Scarlet Letter By Arthur Dimmesdale

“What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him— yea, compel him, as it were — to add hypocrisy to sin?” After the different approaches Dimmesdale brought forward to the community, she is being asked to reveal his name by asking what does she get from adding on to the sin. How does her hiding the name save him, from a sin he has already done? He tried in every way to get it out of her. He asks why was it okay for her lover to perform the adultery, do the sin, but then suddenly not okay for him to take on the punishment with her in front of the community.

Reverend Dimmsdale’s development through the text of “The Scarlet Letter” was that of positivity and peace. Dimmsdale was the secret father of Pearl and the secret lover of Hester Prynne. He was the reason for Hester’s torment and it showed on him through the book. Dimmsdale’s progression through “The Scarlet Letter” was a positive one because in the beginning he was unempathetic, in the middle of the book he was guilt-ridden and sympathetic, and at the end he was joyful and relieved. At the beginning of the story, Reverend Dimmsdale was introduced as a judge at Hester Prynne’s public shaming.

The private guilt within Dimmesdale had overtaken his body and caused him to have to “[fight] back the bodily weakness” and have to develop “the faintness of heart, that was striving for the mastery with him” (208). Hawthorne uses this to show how his guilt and sin were taking over him and his confessions were going to help him get into heaven when he dies. Dimmesdale internal struggle with guilt had begun to overcome his body and become an everlasting punishment of he did not confess to his wrongdoings. Although he did not have any public shaming like Hester, he was much worse off than Hester because it was a constant struggle with his own moral values and it eventually got the best of him. Following Dimmesdale’s confession, it is said that “a spell was broken” and that Pearl, “in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her sympathies” (209).

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale physical features are transformed by the darkness weighing down on their hearts. Dimmesdale is introduced in the first scaffold scene. “[Dimmesdale] was a person of striking aspect with a white, lofty, and impending brow, large, brown, melancholy eyes, and a mouth which, unless he forcibly compressed it, was apt to be tremulous, . . .” (Hawthorne 62). These traits show the first hints at his internal feelings of guilt.

In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tackles the issue of hiding sins by using Dimmesdale and Chillingworth as pawns to portray his view on sinful secrets. Dimmesdale’s main argument relies on divine powers, while Chillingworth focuses on nature in his argument. Dimmesdale argues that sometimes people want to confess their sins, but cannot because they fear they won’t be able to redeem themselves, so instead of confessing, they just leave their secrets for the divine powers to reveal. While Dimmesdale and Chillingworth are talking about the man from the grave, Dimmesdale points out the fact that “‘he earnestly desired [to reveal his sin] but could not’“ (123). He is able to state that so easily because the man he is actually

Following his brief sense of freedom, Dimmesdale also feels that “the air was too fresh and chill to be long breathed” and he then “withdrew again within the limits of what their church defined as orthodox” (Hawthorne 102). The inner conflict within Dimmesdale as to what he truly believes in acts as a valuable example towards the muffling of one’s emotions, for Dimmesdale is indecisive as he ties himself to being a dedicated minister above even his own thinking. This see-saw of loyalty exposes that Dimmesdale also lives something akin to a double life, growing more and more withdrawn as the days go on without receiving either proper punishment for his affair or a clear sense of security that he truly belongs in the church. He has created an inimical attitude towards himself out of shame and confusion, deeply rooted in his mind and

The topics in The Scarlet Letter reflect the character’s physical and emotional health. Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale both share attributes that represent the topics of guilt, but display guilt in their own way. Hester and Dimmesdale display guilt based off their physical appearance. Body language exposes internal problems, emotions, and deep secrets. The characters expose themselves by releasing secrets unintentionally.

Humans have a tendency to conform and often neglect the potential consequences of doing so. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author introduces those consequences through a respected clergyman and sinner named Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale struggles with his guilty conscience and cowardice to confess his sin which prompts him to abide by societal rules but question himself in private. Dimmesdale’s conflict between outward conformity and inward questioning contributes to the novel’s message that everybody must confront their sins or they will fall victim to some form of retribution.

Guilt tortures from within. No one can escape from their own thoughts and speculation. Regret eats away at their insides until it completely destroys them. Generally, people try to mask their shame, which only leads to more pain. Nobody likes to admit that they have made a mistake, and we often refuse to share our mistakes with others.

Mentally, his guilt strains his mind, which causes his physical deterioration, and the weakening of his body. As Dimmesdale finally admits his sin to the townspeople, his guilt is lifted, and he is able to release himself from his captivity. Though he deteriorated both mind and body from his guilt, by telling the townspeople of his sin, it was as if “a spell was broken” (238). He no longer needed to force himself to hide his sin, which was what was hurting him. By finally dealing with his sin in a similar way to Hester, Dimmesdale was able to free himself of his self-imposed captivity and

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

Dimmesdale is very conflicted with himself and also with the community; he struggles with doing the right . Arthur Dimmesdale is a reverend of the Puritan community. He is very protective of his reputation, therefore he lets Hester

The name Dimmesdale represents dimming the light of truth, therefore, his life is fading when he will not confess his sins. Hawthorne states, “He (Dimmesdale) thus typified the constant introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself.” (Hawthorne 132). Physically and mentally torturing himself, Dimmesdale tries to get rid of his guilt by whipping himself, fasting, and not sleeping. In the end, he reaches the highest honor a minister can receive by preaching an Election Day sermon, but

The Scarlet Letter Essay Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale were two of the main sinners in The Scarlet Letter. Both characters kept their sins secrete throughout the story. These sins included adultery, revenge, and even murder. Out of the two sinners, Chillingworth was the worst, because he never felt guilt for the terrible things he was doing. Dimmesdale spent his entire life in guilt and remorse for the sins he had committed (“Who”).

Dimmesdale committed a very severe sin, adultery with Hester, and this was even worse for him because he was a Puritan Minister. This resulted in Hester having a baby. He had to live a very secretive hypocritical life, preaching the word of God when he directly went against it himself and no one knew pearl was his child (ch. 11). This was like torture for Dimmsdale he even had to help in the shaming of Hester. He felt like his actions took meaning out of his life, he says this because how can he do his job and feel like he’s doing right among his people when he had committed adultery (ch. 11) Dimmesdale felt like a fraud and it made him so guilty and it tore his spirit and moral into shreds!