ipl-logo

Scarlet Letter By Arthur Dimmesdale

516 Words3 Pages

Arthur Dimmesdale was the town minister in The Scarlet Letter, a story of a young woman who committed adultery and faced the consequences, such as wearing a scarlet “A” on her chest. Dimmesdale was a very interesting character because he was very religious but also committed a sin that haunted him everyday. He also happened to be the man who was involved in the young woman’s adultery. He was never convicted, however he still faced the consequences everyday. Dimmesdale was a man of God. He was the town’s minister and all the citizens of the town looked to him for their source of spiritual guidance. “They deemed the young clergyman a miracle of holiness. They fancied him the mouthpiece of Heaven’s message of wisdom, and rebuke, and love.” (132). This shows how the town’s people viewed …show more content…

He longed to tell the people who believed he was pure and faithful that he was a sinner. “He had told his hearers that he was altogether vile, a viler companion of the vilest, the worst of sinners, an abomination, a thing of unimaginable iniquity; and that the only wonder was, that they did not see his wretched body shrivelled up before their eyes, by the burning wrath of the Almighty! (133)” He wanted them to know that he was not perfect and he was not worthy of the love and adoration that they gave him. However, they didn’t understand and it made them adore him even more (133). He ended up torturing himself because he couldn’t stand to be adored by his followers even though he had committed a sin and never been punished. “It was his custom, too, as it has been that of many other pious Puritans, to fast, - not, however, like them, in order to purify the body and render it the fitter medium of celestial illuminations, but rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance.” (134). He would punish himself because nobody else would even if it brought him close to

Show More
Related
561 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the beginning of The Scarlet Letter the marking on Arthur Dimmesdale’s chest is not directly mentioned, and it would appear that Dimmesdale has no correlation with the main character Hester Prynne at all. The only indication that the reader is given is Hester’s child Pearl reaching up at Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 40), but this is well before the marking is ever mentioned. Dimmesdale just seems to be a regular priest, or clergyman as they were called, who is trying to figure out with whom Hester had committed adultery. This can be seen as how guilt will conceal itself and hide away before it begins gnawing at a person’s insides. The guilt will slowly

Read More
572 Words | 3 Pages

In The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller use a great number of rhetorical strategies in order to argue that a person's conscience should take precedence over their religion. A rhetorical strategy that is used quite often by the two authors is pathos, in which they tapped into the reader's emotions to convince them of this idea. In The Scarlet Letter the character Dimmesdale is the one with the heavy conscience due to the fact that he is Pearl’s biological father. He does not admit to this sin because he is in an eminent position by being a minister of the community.

Read More
1158 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
908 Words | 4 Pages

The Scarlet Letter is a book filled with characters that are neither always good or always evil. Scarlet Letter, written by a famous Romantic author, compiles his book with characters composed of moral vagueness. One of those characters is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is such an engaging character because he is the minister of the town, but also has committed adultery with Hester Prynne and hides it from the community. In being a minster lying and committing adultery are not qualities many other clergymen possess.

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

Arthur Dimmesdale is a respected man. He is the puritan minister in The Scarlet Letter, and the community looks up to him. But he has a secret that no one but Hester Prynne knows. He is the father of her child, and confessing to his sin will cost him everything. In the beginning, we see Dimmesdale as a weak but religiously strong man, he is seen as cowardly through his avoidance of confessing of his sin.

Read More
1246 Words | 5 Pages

Similarly to Pastor Hooper, although he was not physically isolated, Arthur Dimmesdale’s internal struggle regarding his sin was able to seclude him from the rest of society. He had a different state of mind compared to everyone else due to his inability to confess his adulterous sin. Hawthorne also shows the struggles he went through and the perceptions others had of him which made it harder for him to confess. In Chapter 3, “The Recognition,” regarding Dimmesdale, Reverend John Wilson states “‘But he opposes to me that it were wronging the very nature of woman to force her to lay open her heart’s secrets in such broad daylight, and in presence of so great a multitude. Truly, as I sought to convince him, the shame lay in the commission of the sin, and not in the showing of it forth’” (63).

Read More
1177 Words | 5 Pages

Cause & Effect “There are Devilish thoughts even in the most angelic minds. ”- Rachel Wolchin. This perfectly describes Dimmesdale within the Puritan society.

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More
699 Words | 3 Pages

Hawthorne portrayed Dimmesdale ,a combine of sinner and saint, change by his hidden to show people the power of hidden sin. Hawthorne describe Dimmesdale as a young faithful prayer, that came to the new world and to save the people. In the eyes of the people, he is pointed by God as a saver and he will use his knowledge to serve people. In the eyes of the church, Dimmesdale’s knowledge is better than any priest in the town, as a reason of that, Dimmesdale earned the supreme

Read More
830 Words | 4 Pages

The result of pride leading to the downfall of a well-respected man is also present in the character of Arthur Dimmesdale. Unlike John Proctor, Dimmesdale wants to confess to his sins. Unfortunately, due to his high ranking position, he cannot bring himself to blacken his own name, slowly torturing himself with the unknowing help of Roger Chillingworth. In the Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers, further elaboration on Dimmesdale's pride is discussed, stating that: “[...] the tormented preacher cannot make himself admit his affair with Hester publicly” (Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers 271).

Read More
933 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More
911 Words | 4 Pages

Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy throughout the book can be seen in many of his words and actions. He says one thing in front of everyone, but does the opposite when faced with a similar challenge. Dimmesdale tells the people how sinful he is but then doesn’t admit his mistakes. He ends up paying the price for what he has done and the torture and guilt does not lessen as time goes on, it only grows. Dimmesdale is responsible for all of his actions, but feels pressured by others.

Read More
905 Words | 4 Pages

Secret Sin & Guilt Arthur Dimmesdale is a guilty minister in the story of The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This is a man who has been keeping a secret sin from the citizens of Boston, ironically telling them what is sinful and what is not. Though they do not know it, the baby of a special lady named Hester Prynne is the walking proof of his sin. It is revealed more and more as the story unfolds. A man, who happens to be Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, senses this secret sin and guilt in Dimmesdale’s conscience, and he plans to use this knowledge to his advantage to gain his revenge on this man for the sin he committed.

Read More
962 Words | 4 Pages

He betrayed his own king, the one who represented God to the people, was killed because of his drive to be happy. This shows the extent that people will go to in order to find their happiness. This poisoned way of thinking can affect people on layers deeper than just the

Read More
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”).

Read More

More about Scarlet Letter By Arthur Dimmesdale

Related Topics

Open Document