More handpicked essays just for you.
Scarlet letter symbolism and characterization
Development of hester prynne in scarlet letter
Preface to The Scarlet Letter
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the book The scarlet letter , Nathaniel Hawthorne questions the reader by questioning whether it is okay to punish sinners since we all have committed sins. Scarlet letter takes place in massachustes in new england in the time of colonization of the new world.at the time massachustes is very religious and the church has alot of power over the people, they control almost evry aspect of their life and punish thoose who commit sins. Dimmesdale is the head of the church in salem massachusetts and he is defined by how people admired him and how people liked him, this traits affect the theme and other characters in the story because it makes dimmesdale look pure and sin free making people make wrong assumption and decisions when it come to dimmesdale. At the beginning of the book Dimmesdale is liked by his community and is well respected.
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.
I believe Dimmesdale did enough for forgiveness because in the end of the story, he stood on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl. In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne in chapter 23 Hawthorne states; “Hester Prynne," cried he, with a piercing earnestness, "in the name of Him, so terrible and so merciful, who gives me grace, at this last moment, to do what--for my own heavy sin and miserable agony--I withheld myself from doing seven years ago, come hither now, and twine thy strength about me! Thy strength, Hester; but let it be guided by the will which God hath granted me! This wretched and wronged old man is opposing it with all his might!--with all his own might, and the fiend's! Come, Hester--come!
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.
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.
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).
Thesis: Dimmesdale, a naturally “dim” individual, neither has moral strength nor courage to face the consequences of his sin. I. Dimmesdale is completely “dim”, or unaware of Chillingworth’s true intentions toward him. A. Dimmesdale is continually tormented by guilt that is exacerbated by Chillingworth’s wicked, prying heart. B. Chillingworth harbors suspicions that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father, and uses the friendly relationship he has with Dimmesdale to increase Dimmesdale’s mental anguish. II.
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.
For instance, in Chapter 3 while Hester is up on the scaffold in front of society as a consequence for her sin of adultery,
The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne has committed adultery with a clergyman, Arthur Dimmesdale, in the time of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. When Hester becomes pregnant while her husband has been away for over two years, she is publicly
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.
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.
As every sin is different, every sin has a different effect on a person depending the persons ….. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne examines what sin is, how it affects each person, and how their sin is perceived in nature versus the community. Protagonist, Hester Prynne, is subjected to harsh punishment and ridicule in the town, as she had committed the sin of having a child out of wedlock. However the father of her child, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, keeps his sin hidden from the community, hoping to escape from the shame and embarrassment and maintain his status in the community. However as his sin withers away at his soul, he is forced to live with Doctor Roger Chillingworth, a respected doctor among the Puritan Society and Hester Prynne’s former husband.
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.
