Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The scarlet letter is an American Literature classic. It is a dark tale about a woman named Hester Prynne who committed adultery with a well respected minister and had a child. She therefore had a punishment of wearing a scarlet letter A on her bosom for ever as a token of her sin and the shame she must suffer. Her fellow sinner, Arthur Dimmesdale, the father of her child, was, on the other hand, given a different punishment by Hawthorne. While Hester was publicly punished by all the Puritan society, Dimmesdale covered his guilt and let it eat him inside until completely collapsed. Compared to Hester, who openly accepted her guilt and became stronger, Arthur chose a way that not only weaken him physically and mentally, but also leads to the inability of redemption for his sin. Dimmesdale is Hawthorne’s moral lessons about sin, how denial can lead to tragic consequences.
As far as we follow the story, we know that it is not his committing adultery with Hester but mostly his hypocrisy makes him the great sinner of all. When seeing his beloved girl on the scaffold, he feels terrified and has his heart rent for her, yet he just stands by in wordless among the crowd. Dimmesdale has encouraged Hester to tell the truth to the people in the town that he is the father of the child but he cannot do it himself for the only one reason, his high position in the society. He is a respectful Reverend in the eyes of all people and no one ever dares to think of any sin he can commit. He, therefore, find it impossible to tell anyone about it though he did try to suggest that he is the sinner. Dimmesdale obviously has no intention of denying his sin but he is not courageous enough to face his people and the society in which he is the representative of all the standard virtues. He has been living under a mask for many years and cannot find a way out. Hence, he is destroyed completely by secrets and guilt, painfully and miserably. Dimmesdale appears at first as a handsome, caring and respectful Reverend but then turns out to be no more than a coward and hypocrite man who cannot protect his love and who dares not give up his position to protect his lover and daughter. Instead, he just punishes himself terribly. No matter how hard he tries to do it, he cannot compensate for the all pain, ignominy Hester suffers and the lack of a father’s love in Pearl, who is completely innocent. We may hate and criticize him but just think it again, in such his position, especially in Puritanism, who dares admit he is a sinner. Dimmesdale is the one who, I think, suffers punishment most hard.
The Term Paper on Scarlet Letter Hester Sin Dimmesdale
... wrongs. On the part of Hester and Dimmesdale, Hawthorne obviously thinks that sin educates rather than degrades them. Hester? ? s life eventually acquires ... it with her finger, she feels that this hostile society and its judgment upon her are her realities, which ... its work! Roger Chillingworth: The Sinner of the Unpardonable Sin When the two chief sinners, Hester and Dimmesdale, turn out to be saints, ...
As an unknown sinner, Dimmesdale has suffered a terrible mental pain caused by his cowardice, his denial to admit his sin. He has to carry his guilt and struggle to cope with it everyday, which has depressed and destroyed himself deeply inside. He is “gnawed and tortured by some black trouble of the soul”, the trouble that he dares not reveal to anyone. Saying “Happy are you, Hester, that wear that scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!!” ,he knows that admitting the sin would lessen his pain but he dares not. “He was broken down long by long and exquisite suffering, his mind was darkened and confused by the very remorse which harrowed it”. What makes his pain more miserable and a serious burden is that he has to kept his sin a secret from society while Hester, his ‘crime partner’, is humiliated and punished publicly. Yet the punishment Dimmesdale gets is not less misarable, it is to confront his self-judgement. He is always aware of his sin, “his conscience all alive and painfully sensitive by the fretting of an unhealed wound”. His self-torture has deteriorated his soul and mostly destroyed it, yet reminds him that he is a coward sinner waiting for punishment.
The Term Paper on Scarlet Letter Summaries Hester Dimmesdale Pearl
... Dimmesdale. Chapter 17 Hester tells Dimmesdale about the true identity of Chillingworth. At first Dimmesdale can not forgive Hester, but then forgives her and says that Chillingworth's sin ... Hester Prynne and her sin. With almost no exceptions, the ridged townswomen are unhappy with the mildness of her punishment. Hester ... exposing himself. He feels an even greater pain than usual over his heart and ...
In fact, he hopes to admit that he is Hester’s crime partner, he wishes and prays so often that people know his guilt and even tries to tell his confregation about it. Ironically, they think that he is modest and even worships him, which causes Dimmesdale further pain. And as he becomes famous for his preaches, his shame and remorse decreases much more. He feels like a cheat whenever preaching to his people and condemns himself as “a man devoid of conscience — a wretch with coarse and brutal instincts”. The name Dimmesdale seems to be named with symbolic meaning for its sound, whose first syllable is ‘dim’, gives the impression of darkness and weakness, which refers to Dimmesdale’s way of paying for his sin. Poor him, for every sin receives punishment and every punishment causes pain.
Besides the mental torment, he also endures the physically torment. The first physical torment is that he has to endure the revenge of Hester’s husband who he always thinks is his friend, a really close friend. He has to endure the attack of Chillingworth for Chillingworth wants to find out the truth from him. Chillingworth always expresses his point of view about the men who always hide a secret in their heart before Dimmesdale: “These men deceive themselves”, “Trust me, such men deceive themselves!” This makes Dimmesdale feel he owes Hester for sharing the public punishment. In addition, when having found out the truth, Chillingworth, as a doctor staying closely to Dimmesdale, decides to take revenge on Dimmesdale. He, instead of saving the clergyman, makes his disease more serious. “He took himself to task for his bad sympathies in reference to Roger Chillingworth, disregarded the lesson that he should have drawn from them, and did his best to root them out.” The second physically torment is caused by himself. He is so overwhelmed with shame and remorse that he has started to become famous for his sermons. He wants, really wants to tell everybody his sin committed with Hester Prynne, but he cannot. Because he is always modest in his cogregation’s mind. This causes Dimmesdale even more pain, so he believes he is a liar. He uses chains and whips to beat himself in his closet. Besides that, he also maltreats himself by undertakeing extremely long fasts, refusing to eat or drink as an act of penance. Continuely, day in day out, the torment harasses himself. At the end, he cannot help, and he decides to come to meet Hester. This action is a way to liberate him.
The Essay on Arthur Dimmesdale Hester Chillingworth Sin
CHARACTERS ROGER CHILLINGWORTH - In chapters ten through twelve, Roger Chillingworth's devilish ways and soul match his hideous and horrible physique. He projects his evil nature and is at his peak of revenge towards the reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. He satisfies his sinful yearnings to diminish Dimmesdale physically and emotionally by drowning him in his own sin. ARTHUR DIMMESDALE - It is obvious ...
Actually, Dimmesdale is the most miserable character in the story because of his suffering from the secrectly sin and his incessant struggle, both mental and physical. Finally, he realizes that standing together Hester and Pearl on the scaffold revealing his sin to publicity, he would redeem the sin from his mind to his heart. At the Election Sermon, he callls Hester and Pearl come with him, “Hester,” said he, “come hither! Come, my little Pearl!”, “The child, with the bird-like motion, which was one of her characteristics, flew to him, and clasped her arms about his knees”. Now, they all three side by side, as a family, stand on the scaffold in front of the public with “Partly supported by Hester Prynne, and holding one hand of little Pearl’s”, he step by step exposes his sin. He confesses that he should be stand here with Hester seven years earlier and tells that he has secrectly worn a scarlet letter on his breast all the time, he even “tore away the ministerial band from before his breast.It was revealed!”. Yet, it seems that talking these things is out of his bearing, so he sinks down the scafford. Then, he asks Pearl to kiss him, “dear little Pearl, wilt thou kiss me now? Thou wouldst not, yonder, in the forest! But now thou wilt?”, and when “Pearl kissed his lips. A spell was broken”. After saying farewell to Hester, he dies. Although his physician – Chillingworth – has warned him “there was no one place so secret– no high place nor lowly place, where thou couldst have escaped me– save on this very scaffold!”, he still continues his work with the belief that “With God’s help, I shall escape thee now!”. It is the fact that he has made a big effort to face God and himself to do such these things, for at last he takes the forgiveness of all people and even himself to be welcomed to God. Obviously, this chapter is considered as the climax of the story.
The story consists of so many levels, so many ways to interpret depending on each person’s point of view. On the side of describing sins and salvation, Hawthorne has been successful in presenting Arthur Dimmesdale, a perfect image of godly minister, who had a crime that he himself could not let off. In this successful characterization, Dimmesdale serves as a living sample of the worst way to compensate for one’s guilt – to cover it up. By purposefully creating a man with great honor, the author has put Dimmesdale into such harsh dilemma in which he could not reveal the sin due to his inability to defeat his coward. It is possible to say that every one can see himself in this situation, at least once in a lifetime when doing the right thing may end up losing everything else. The lesson to be learned is that no matter how hard it is, telling the truth is always better than disguising it. “Scarlet letter” is a timeless work because its messages can never be old in any other time.
The Term Paper on The Scarlet Letter Hester Dimmesdale Pearl
... Reverend Dimmesdale while her husband is supposedly in England finishing up some work. Pearl is the product of this sin and Hester is ... 7 Motif- Recurring symbol which represents an idea throughout the story. ex: see #7 Transcendentalism- Intellectual movement which had several ... Hester and ministered at the bedside of the dying Governor Winthrop. B) He was motivated by his belief in God ...
