The Victim Of Arthur Dimmesdale In The Scarlet Letter

Hester Prynne is a victim of the scarlet letter, but Arthur Dimmesdale is the victim. When reading The Scarlet Letter, by Nathanial Hawthorne, it is easy to focus on Hester and her suffering, as she is the primary focus of the novel. But, with a little close reading, it soon becomes apparent that Dimmesdale’s suffering is more destructive than Hester’s. As a result of her crime, Hester is banished to the fringes of Puritan society; inducing an almost complete social exile. Yet Dimmesdale's position as the head of the Church creates a moral quagmire of his values and sin; one which his inability to reconcile and drives him to self loathing. Although Hester’s exile does cause her a great deal of suffering, Dimmesdale's life of contradiction nearly

Hawthorne spares no words describing what the letter has done to Hester; stating, “All the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered up by this red-hot brand, and had long ago fallen away, leaving a bare and harsh outline, which might been repulsive, had she possessed friends or companions to be possessed by it”(150-151). This description is intense, and it demonstrates the substantial hardship Hester endures. The letter steals so many parts of her that she ceases to be a woman: “Some attributes had departed from her, the permanence of which had been essential to keep her a woman” (151). The fact that there is “No longer … Love … Passion … Affection” further confirms Hester’s mental pain.(151) But, Dimmesdale’s complete mental and physical capitulation far supersedes Hester’s solely mental struggles in scope and consequence. Immediately following her internal reflection Hester recognizes Dimmesdale’s dilapidated mental state, as “She had witnessed the intense misery beneath which the minister struggled” and “She saw that he stood on the verge of lunacy, if he had not already stepped across it” (153). Although Hester suffers mentally, she is not driven to the point of insanity as Dimmesdale is–suggesting that Dimmesdale indeed suffered more. Furthermore, Dimmesdale’s mental torment also manifests itself in physical pain, as “There was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain”(137). So afflicted is Dimmesdale that he “Wield[s] the bloody scourge”–a small whip used for punishment–against himself, compounding the already consistent physical anguish (136). This physical agony is simply not a part of Hester’s ordeal, and she suffers less as a result. Lastly, Dimmesdale dies upon the scaffold from.