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The Symbolism Of Guilt In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Guilt killed someone at the end of The Scarlet Letter. This novel, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells the story of a puritan woman, Hester Prynne, who committed adultery in the 1600s. She bore punishment on the scaffold with her two tokens of sin: the scarlet letter “A” which stood for adultery, and her daughter Pearl. The partner in her adultery is Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister of the puritan town Hester lives in, and the father of their daughter Pearl. Masterfully, Hawthorne uses a mouth full of symbols throughout the book to teach guilt, the secrets of sin, the coexistence of good and evil, and his anti-transcendentalism ways. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses the Scarlet Letter, Burrs, and the Scaffold to show how the weight …show more content…

Dimmesdale feels dreadful guilt because Hester admitted to her sin and is bearing her punishment publicly while he is bearing punishment behind closed doors. While he is in this state of mind, he decides to visit the scaffold one night. Hawthorne states “And thus, while standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart” (Hawthorne 144). The universe is “gazing at an imaginary scarlet token on his naked breast” because he feels guilty for not being able to bear public punishment like Hester and his “vain show of expiation” was all for nothing. While Dimmesdale is up on the scaffold, night turns into morning and he sees Hester and Pearl walking. With recognition, Dimmesdale calls out for them to join him up on the scaffold. Hawthorne narrates, “...all the dread of public exposure, that had so long been the anguish of his life, had returned upon him; and he was already trembling at the conjunction…he now found himself” (Hawthorne 149). This quote shows how the guilt keeps piling up because of the fear he feels for public shame and exposure from the townspeople considering how much they adore their beloved minister, and considering how Pearl had asked him just moments before if he would step up and claim her and he replied “Not so, my child. I shall, indeed, stand with thy mother and thee one other day, but not to-morrow.” (Hawthorne 150). The scaffold represents Dimmesdale’s guilt for not only the way Hester is bearing her punishment publicly, and Dimmesdale is bearing it in private, but also the way the puritan town revolves around the scaffold and how it brings public exposure, which Dimmesdale

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Dimmesdale’s Guilt In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, admitting guilt opens oneself to sin. When Hester admits to being guilty of adultery, it condemns her. However, by accepting her condemnation, she saves her soul. On the other hand, Dimmesdale does not confess to his part in the adultery. He keeps his guilt bottled up inside.

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Dimmesdale and Hester suffers because of the sin they did. Dimmesdale feels guilt even though he never confesses that he is the farther. He would go to the scaffold at night and stand there screaming trying to get the people to come outside to see him but it was just all in his head when she would stand on the scaffold during the day with the red A on her chest she felt guilt even though she would not tell anyone who the farther is and for having an affair while her husband was missing for years. For example, Dimmesdale does not want to confess about his sin because he does not want to face the consequences. This is illustrated when Dimmesdale says, “then and there before the judgment-seat, thy mother and thou, and I must stand together” (Dimmesdale 139).

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“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!” (Hawthorne 180). Dimmesdale had tortured himself with his mistakes.

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The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, focuses on the life of Hester Prynne—the unlucky soul who is caught committing adultery and forced to live a life of shame and ignominy. The scaffold is not only the start of her predicament, but it is also the end of the once seemingly perfect Reverend Dimmesdale’s own guilt. The scaffold is the setting of a scene three times throughout the novel: the beginning, middle, and end. For such a lifeless object, it is difficult to recognize its significance in the novel; however, the scaffold is used by Hawthorne to portray the changing relationship between the characters, specifically Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.

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Hester is punished by being publicly humiliated, forced to the top of the scaffold and to expose her scarlet letter that she wore, and being booed and hissed at amongst the public. As Dimmesdale is upon the scaffold, he calls to the citizens of the town during the night, and Hester and Pearl soon join him, when a meteor later appears in the sky. The meteor appears in the sky looking like a letter A. Dimmesdale thinks that it is a demeaning representation of his sin, just like Hester’s scarlet letter. Chillingworth’s position on the scaffold involves Dimmesdale, Hester and Pearl upon the scaffold with him, with Dimmesdale revealing Chillingworth’s true evil figure after the torture he had committed upon Dimmesdale as revenge for his adulterous affair with Hester. The idea of the scaffold becoming a unifying device comes from the dynamic changes it goes through.

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One spontaneous but significant mistake made by Arther Dimmesdale caused him to live the rest of his life crawling with guilt. Arthur Dimmesdale, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, had an affair with a married woman, and that crime ruined the lives of almost everyone in the novel. The Scarlet Letter remains a classic to this day because it emphasizes harsh penance which highlights the difference between the treatment of sinners today and those during the 17th century. The way Puritans view sin and guilt cause Dimmesdale’s life to come to an unfortunate end.

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While Dimmesdale and Hester are discussing how guilt and sin have affected them differently, Dimmesdale states, “‘Happy are you hester that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!’” p 131. Dimmesdale compares the way Hester deals with her sin to the way he deals with his. Hester has be open about her sin to the point at which she reveals it on her bosom as the scarlet letter, whereas Dimmesdale keeps it in secret as the guilt boils up inside him.

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In the book The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrated Dimmesdale suffering and regret over the years that build him up and lead him to many obstacles and challenges that killed him in the inside. Also, Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the agony of Dimmesdale`s conscience as his guilt that is eating away at him until he confesses. In addition, Dimmesdale’s faces many obstacles and challenges that killed him and eat him from the inside. For example, of a challenge that he faces is not confessing to Hester Prynne up front to the townsfolks that he was Hester partner in the affairs. Another example is that when Hester walk up on stage and confess that she was responsible for the adultery and while she was talking, she has

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Dimmesdale knew that his choice to step back and allow Hester to bear all the punishment was not morally just, and that choice forever ate at him until he revealed his true self. As the guilt grew stronger, he grew sicker and weaker. He was so afraid to ruin his reputation that he would rather suffer in silence. Hawthorne states, “…all the dread of public exposure, that had so long been the anguish of his life, had returned upon him; and he was already trembling at the conjunction in which- with a strange joy, nevertheless-he now found himself. ”(140).

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Guilt lead Dimmesdale to whip himself, starve himself, and possibly carve the scarlet letter into himself. His health depletes rapidly after Hester is publically shamed but he is allowed to continue his normal daily life. This creates unrest in Dimmesdale, he feels that he also deserves a punishment. Therefore, one night, Dimmesdale in his state of omnipresent guilt, goes to the scaffold, the one that Hester was publicly shamed on. While traveling

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Dimmesdale becomes anxious when talking with Hester about meeting his daughter, Pearl. He has nervous emotions towards officially meeting Pearl and the anticipation of meeting her causes Dimmesdale additional mental stress. While on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl, Dimmesdale, pretends to speak to the people of New England, “I stand upon the spot where, seven years since, I should have stood; here, with this woman, whose arm, more than the little strength wherewith I have crept hitherward, sustains me, at this dreadful moment, from grovelling down upon my face!” (305). After seven years, Dimmesdale realizes he made a mistake.

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Guilt spreads throughout him as each day passes. According to Hawthorne, Dimmesdale compresses each emotion that has to do with his adultery with Hester: “to whom should be confided all the fear, the remorse, the agony . . . All that guilt sorrow, hidden from the world” (127). Hawthorne says all the “guilt sorrow, hidden from the world”, but is this true? Dimmesdale does keep the secret to himself, until the end, but physically he divulges his secret to the townspeople.

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