related to you through blood, right? okay.

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