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The Consequences Of Hester And Dimmesdale In The Scarlet Letter

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“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy,” (KJV 28:13). The message of this short proverb is simple: confess. Despite this, there are millions refusing to reveal their hidden atrocities to the oblivious public. But you don’t need public ridicule for a sin to destroy you, in fact, it would be better if you did confess. This is the ideology of Nathaniel Hawthorne author of The Scarlet Letter. In this book, Hawthorne details an elaborate story showing the consequences of confessing sins in contrast to concealing it. A sin weighing down on you and destroying you from the inside out is a moral consequence and, the only remedy is confessing the sin. This notion can be seen in the difference between Hester and Dimmesdale with how they handled the scarlet letter and the effects of that.
Hester had worn her scarlet letter out for the public to see from the very beginning. She the subject of a lot of the town’s scrutiny. However, after many years of performing good deeds for the community the scarlet letter, and by extension Hester, was met with less hostility. Her influence is so great that many citizens start to believe the scarlet letter “...[now] meant Able…”(Hawthorne …show more content…

As such the weight and burden of his sin only grew stronger. Dimmesdale desperately tried to relieve his guilt by “...inflicting a hideous torture on himself,” (Hawthorne 234) but to no avail. The only way Dimmesdale could have helped himself was by confessing his sin to the public, and that is what he did. However, when he did confess, the weight and guilt that built up inside were so immense that his confession was Dimmesdale’s “...[the] final words [that] came forth…” (Hawthorne 233). Dimmesdale had paid the ultimate price and died due to letting the problem grow to an immense proportion rather than directly handing it by confessing from the

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(113) “What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him—yea, compel him, as it were—to add hypocrisy to sin?” (62) These passages emphasize the internal conflict within Dimmesdale, he is a man who is desperately trying to hide his sins from the public. The physical description of Dimmesdale emphasizes his physical weakness and fragility, which reflects his moral weakness, linked with his unfaithfulness which brings him to fulfill sinful acts.

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In the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” and the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the stories of two men who keep their sins secret and are hurt deeply. In The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale does not reveal his sin to the community and experiences far more pain than Hester, whose sin is revealed. Years after the original sin, Hester has healed and is accepted by the community, while Dimmesdale still feels guilty, as can be seen when he mounts the scaffold. Dimmesdale’s experience is similar to that of Reverend Hooper, who covers his face after a secret sin and is eschewed by the community. When we refuse to admit our faults, we will feel guilty

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His guilt had taken over him and had driven him to cause himself harm. Dimmesdale tried to live with the guilt, but it never faded. It only grew stronger. Dimmesdale, constantly at war with himself , slowly deteriorated. In the end he could no longer control it.

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Dimsdale is reluctant to admit his sin because he has the mentality that he can never lose respect from the public however in order to gain redemption for his sins he has to sacrifice his reputation. Dimsdale is one of the main characters in Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “The Scarlet Letter” he is the minister of the puritan community in Boston and everyone in the community looks up to him. Dimsdale is the puritan minister of Boston who has a high reputation who is considered to be an important member of the community. Sin is intolerable within the puritan community and that is why Dimsdale is so conflicted when it comes to confessing his sin since he is a person that everyone looks up to.

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Reverend Dimmesdale’s physical condition diminishes the longer he keeps his sin a secret. He feels so guilty, he tortures himself by fasting and whipping in addition to feeling like a hypocrite when his gives sermons. Reverend Dimmesdale expresses, “Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!” (Hawthorne 107).

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This decision causes his personal culpability and establishes Dimmesdale’s inability to acknowledge his own past. As an illustration, Dimmesdale exhibits his mental fragility as he thinks “of his grave, he questioned with himself whether the grass would ever grow on it, because an accursed thing must there be buried” (Hawthorne 98). Dimmesdale cannot fathom his past and feels guilty for not confessing his sins when he could. He believes that he will die with his secret still remaining, and questions how grass would grow on it if he were buried. His personal knowledge of his past sins manages to corrupt his thoughts and his perception of himself.

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The letter gave Hester a new power to sympathize with and be charitable to others. Townspeople even began to interpret the letter very differently from its original meaning. They began to believe that the symbol no longer meant adultery, however, its new significance was to mean “Able” (111). Her selfless acts of kindness attracted the attention of the community as she did needlework for the poor in her spare time. The community did not know the true reason of why Hester did this, but the act caused her true character and natural instinct to be generous to be reflected.

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Although the community originally knew Hester as a disgrace, the town’s opinion of her changed over time as she began to do work for the poor and needy. After this shift in the town’s view of Hester, “many people refused to interpret the scarlet [letter] by its original signification” (111). Instead of Hester’s scarlet letter serving as a reminder of her scandalous sin, her peers “ had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as a token . . . of [Hester’s] many good deeds” (111). She became known for her charity and generosity, which caused the civilians to overlook her sinful behavior.

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She did good deeds towards the sick, so comfortable to the people. “The tendency of her fate and fortunes had been set free. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dare not tread” (208). Hester is a daring woman who has the courage and who has taken risks that could have destroyed

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Dimmesdale had achieved a brilliant popularity in his sacred office. He won it, indeed, in great part by his sorrows. (Hawthorne 128) The guilt of his sin has eaten him alive, so much that his visage and demeanor are almost cadaverous. Dimmesdale does not confess his sin until the end of the novel because he does not want to disappoint his congregation.

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The punishment, trivialized with time, was viewed in a different light. Hawthorne describes a transition in which “many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said it meant able” (Hawthorne 111). Exonerated from fault, Hester began to to receive more promotion from her peers. The town’s relegation of the letter is a symbol of their acceptance.

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