ipl-logo

Dimmesdale's Guilt Quotes

1637 Words7 Pages

Name: Madison Lowe Teacher: Battle Course/Period: AP English Language and Composition/Period 5 or 7 Date: 06/03/24 The damage Guilt has on a person Ever felt like you're dragging around an invisible weight that just won’t let you be? That's guilt, the ultimate party crasher in the brain. People hold on to guilt because they feel as if they want to protect someone or a relationship that they hold onto; it becomes a burden and what a person decides to keep to themselves does negatively affect them. It turns out it can affect more than just mental health negatively, it can also affect physical health. This happens to people all the time, all around the world. A fine example of this is in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, where Dimmesdale’s …show more content…

This quote highlights Dimmesdale’s internal struggle and the mental anguish caused by his secret sin. Additionally, Fadiman and Major suggest that Hawthrones’s portrayal of Dimmesdale’s guilt results in a deep understanding of human psychology, stating, "We read it as the work of a moral psychologist who knows as much about our own hidden guilts" (Fadiman and Major 4). Dimmesdale’s life was extremely complicated and his health was in terrible condition towards the end of the book. But, he truly did love Hester and Pearl, but was dealing with so much that he didn’t know what to do with himself. Through Dimmesdale’s character, Hawthorne explores the harmful effects of built-up guilt on mental and physical health, serving as an example for readers. Dimmesdale’s story helps us understand how hiding guilt can hurt the mind and body. Hawthorne wants his readers to see that keeping secrets can be harmful. Dimmesdale’s experiences warn people about the dangers of ignoring their conscience and the damage it can do to their mental and physical health. In conclusion, guilt is something that can eat a person away and cause them many mental and physical …show more content…

- "The 'Bath'" "Silence and Secrecy: Psychosomatics and Discourse in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter." Psyart, 2012, pp. 113-117. 1. What is the difference between a. and a. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/silence-secrecy-psychosomatics-discourse/docview/1403731182/se-2. Fadiman, C., & Major, J. S. (1997). 70. What is the difference between a '' and a ''? Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter, Selected Tales. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/books/70-nathaniel-hawthorne-scarlet-letter-selected/docview/2267046410/se-2. Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864. The Scarlet Letter. New York, N.Y., U.S.A. :Signet Classics, 1988. Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" SIRS Renaissance, 2003. -. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/other-sources/nathaniel-hawthornes-scarlet-letter/docview/2249948283/se-2. Ruetenik, T.J. “Another View of Arthur Dimmesdale: Scapegoating and Revelation in ‘The Scarlet Letter.’” Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture, vol. 19, 2012, pp. 113-122. 69–86. The. JSTOR,

Show More
Related
140 Words | 1 Pages

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, one of the protagonists of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, stands as a highly conflicted character. The source of his divide stems from the consequences of private sins, and is prevalent within the first paragraphs of Chapter 12, “The Minister’s Vigil,” where the narration chronicles Dimmesdale’s surroundings as he dream walks through the town in a state of limbo. He is portrayed as a model citizen who lacks moral imperfections to the general public yet suffers privately from the juxtaposition of his sins to his position within the community. In this specific passage, Hawthorne uses somber diction and imagery to illustrate Dimmesdale’s strife, while portraying his internal conflict through the formation

Read More
1000 Words | 4 Pages

In the book The scarlet letter , Nathaniel Hawthorne questions the reader by questioning whether it is okay to punish sinners since we all have committed sins. Scarlet letter takes place in massachustes in new england in the time of colonization of the new world.at the time massachustes is very religious and the church has alot of power over the people, they control almost evry aspect of their life and punish thoose who commit sins. Dimmesdale is the head of the church in salem massachusetts and he is defined by how people admired him and how people liked him, this traits affect the theme and other characters in the story because it makes dimmesdale look pure and sin free making people make wrong assumption and decisions when it come to dimmesdale. At the beginning of the book Dimmesdale is liked by his community and is well respected.

Read More
132 Words | 1 Pages

According to Hawthorne, the consequence of sin is mental deterioration as represented by Reverend Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale is a priest that has committed a vile crime, although only a scanty amount of people know about it. Dimmesdale has not publically announced his sin, which in turn worsens his mental health due to guilt. Dimmesdale stood in front of the town when his past lover, Hester, was being publically humiliated and never uttered a word, only placed “his hand upon his heart” (59). The consequence of not admitting his immoral sin was ultimate guilt.

Read More
551 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1158 Words | 5 Pages

Dimmesdale’s guilt, which stems from his dread of not living

Read More
836 Words | 4 Pages

Humans have a tendency to conform and often neglect the potential consequences of doing so. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author introduces those consequences through a respected clergyman and sinner named Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale struggles with his guilty conscience and cowardice to confess his sin which prompts him to abide by societal rules but question himself in private. Dimmesdale’s conflict between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the novel’s message that everybody must confront their sins or they will fall victim to some form of retribution.

Read More
582 Words | 3 Pages

When we keep secrets we also keep guilt and guilt will destroy us from the inside. In the book of scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and how one woman who committed adultery with a character named dimmesdale who is the town revered. Dimmesdale kept secrets to maintaining his reputation but actions the guilt eats him from the inside. Dimmesdale the town revered for the puritan religion. He commits adultery with Hester and has a child, but instead of facing his sin he keeps inside for no one to know.

Read More
978 Words | 4 Pages

The narrator states, "Arthur Dimmesdale gazed into Hester's face with a look in which hope and joy shone out, indeed, but with fear betwixt them, and a kind of horror at her boldness, who had spoken what he vaguely hinted at, but dared not to speak" (Hawthorne 138). Nevertheless, his moral development continuously stays at Stage 1 "Obedience and Punishment Orientation" because yet again his actions are selfish. He is more considerate about his

Read More
655 Words | 3 Pages

The Scarlet Letter’s Development The Scarlet Letter is written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and has many different central ideas. Some of those central ideas are hypocrisy, sin, revenge, guilt, and conformity. Dimmesdale, the town being full of hypocritical individuals, and Dimmesdale committing adultery to reveal how Dimmesdale has to conform to how the town sees him, while the guilt is ruining his health. Hawthorne conveys the central idea that sin creates guilt, which creates secrets and conformity by Dimmesdale being a minister who has committed adultery and will not confess that he did.

Read More
223 Words | 1 Pages

In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays two Puritans that have opposing experiences in the theocracy. The people of New Jerusalem claim Arthur Dimmesdale to be a gift from God. In contrast to Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne becomes undesired in the eyes of The City Upon a Hill. Due to their diverse exposures in the rigid Puritan society, Dimmesdale and Hester do not belong together. To begin, the people of the Massachusetts Bay Colony embrace Reverend Dimmesdale as one of their own.

Read More
1023 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More
1137 Words | 5 Pages

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the use of secrecy and lies create

Read More
403 Words | 2 Pages

Secrecy, in its pure nature, disorients society from what one wishes to expose; it becomes a prerequisite to many for it is portrayed as the only course of action to mask one’s true self, imperfections, and mistakes, without consequences. Society attempts to disguise or delude sins due to shame or fear of dilapidating a reputation and, often, hiding behind white-lies reveals a person’s forthright values and conscientious intentions. Consequently, Nathaniel Hawthorne intensifies the need for secrecy through the character of Arthur Dimmesdale - whom questionably attempts to avoid facing his own sin - by beautifully practicing motif throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter. Dimmesdale’s mistakes are clearly affirmed to the reader when he commits adultery and keeps his secret to himself. The character does so to preserve his reputation of town-minister with the reasoning that the townspeople would essentially depart from God if he were to “expose himself.”

Read More
2204 Words | 9 Pages

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism and characterization to highlight

Read More
628 Words | 3 Pages

In no better community has there been a perfect display of the effects of guilt, the effects of sin, and sin, punishment, and redemption than in that of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in The Scarlet Letter. Accordingly, these are the themes presented by Nathaniel Hawthorne that are intertwined with the lives of the characters throughout the novel. When considering these presented themes, moral terms, and the circumstances presented, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is the guiltiest character of them all. Hawthorne best exemplifies this through his various use of various rhetorical devices such as allusions, imagery, irony, and juxtaposition of ideas.

Read More

More about Dimmesdale's Guilt Quotes

Open Document