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Is Arthur Dimmesdale A Villain

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Dimmesdale: Preacher or Sinner?

Actor Tom Hanks once said, “I think by and large a third of people are villains, a third are cowards, and a third are heroes. Now, a villain and a coward can choose to be a hero, but they've got to make that choice.” Unfortunately, for Arthur Dimmesdale in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, he is both a villain and a coward. As the reverend for a Puritan community in New England, Dimmesdale preaches Godly ways on a daily basis, yet is found by readers to be going against his beliefs to take part in an affair with Hester Prynne. As the affair becomes public through the demonstration of Hester, Dimmesdale watches as her lives a life of shame, exclusion and humiliation. Refusing to publicly admit his role …show more content…

As Dimmesdale preaches to the townspeople he noticed “They heard it all, and did but reverence him the more. They little guessed what deadly purport lurked in those self-condemning words. ‘The godly youth!’ said they among themselves. ‘The saint on earth! Alas, if he discern such sinfulness in his own white soul, what horrid spectacle would he behold in thine or mine!’"(130). As Dimmesdale is preaching the townspeople worship him even more then they did before as they grasp each and every word. Dimmesdale also cares about what the townspeople think of him so he is afraid to confess. If he confesses he thinks the townspeople would no longer trust him as a person or listen to his words. Dimmesdale also questions confessing because he is the reverend and a puritan. Being a reverend he cannot commit a sin or break the rules or else he would get put in jail or even die and become not pure. As long as the church and the townspeople do not know what he has done his sin his secret is safe inside of him. Dimmesdale’s preaching also has the townspeople reflecting themselves and the way they live when he says, “No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true."(197-8). Dimmesdale is basically addresses himself as …show more content…

Dimmesdale and the puritans are so hypocritical of themselves and their community that they basically make their own rules and ways to live their lives. By having a false mask, Dimmesdale makes himself hide away and keep his mask on even though he knows he should not. It takes Roger Chillingwoth, Hester, and even little Pearl to try and get him to confess. Dimmesdale does not confess willingly or by force form someone else, Dimmsdale confesses through his guilt. If Dimmesdale had not needed to say his sermon, Dimmesdale would have died guilty. As Dimmesdale is dying he looks and Pearl and gives her a kiss. Even though Dimmesdale confesses through his guilt it was long overdue. You can always have more then one identity, but when you hide away in you false mask you are no longer your true

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1158 Words | 5 Pages

Mentally, his guilt strains his mind, which causes his physical deterioration, and the weakening of his body. As Dimmesdale finally admits his sin to the townspeople, his guilt is lifted, and he is able to release himself from his captivity. Though he deteriorated both mind and body from his guilt, by telling the townspeople of his sin, it was as if “a spell was broken” (238). He no longer needed to force himself to hide his sin, which was what was hurting him. By finally dealing with his sin in a similar way to Hester, Dimmesdale was able to free himself of his self-imposed captivity and

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119 Words | 1 Pages

In the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” and the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the stories of two men who keep their sins secret and are hurt deeply. In The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale does not reveal his sin to the community and experiences far more pain than Hester, whose sin is revealed. Years after the original sin, Hester has healed and is accepted by the community, while Dimmesdale still feels guilty, as can be seen when he mounts the scaffold. Dimmesdale’s experience is similar to that of Reverend Hooper, who covers his face after a secret sin and is eschewed by the community. When we refuse to admit our faults, we will feel guilty

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820 Words | 4 Pages

“What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him— yea, compel him, as it were — to add hypocrisy to sin?” After the different approaches Dimmesdale brought forward to the community, she is being asked to reveal his name by asking what does she get from adding on to the sin. How does her hiding the name save him, from a sin he has already done? He tried in every way to get it out of her. He asks why was it okay for her lover to perform the adultery, do the sin, but then suddenly not okay for him to take on the punishment with her in front of the community.

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741 Words | 3 Pages

In chapter 11 especially Dimmesdale struggles to come to terms with his sin and it weighs heavily on him but he is still not willing to sacrifice his respect within the community. Dimmesdale struggles to come to terms with his sin because he knows that he will be unable to fully redeem himself if he continues to hide his sin from puritan society but he feels extremely conflicted because he doesn't want to sacrifice his reputation. ”They deemed the young clergyman a miracle of holiness. They fancied him the mouth-piece of Heaven’s messages of wisdom, and rebuke, and love. In their eyes, the very ground on which he trod was sanctified”(pg.94).

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781 Words | 4 Pages

Dimmesdale should have come clean right at the start but he instead he covered it up and this opens a door for people to use it against you if they find out. This happens in to Dimmesdale when Chillingworth who at the time was Hester’s ex-husband and Dimmesdale’s doctor, he finds out that his suspicions were right about Dimmesdale being the person that was involved in the affair with Hester when he finds the letter A written on his chest. This opens a door for

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319 Words | 2 Pages

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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992 Words | 4 Pages

Reverend Dimmesdale’s physical condition diminishes the longer he keeps his sin a secret. He feels so guilty, he tortures himself by fasting and whipping in addition to feeling like a hypocrite when his gives sermons. Reverend Dimmesdale expresses, “Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!” (Hawthorne 107).

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445 Words | 2 Pages

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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503 Words | 3 Pages

“Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First a right to life, secondly to liberty, and thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can” (Samuel Adams, http://tinyurl.com/jv4zlp7). Our country is known as the Land of the Free, because of our freedom. But before 1776, we could be called the Land of Chained. America, which was ruled over by Britain, would not be what it is today without the Enlightenment philosophers. All because of three thinkers our country is the way it is today.

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389 Words | 2 Pages

Reverend Dimmesdale committed the sin of adultery and in doing so, he fell victim to the moral consequences that resulted. Pearl observed that “. . . the minister keeps his hand over his heart. . .” (Hawthorne 163). Overtime, he began to appear pale and sickly.

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1111 Words | 5 Pages

“One of the lessons learned during the Vietnam War was that the depiction of wounded soldiers, of coffins stacked higher than their living guards, had a negative effect on the viewing public. The military in Iraq specifically banned the photographing of wounded soldiers and coffins, thus sanitizing this terrible and bloody conflict.” Walter Dean Meyers vividly expresses the horror that the twenty yearlong Vietnam War had brought upon American soldiers and service people in Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. Through the Truman Doctrine, the Diem Regime, and the Domino Theory, the involvement of the United States in the War in Vietnam War was justifiable. What happened after the United States traveled to Asia, was not.

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796 Words | 4 Pages

The Consequences of Sin Sin is defined as “an offense against religious or moral law”. The idea of sin and being ostracized for your sins was extremely relevant during the Puritan period when religion was the greatest component of daily life. The Puritans believed that they had entered a covenant with God and therefore any sin, such as crime and adultery were considered a breach of their covenant with God. This view led to the church punishing people who committed sin in order for God not to punish the church as a whole. The consequences and effects of sin is shown through the character development in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter.

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604 Words | 3 Pages

Dimmesdale had achieved a brilliant popularity in his sacred office. He won it, indeed, in great part by his sorrows. (Hawthorne 128) The guilt of his sin has eaten him alive, so much that his visage and demeanor are almost cadaverous. Dimmesdale does not confess his sin until the end of the novel because he does not want to disappoint his congregation.

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686 Words | 3 Pages

As the moving of story, the “side effect” of the hidden sin has reveal. Dimmesdale become more sick and powerless. As the end of the story, Dimmesdale concede the sin and died as the winner of the fight with hidden sin. Dimmesdale as a combination of saint and sinner, his sin is not committed adultery, but it is that he cannot face the sin and admit it. He wanted to be all perfect in the eyes of the masses, but destroyed his perfectly in the eyes of God.

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480 Words | 2 Pages

The Scarlet Letter Essay Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale were two of the main sinners in The Scarlet Letter. Both characters kept their sins secrete throughout the story. These sins included adultery, revenge, and even murder. Out of the two sinners, Chillingworth was the worst, because he never felt guilt for the terrible things he was doing. Dimmesdale spent his entire life in guilt and remorse for the sins he had committed (“Who”).

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