There is always a defining moment in every novel revealing how a certain character will be shown. These moments are “first” seen through the initial action of each character and then ended by their “last”. Each “first” defines how someone is seen, but there is always a turning point in each novel that changes at least one character for the better. The “last” of Reverend Dimmesdale from The Scarlet Letter shows how much he has changed since the beginning of the novel into a better, more dauntless man. At the beginning of the novel Reverend Dimmesdale acted cowardly, not being strong enough to reveal the truth of his sin thus allowing the guilt to destroy him inside out.
Hester's True Side In committing an act of adultery, Hester Prynne, the primary character in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, finds herself a victim of harsh judgement and ridicule by her Puritan community. She becomes isolated as a result of this scandalous behavior and becomes emotionally involved in a love triangle between her husband and her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, who is the town minister. As a result of her shameful history, the townspeople attempt to destroy and embarrass her by socially neglecting her and labeling her as an outcast and loner. Though the people of the community pursue several attempts to shame her, Hester Prynne's beauty, selflessness, and strength help her overcome this rejection from the townspeople and
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.
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, focuses on the life of Hester Prynne—the unlucky soul who is caught committing adultery and forced to live a life of shame and ignominy. The scaffold is not only the start of her predicament, but it is also the end of the once seemingly perfect Reverend Dimmesdale’s own guilt. The scaffold is the setting of a scene three times throughout the novel: the beginning, middle, and end. For such a lifeless object, it is difficult to recognize its significance in the novel; however, the scaffold is used by Hawthorne to portray the changing relationship between the characters, specifically Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.
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).
In the book The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrated Dimmesdale suffering and regret over the years that build him up and lead him to many obstacles and challenges that killed him in the inside. Also, Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the agony of Dimmesdale`s conscience as his guilt that is eating away at him until he confesses. In addition, Dimmesdale’s faces many obstacles and challenges that killed him and eat him from the inside. For example, of a challenge that he faces is not confessing to Hester Prynne up front to the townsfolks that he was Hester partner in the affairs. Another example is that when Hester walk up on stage and confess that she was responsible for the adultery and while she was talking, she has
Reverend Dimmesdale suffers psychologically in the novel. Starting off as the epitome of religious guidance, Dimmesdale was the character least expected to be guilty of sin. But a further look into the story, and it is seen that Dimmesdale was guilty of arguably the greatest sin of the time, adultery. The Reverend wishes to admit this sin, but Hester Prynne does not allow him to, and Dimmesdale starts to break down, his sin haunting him, in every sleeping and waking moment. For example, Hester states, while meeting Dimmesdale in the woods, "There was a listlessness in his gait; as if he saw no reason for taking one step further, nor felt any desire to do so, but would have been glad, could he be glad of anything, to fling himself down at the root of the nearest tree, and lie there passive, for
At the end of the novel Arthur Dimmesdale could rest on peace. The guilt makes him sick and becoming crazy with the help of Roger Chillingworth that psychologically torture Arthur. At the end Mr.Dimmesdale accomplish get rid of the guilt by confessing the truth. When he confesses it, Pearl gave him a kiss and at he said to Hester that God made the things for something and if it were not for God, he would be lost. Mr.Dimmesdale was dying, but he knows that he was not going to die in peace until he confessed, so he decided to leave the fear and cowardice on a side that held him, and stood on the scaffold to tell everybody that he was the father of Pearl.
In 1964, Lawrence Kohlberg, a psychologist introduced the idea that humans evolved through different stages of morality. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne male characters exemplify a moral development as the story unfolds. In particular, Arthur Dimmesdale’s morality differs from the beginning of the novel to the ending of the novel. His morality undergoes continuity and change by constantly changing from selfishness, social order, and social contract. Dimmesdale undergoes the morality maintaining the social order and being considerate of others to eventually being selfish and only thinks about himself.
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne exposes the blindness of the Puritan people through the treatment of Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale’s external characters. Hester Prynne is labeled as an adulteress and mistreated by society because of their unwillingness to see her true character. Chillingworth, the husband of Hester, leads the town to believe he is an honorable man and skillful doctor, when his true intents root from his vindictive nature Finally, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester’s lover and the father of her baby, acts as the perfect man therefore the town views him as an exemplar model, while he is truly a sinner. In the novel, Hawthorne portrays Hester as a strong, resilient woman, though the members of her community
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.
The interpretation of the letter eventually shifts to Able, after the community recognizes her endeavors. Hester acknowledges and addresses her sin which sparks a change in meaning of the scarlet letter that contributes to the themes of honesty and forgiveness. Hester most notably displays honesty when she embraces her sin and makes an attempt at salvation. In the first scaffold scene, the narrator illustrates Hester and her letter while she stands ignominiously, specifically indicating that the scarlet letter removes her from “ordinary relations with humanity” (Hawthorne 81). The citizens of Massachusetts Bay abash Hester for her wrongdoings, leading to an estrangement between the two; however, the stigma that Hester carries will not
This passage further enhances the theme of The Scarlet Letter, which is the importance of staying true to yourself, no matter what society thinks- to not hide your worst qualities so that you may live your life in the open, and so that you can be free of secrets and lies. The passage does this effectively, using a compare and contrast structure*, by contrasting Hester and Dimmesdale- Hester, who has lived her life in the open, not held back by society and its regulations, and Dimmesdale, who has kept his affair a secret, therefore remaining in the firm grip of society’s regulations. Hawthorne’s characterization of these two characters, both in this passage and throughout the book, is vital to this theme. Hester is characterized as a free person;
When encountered with a woman charged with adultery, Jesus proclaimed, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). As no man is truly without sin, humans cannot justly punish them for sins without holy guidance. They can, however, worsen their own sin to the point of being irredeemable. in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Dimmesdale’s sin was the most unholy and dangerous of all those presented in the novel.
The scarlet letter has different meanings throughout the story and to each of the characters. The original meaning of the scarlet “A” is “Adultery”, but later in the story the townspeople and other characters begin to interpret it in different ways, each of them with their own idea and belief. Hester starts being more active in society and that makes the townspeople think differently about the scarlet “A”. The scarlet letter doesn´t keep the same meaning throughout the whole story, it changes with Hester´s actions and the Puritans beliefs. Hester starts being more active in society, she starts helping the poor and nursing the sick.
