Summary Of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale suffered greatly from his internally kept sin of adultery. One of the most prominent themes in this novel seems to be the struggles an individual has with his/her identity, when faced with society’s harsh judgements. The declination of Dimmesdale’s physical and mental state throughout the novel is a prime example of this effect of society on an individual. His internal suffering damaged him more than it would if he were to announce his sin to society; this was detrimental to him—he needed to confess his sin before it could internally destruct him any more, but could not bring himself to tell this judgmental society. His position, as a young minister who is known

This destructive effect of guilt on Dimmesdale first reveals itself in the novel when he is chosen to try to convince Hester to reveal who her partner in adultery was, during her public shaming. When he speaks to Hester, Dimmesdale appears to be pleading her in a personal way, as shown by the quote; “though he were to stand there beside thee, on the pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life.” (64), and “what can thy silence do for him, as it were—to add hypocrisy to sin?” (64). Both of these quotes are spoken by Dimmesdale, from the heart. When he talks about hypocrisy, he is referring to himself as a holy minister, who has committed the terrible sin of adultery. He mentions in his speech that he does not want

The only thing that he could even think about was his anguish, and the punishment that he deserved and inflicted upon himself. Though Dimmesdale shows slight hints of the agony caused by his guilt in public, the entirety of his desperate and feeble situation becomes clear in the scenes in the novel where he is alone. In the privacy of his own room, Dimmesdale uses a whip to inflict bloody wounds on himself, leaving “in Mr. Dimmesdale’s secret closet, under lock and key, a bloody scourge” (136). In addition, Dimmesdale fasts for many days at a time, until his “knees trembled beneath him”(136), testing his endurance in this harsh form of Puritan penance. During these forced, long, fasts he stays up at night, and begins to hallucinate. He sees “diabolic shapes that grinned and mocked at the pale minister, and beckoned him away with them” (136), and “Hester Prynne, leading along little Pearl in her scarlet garb, and pointing her forefinger, first at the scarlet letter on her bosom, and then at the clergyman’s own breast.” (137). His hallucinations mirror what the guilt has done to his troubled being—it has haunted him in frightening ways, and rendered him tortured by his own self, physically and mentally. He had transformed from a lively, eloquent, young minister into a ghastly, weak slave of his mind; "The only truth that continued to give Mr. Dimmesdale