Scarlet Letter By Arthur Dimmesdale

In The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller use a great number of rhetorical strategies in order to argue that a person's conscience should take precedence over their religion. A rhetorical strategy that is used quite often by the two authors is pathos, in which they tapped into the reader's emotions to convince them of this idea. In The Scarlet Letter the character Dimmesdale is the one with the heavy conscience due to the fact that he is Pearl’s biological father. He does not admit to this sin because he is in an eminent position by being a minister of the community.

Similarly to Pastor Hooper, although he was not physically isolated, Arthur Dimmesdale’s internal struggle regarding his sin was able to seclude him from the rest of society. He had a different state of mind compared to everyone else due to his inability to confess his adulterous sin. Hawthorne also shows the struggles he went through and the perceptions others had of him which made it harder for him to confess. In Chapter 3, “The Recognition,” regarding Dimmesdale, Reverend John Wilson states “‘But he opposes to me that it were wronging the very nature of woman to force her to lay open her heart’s secrets in such broad daylight, and in presence of so great a multitude. Truly, as I sought to convince him, the shame lay in the commission of the sin, and not in the showing of it forth’” (63).

Arthur Dimmesdale is a respected man. He is the puritan minister in The Scarlet Letter, and the community looks up to him. But he has a secret that no one but Hester Prynne knows. He is the father of her child, and confessing to his sin will cost him everything. In the beginning, we see Dimmesdale as a weak but religiously strong man, he is seen as cowardly through his avoidance of confessing of his sin.

The Scarlet Letter is a book filled with characters that are neither always good or always evil. Scarlet Letter, written by a famous Romantic author, compiles his book with characters composed of moral vagueness. One of those characters is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is such an engaging character because he is the minister of the town, but also has committed adultery with Hester Prynne and hides it from the community. In being a minster lying and committing adultery are not qualities many other clergymen possess.

The result of pride leading to the downfall of a well-respected man is also present in the character of Arthur Dimmesdale. Unlike John Proctor, Dimmesdale wants to confess to his sins. Unfortunately, due to his high ranking position, he cannot bring himself to blacken his own name, slowly torturing himself with the unknowing help of Roger Chillingworth. In the Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers, further elaboration on Dimmesdale's pride is discussed, stating that: “[...] the tormented preacher cannot make himself admit his affair with Hester publicly” (Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers 271).

Does lying to a community make a person feel better as a sinner? Does acting to a community help hide one’s true self? Arthur Dimmesdale, a hypocrite, depends on lying to survive. He loves but cannot show it in public; he is depressed but tries to hide his pain within his sermons. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s

He betrayed his own king, the one who represented God to the people, was killed because of his drive to be happy. This shows the extent that people will go to in order to find their happiness. This poisoned way of thinking can affect people on layers deeper than just the

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.

Throughout the beginning of The Scarlet Letter the marking on Arthur Dimmesdale’s chest is not directly mentioned, and it would appear that Dimmesdale has no correlation with the main character Hester Prynne at all. The only indication that the reader is given is Hester’s child Pearl reaching up at Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 40), but this is well before the marking is ever mentioned. Dimmesdale just seems to be a regular priest, or clergyman as they were called, who is trying to figure out with whom Hester had committed adultery. This can be seen as how guilt will conceal itself and hide away before it begins gnawing at a person’s insides. The guilt will slowly

Cause & Effect “There are Devilish thoughts even in the most angelic minds. ”- Rachel Wolchin. This perfectly describes Dimmesdale within the Puritan society.

Hawthorne portrayed Dimmesdale ,a combine of sinner and saint, change by his hidden to show people the power of hidden sin. Hawthorne describe Dimmesdale as a young faithful prayer, that came to the new world and to save the people. In the eyes of the people, he is pointed by God as a saver and he will use his knowledge to serve people. In the eyes of the church, Dimmesdale’s knowledge is better than any priest in the town, as a reason of that, Dimmesdale earned the supreme

As Dimmesdale preaches to the townspeople he noticed “They heard it all, and did but reverence him the more. They little guessed what deadly purport lurked in those self-condemning words. ‘The godly youth!’ said they among themselves. ‘The saint on earth! Alas, if he discern such sinfulness in his own white soul, what horrid spectacle would he behold in thine or mine!’"(130).

Although the sins were completely different, they had some similarities. Both of their sins were done in private and hidden from the publics eyes. They were aware that both of their sins were viewed upon terribly by the puritans. This lead them to keep their sins away from the public

Secret Sin & Guilt Arthur Dimmesdale is a guilty minister in the story of The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This is a man who has been keeping a secret sin from the citizens of Boston, ironically telling them what is sinful and what is not. Though they do not know it, the baby of a special lady named Hester Prynne is the walking proof of his sin. It is revealed more and more as the story unfolds. A man, who happens to be Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, senses this secret sin and guilt in Dimmesdale’s conscience, and he plans to use this knowledge to his advantage to gain his revenge on this man for the sin he committed.

Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy throughout the book can be seen in many of his words and actions. He says one thing in front of everyone, but does the opposite when faced with a similar challenge. Dimmesdale tells the people how sinful he is but then doesn’t admit his mistakes. He ends up paying the price for what he has done and the torture and guilt does not lessen as time goes on, it only grows. Dimmesdale is responsible for all of his actions, but feels pressured by others.