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Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel set in colonial times based on the view-points of adultery during the 17th century. The novel is a romantic drama set during the 17th century, but was written in the 1840s in Salem, Massachusetts by Hawthorne and was published in 1850. The novel is set in Salem, Massachusetts. The narrator of the story is an unnamed civillian who surveys the lives of the main characters. the main characters of the novel consist of: Hester Prynne, Pearl, and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester Prynne, at the beggining of the novel, is put on trial due to the fact that she has commited adultery. In the events prior to the trial Hester was sent over to the America's with her husband in hopes to start a civilization; however, Hester was not accompanied by her husband due to business. Once she arrived to Salem she awaited her husbands arrival for many months but he never returned to her. Under the circumstances Hester …show more content…

As the story progresses, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is revealed as her adulterer. Dimmesdale, about halfway through the novel, starts to grow very ill and befriends a man named Roger Chillingworth who is a doctor and becomes Dimmesdale's roommate. Chillingworth is eventually revelaed as Hester's husband whom is plotting agaisnt Dimmesdale and Hester to try and reveal their secret to thre public. Dimmesdale grows to an even more ill and starts to bear a scar on his chest that is never revealed but, by collecting context clues the reader can easily come to the conclusion that the scar is an A as is Hesters patch that she bears on her dress. Dimmesdale also starts to torture himself mentally and physically and gives very uplifting sermons to the people that also play a part in his self torture through

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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.

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Another thing we learn about Dimmesdale is that he is quite envious of Hester. Since she gets to wear her scarlet letter in front of everyone and everyone knows of her sins unlike Dimmesdale who is the only one other than God who knows of the

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Hester and Dimmesdale have both committed adultery, but Hester accepts and embraces what has happened. Alternatively, for Dimmesdale, enduring seven long years of guilt and sin are required to get him to finally reveal the truth. Taking so many years to do so shows how

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In western society, the depiction of health usually presides in skin tone. No one wants to be “pale” or “pasty”, so being tan is encouraged like a fashion trend. The tanning salon industry is skyrocketing along with the trend of “soaking up the sun”. It is little known that the “glorious” tan that everyone wants to achieve by sitting out in the sun for a few hours is a defense mechanism designed by the body to stop the harm that ultraviolet rays (UV rays) may cause it. UV radiation has detrimental effects on the human body.

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The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, portrays the shameful life the main character, Hester Prynne, lives because of a sinful encounter that resulted with her daughter Pearl. Throughout the novel it is evident that she grows close with a minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, who later in context is revealed as the father of Pearl. However, her public shame in never shared with Dimmesdale since neither of them let it known that he acted with her. It is not until toward the end that Dimmesdale finds the strength, right before his death, to publicly announce he is Pearl’s father. Because of this, many infer that Hester’s ignominy was at greater price than the self-shame Dimmesdale brought upon himself.

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451 Words | 2 Pages

A Disappointing Crime “Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” -Bruce Lee. Everyone knows that minister Dimmesdale was guilty, but some people feel that it was right for him not to confess, while others strongly believe he should have taken ownership of his actions and confessed his sin. Minister Dimmesdale should have confessed his sin for these reasons, he would bear less shame, the people trusted him to confess, and Hester should not have to bear both of their burdens.

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The driving maxim of the story, “The Scarlet Letter,” is that recognising and dealing with our weaknesses makes us stronger. Hester Prynne embraces her scarlet letter and her child, the symbols of her sin, and in turn it allows her to grow and be embraced by the townspeople. Reverend Dimmesdale, however, keeps his sin concealed within him, his guilt consumes him and only made him weaken throughout the years to the point of his death. The town as a whole is portrayed to be a negative place, and only becomes better, seeming when they embrace the town adulterer, Hester, not as a sin, but as an able member of the community.

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Oftentimes, an event that seems and feels negligible can have an immense impact on a person’s psyche and physical actions. A passage from chapter 20 of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne presents this phenomenon through Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. The passage shows Dimmesdale’s change from a weak, broken man to one with boundless energy as well as his change of view on life through symbolism. The change in Dimmesdale is seen immediately after he exits the forest, for he is described as having “unaccustomed physical energy” (Hawthorne, 188).

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There are many different themes in the early chapters of The Scarlet Letter that support the development of the plot. A main theme found in the novel is that deception and secrecy can be destructive. Hawthorne incorporates several secrets kept for various reasons, and all lead to some form of chaos. One example is the Reverend’s attempt to keep his connection with Pearl a secret, which proves to be a major impediment to his everyday life. Reverend Dimmesdale’s secret is one that becomes destructive in his mental and physical health, his involvement with the church and community, and in his relationships with others.

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Does lying to a community make a person feel better as a sinner? Does acting to a community help hide one’s true self? Arthur Dimmesdale, a hypocrite, depends on lying to survive. He loves but cannot show it in public; he is depressed but tries to hide his pain within his sermons. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s

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“Guilt is the source of sorrows, the avenging fiend that follows us behind with whips and stings.” - Nicholas Rowe. This message is shown in The Scarlet Letter, through Hawthorne’s character Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale was created by Nathaniel Hawthorne representing a weak character in many ways. One of the many weak decisions made by Hawthorne that stood out was the guilt he had built up, eating away at him causing an internal struggle if he should do right and confess or if he should let the one he loves suffer because of his actions.

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Other characters that share some common points would be Arthur Dimmesdale and Billy Flynn. They have been able to manipulate their words to influence the crowds and have them believe whatever they tell them. In The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale used double entendre to give his confession about his acts of adultery to the people of the puritan community. To everyone in the crowd, it sounded like he was saying words to encourage the adulterer to come out but he was saying how he’d do it again with Hester. He had been visiting Hester at night for awhile and continued to lead on the community that he was innocent but he’s actually hurting from pain he’s selfinclicting.

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Sometimes, we make a decision in life that changes life forever in a way that we may or may not like. It might be something all that we could think about that at night you could be going to bed with your head pounding. Thinking about all the stress building inside you. “What will people think of me if only they knew? Will they accept me still for who I am or will they betray me and forever hold this upon me?”

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1646 Words | 7 Pages

Imagine living in a place where one small sin could define who you are for the rest of your life. That is what happened in The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850. The novel is set in a seventeenth-century Puritan community in Boston, Massachusetts. A young woman by the name of Hester Prynne commits a small act of adultery and is shamed for the rest of her life, by wearing a scarlet letter “A” on her breast. The book is centered around the theme of justice and judgement.

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The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was published in 1850. It focuses on the life of the main protagonist, Hester Prynne, living in a Puritan community. Both Yamin Wang and Maria Stromberg offer insight into The Scarlet Letter and analyze multiple aspects of the story.. Both Wang and Stromberg claim that there is an underlying ideology hidden in the texts of the book. Wang approaches the story from a feminist approach and states that Hester represents the feminism in the Puritan community, and she analyzes the Puritan’s outlook on women in their society.

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