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Breaking The Laws Of Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

844 Words4 Pages

One may believe that the laws of society are a necessity in order to live in a tranquil society. Yet, under certain circumstances, people will break these laws, even if they conform to them. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a religious Puritan minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, breaks the strict laws of Puritan society by sleeping with a married woman, Hester Prynne. Committing an adulteress act, or having premarital sex, is breaking the laws of Puritan society because of Puritanism’s emphasis on religion. Furthermore, Dimmesdale’s position as a minister causes him to strongly believe that the laws of Puritan society should be acknowledged and followed. Due to the importance of monogamy in Puritan society, Arthur Dimmesdale’s sinful …show more content…

Firstly, Dimmesdale betrays his religious duties, which he valued immensely. Dimmesdale is fully aware that his secret sin is a split identity from Puritans (182) which causes vast regret. When Dimmesdale feels very sickly, Pearl states “Come away, Mother! Come away, or yonder old black man will catch you!” (126), telling Hester that Satan has got Dimmesdale, and will get them too. This causes grief within Dimmesdale, where he admits “Whether capable of good, I know not” (126), showing how he isn’t pure anymore, and will never be capable of good deeds because of it. Since he is a very traditionalistic man, him disobeying God is the worst thing a Puritan can do. Another example of Dimmesdale feeling guilt and grief is when he returns to the scaffold. While alone and delusional, he imagines the townspeople with him , while he cries out in anguish “The whole town will awake, and hurry forth and find me here!” (139), feeling terrified of people finding out his secret. Moreover, Dimmesdale explains to Pearl, that he shares Hester’s sin, yet will “indeed, stand with thy mother and thee one other day” (144), more specifically “At the great judgment day” (144). This shows that Dimmesdale cannot go public with his sin, he will only bring himself to the experience Hester went through on “Judgment Day”, the day he dies. Dimmesdale’s guilt and fear of a foiled reputation prevents him from achieving a stable life, resulting that him breaking the laws of society majorly affects his

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale commits a mortal sin by having an affair with a married woman, Hester Prynne. As a man of the cloth in Puritan society, Dimmesdale is expected to be the embodiment of the town’s values. He becomes captive to a self-imposed guilt that manifests from affair and his fear that he won’t meet the town’s high expectations of him. In an attempt to mitigate this guilt, Dimmesdale acts “piously” and accepts Chillingworth’s torture, causing him to suffer privately, unlike Hester who repented in the eyes of the townspeople. When Dimmesdale finally reveals his sin to the townspeople, he is able to free himself from his guilt.

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Scarlet Letter Guilt Quotes

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Even though only one person that he knows of, Hester, knows his sin, he still is going insane from the misconduct he did. Dimmesdale cannot be freed of his private guilt that is driving him crazy. Dimmesdale is noticeable being damaged by the suffering of keeping his guilt private. After Hester and Dimmesdale discuss their plans to runaway together, in the woods, Dimmesdale returns to the town with a new attitude. He grasps the

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Scarlet Letter Arthur Dimmesdale Weak

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A man named Chillingworth, who claimed to be a doctor, made Dimmesdale feel worse about his secret, Dimmesdale let him get in his head. Reverend Dimmesdale was very weak for being a priest and putting no faith into his God. Reverend Dimmesdale is afraid of his town and his people finding out about his sin. As a priest he wants to seem holy and sinless like the people think him to be, so he hides the fact he and Hester committed adultery. When Hester is on the scaffold, Dimmesdale is asked to try and get Hester to confess who the father is, “If thou feelest it to be for thy soul’s peace, and that thy earthly punishment will be made more

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Who Is Dimmesdale's Suffering In The Scarlet Letter

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Dimmesdale and Hester suffers because of the sin they did. Dimmesdale feels guilt even though he never confesses that he is the farther. He would go to the scaffold at night and stand there screaming trying to get the people to come outside to see him but it was just all in his head when she would stand on the scaffold during the day with the red A on her chest she felt guilt even though she would not tell anyone who the farther is and for having an affair while her husband was missing for years. For example, Dimmesdale does not want to confess about his sin because he does not want to face the consequences. This is illustrated when Dimmesdale says, “then and there before the judgment-seat, thy mother and thou, and I must stand together” (Dimmesdale 139).

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Conformity Revealed By Arthur Dimmesdale In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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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.

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How Is Dimmsdale Presented In The Scarlet Letter

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Dimsdale is reluctant to admit his sin because he has the mentality that he can never lose respect from the public however in order to gain redemption for his sins he has to sacrifice his reputation. Dimsdale is one of the main characters in Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “The Scarlet Letter” he is the minister of the puritan community in Boston and everyone in the community looks up to him. Dimsdale is the puritan minister of Boston who has a high reputation who is considered to be an important member of the community. Sin is intolerable within the puritan community and that is why Dimsdale is so conflicted when it comes to confessing his sin since he is a person that everyone looks up to.

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Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Scarlet Letter

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Way back in the 17th century the Puritan religion was the leading religion in The New World. Their religious beliefs were strict especially in Salem, Massachusetts. They had extreme punishments for for laws even in the case of a minor offense. The punishments were based of the laws created by their religious beliefs. Hawthorne uses several examples of foreshadowing in “The Scarlet Letter” that reflects the strict beliefs of their society.

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How Did Arthur Dimmesdale Believe In The Scarlet Letter

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One spontaneous but significant mistake made by Arther Dimmesdale caused him to live the rest of his life crawling with guilt. Arthur Dimmesdale, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, had an affair with a married woman, and that crime ruined the lives of almost everyone in the novel. The Scarlet Letter remains a classic to this day because it emphasizes harsh penance which highlights the difference between the treatment of sinners today and those during the 17th century. The way Puritans view sin and guilt cause Dimmesdale’s life to come to an unfortunate end.

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The book “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a complex novel that has underlying themes of sin and the responsibility for sin. The novel takes place in a Puritanical society, but two people, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, fornicate with each other, even though Hester is married to someone else. Only Hester is punished, so Dimmesdale keeps his guilt inside, not revealing it to anyone. Hester’s husband, Chillingworth, then proceeds to ruin Hester’s partner in crime, corrupting his soul and being the ultimate cause for his death. Hester, on the other hand, leads a relatively happy life after she had repented for her sin.

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“Hester Prynne’s Case: Justice Then and Now” The Scarlet Letter, a book written by Nathaniel Hawthorne during the mid-1800s, is about an adulterous woman’s life in Boston; during the early mid-17th century in New England, the Puritans already had imposed strict laws for the people to acquiesce. Many centuries later, penalties for adultery became less severe; in fact twenty-nine out of fifty states of America don’t federally admonish their residents for adultery. If Hester Prynne, the adulterous from the novel, lived during the late nineties or the third millennium— now a more liberal society— she could have had a more lenient punishment or could have gotten off scot-free without having to endure the punishment and shame she endured during the 1750s.

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