How Does Dimmesdale Change Throughout The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is commonly considered a classic, most likely due to it’s intense examination of the human soul. The Scarlet Letter is a novel about Hester Prynne, a woman who commits adultery and is therefore required to wear a scarlet ‘A’ on her chest, her lover, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, her legal husband, Roger Chillingworth, and her illegitimate child, Pearl. Throughout the novel Hester and Dimmesdale keep the fact that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father a secret, and explores the consequences of their actions. Through the development of the previously listed characters Hawthorne provides great insight into the human condition, especially through the development of Dimmesdale. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale changes

At the beginning of the book, Dimmesdale attempts to tell his followers of his adulterous sins in his sermons, but “They heard it all, and did but reverence him more… ‘The godly youth!’ said they among themselves, ‘The saint on earth!’” (134). Here, despite Dimmesdale’s efforts, the crowd does not understand that he is trying to share a great sin with them. But later in the novel Dimmesdale climbs the scaffold in the center of the town, and confesses his guilt to the townspeople, and in response “[the people’s] great heart was thoroughly appalled, yet overflowing with tearful sympathy, as knowing [of] some deep life-matter - which, if full of sin, was full of anguish and repentance likewise…” (238-239). The audience now understands Dimmesdale’s sinfulness, and although they do not reject him, they feel further distanced from him, as opposed to earlier when his confessions merely convinced his audiences that he was more pure. The effectiveness of Dimmesdale’s later speech demonstrates how once he has a sufficient course of action he is able to execute his plans more effectively than in the beginning of the novel, in which he was lost and therefore could prove nothing to his