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Scarlet Letter Good Vs Evil

1029 Words5 Pages

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, he explores the prodigy of love, crime, and revenge. It revolves around a sinful act of passion that impacts Hester Prynne, an adulteress forced to wear a scarlet letter “A”on her bosom; Reverend Dimmesdale, a respected minister in the puritans community; their daughter, Pearl; and Roger Chillingworth, Hester 's husband. Most of the characters portrayed can be analyzed as embodying both “good” and “evil” qualities. Dimmesdale is especially viewed as an ambiguous character. Dimmesdale’s moral ambiguity comes from his internal conflict between his devotion to the church and the guilt he feels for not receiving blame for his sinful act of co-adultery with Hester. Classifying him as an “evil” …show more content…

Although his actions and decisions seem to be bad, the character gets sympathized for his internal struggles. Afraid of revealing his sin to the public shows his lack of courage. A reason for this lack of courage is due to puritan beliefs. The puritans had religious exclusiveness that was the foremost principle of their society. The Puritans were strict and had punishments for everything especially adultery. In chapter 3 , “The Recognition”,Dimmesdale pleads Hester to tell who the partner in the sin was but she refuses. “She will not speak!” murmurs Mr. Dimmesdale, who was leaning over the balcony, with his hand upon his heart …” This quote shows how Dimmesdale is accusing Hester of not admitting who sinned with her when he did not. The placement of Dimmesdale 's hand over his heart later on is revealed that he has a his own letter carved in his chest. By putting his hand on his chest he is reminded of his cowardice for letting Hester take the full blame of infidelity. During the years Dimmesdale becomes tormented by the dichotomy between what he is and what people believe him to be. His parishioners are "hungry for the truth" and listen to his words as if "a tongue of Pentecost were speaking!". Even though the people listen to him and believe everything he says he still lacks the courage to tell them his sin. He bears his shame alone. This shows that Dimmesdale suffers from his reputation with his society but also shows his cowardness. Dimmesdale was becoming more popular His hypocrisy shows from the beginning when he calls Hester out for not talking the truth but he himself is too scared to tell due to how he is viewed in this society. He can 't be classified as evil or purely

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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.

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Hester can wear her scarlet letter in public, and has adjusted enough to continue living a normal life. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, lives in secret with his scarlet letter affecting him more every day. He envies how Hester has managed to embrace her scarlet letter, while his guilt is only increasing. At one point, Dimmesdale feels so much envy that he says, “Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!

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The characters of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthorne's book The Scarlet Letter exhibit similar and contrasting attitudes towards public shame, private shame, and the effect of the shame which ultimately shapes their lives and abilities to live in the book. The way Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale deal with their shame publicly and privately allows the reader to get a sense of compassion and empathy toward the two, while also providing how they relate to each other. Hawthorne alludes to the theme of guilt and how actions have consequences along the way. Hester and Dimmesdale's sins were sins of passion. This passion ultimately led to their own shameful mess.

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But the public fails to see that he commits adultery with Hester Prynne. While Hester is publicly shammed and forced to wear a scarlet “A,” Dimmesdale remains silent about his transgressions. Because he is a public figure, he believes he should stay quiet for the sake of the people. His guilt is

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This only made his guilt worsen. Dimmesdale does not feel passionate when he is trying to do job. The people are only imagining getting help because his tainted soul could not possibly redeem other souls. He feels as if he is cheating those people in their faith. Hester then tries to rebuttal by saying “Your present life is not less holy, in very truth, than it seems in people's eyes.

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In this section Hester is being faced with public ignominy for committing adultery. After voraciously finding Hester at the market his face “Twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them” (52). The usage of dramatic irony amplifies Dimmesdale’s inner turmoil of his guilt and shame. Where the twisting of his features suggests his emotional and mental pain that he experiences as he hides his sin. He slowly awaits for Hester to reveal his sin, “Speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer!”

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“Thou, too hast deeply sinned!” He withdrew his dying eyes from the old man, and fixed them on the woman and child.” With Dimmesdale standing there, listening to what the minister has said, he still doesn’t seem to acknowledge what the townspeople say. Due to Dimmesdale standing up there, and bringing Hester upon everyone as well, Dimmesdale with not stop showing his love for her, even if the townspeople may not accept it.

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Throughout the story, it is clear that he wants to confess his sin, when he is yelling at the scaffold at night but he’s too weak to do it publicly. The interactions between Hester and Dimmesdale show her hold over him because she has been publicly condemned for a sin that they had committed together. His inability to reveal and accept the truth makes him extremely weak. When Dimmesdale decides to reveal the truth during his Election Day speech, he passes away because he had waited too

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However, he will not repent for his sin until he confesses. Penitence is regret for one’s wrongdoing. Dimmesdale does not feel penitence for his sins: Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret! Thou little knowest what a relief it is, after the torment of a seven years' cheat, to look into an eye that recognizes me for what I am!

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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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Scarlet Letter Outline

441 Words | 2 Pages

His affair with Hester Prynne left her publicly humiliated, yet he did not face any backlash, as his identity was hidden. This became an issue for Dimmesdale, whose guilt became so intense that Chillingworth even stated, "look again at Hester 's scarlet letter...with all its mysterious horror, it is but the shadow of what [Dimmesdale] bears on his own breast...even this...is no more than the type of what has seared his innermost heart" (Hawthorne 305). Dimmesdale 's inner guilt manifested into intense self-hatred and he reverted back to a broken, guilt-ridden state in which he remained for seven years in an increasingly harmful pattern of self torture. This pain that he felt was immensely greater than that of Hester, who after being publicly shamed, could move on and surpass her individual guilt. As Hester grew stronger and became a more upstanding member of the community, Dimmesdale broke down, his spirit becoming, "so shattered and subdued that it could hardly hold itself erect" (236).

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Dimmesdale sinned with Hester Prynne by committing adultery. Although this was terrible and looked down upon, his crime was self inflicting and done out of passion. After Hester was punished for the crime, Dimmesdale was overwhelmed with guilt and sadness. This showed that Dimmesdale was a good person

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