His failing health became an outward representation of his sinful heart, and he was plagued by guilt throughout the book because he lived a life devoid of repentance. By the end of The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale realizes that he can no longer live under the burden of his secret sin, so he confesses it with his last breath before God and all of the townspeople. Committing adultery with Hester Prynne was definitely seen as one of the vilest sins in the Puritan community, and Dimmesdale would have faced punishment similar to the sentencing of Hester; however, living with the guilt of his unconfessed sin destroyed him and pushed him away from God with no hope of…
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale In The Scarlet Letter is considered by everyone as a honorable person in the entire Puritan town. Practically nobody would think that he would be able to do any evil, more so doing the sin of adultery. Unexpectedly, Dimmesdale has the feeling that he is an individual who is much terrible for committing such a sin and not letting it be known to the townspeople. He is affected greatly by this sin but increases his popularity unexpectedly through inspiring him give intensifying more sermons. More adversely to the townspeople common opinion, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is not extremely honorable and therefore does not deserve to be praised at all.…
Dimmesdale was a minister that committed sins but shamed his lover and the father of her child, Hester Prynne. Throughout the book you realize that Hester was not just the only “sinner”. Although he was a minister, he committed adultery which broke his vow of being loyal to his religious belief. Following this line of hypocrisy, as they were on the scaffold, he yells to Hester to release the name of the father but, little does the crowd know that he is the father. Lastly, following the lines of hypocrisy, Hester relieving the true identity of Chillingworth.…
Chillingworth and Dimmesdale Essay The two characters Chillingworth and Dimmesdale are two characters in the scarlet letter. They are both main characters and have secrets that hold a very important part in their lives. They both have secrets but are affected in very different ways. I am going to start off with Dimmesdale’s secret.…
In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne, a Puritan mother was tried and convicted of adultery and spent the rest of her life raising her child alone. Hester was forced to wear a scarlet letter embroidered on her chest, which served as a constant symbol of public shame and embarrassment. The Puritan people’s cruelty towards Hester carried on to her child, Pearl. Pearl was forced to live the early part of her life as an outcast of society. Although Pearl and Hester were forced to suffer under intense scrutiny for a large part of their lives, Pearl’s father remained untouched by punishment.…
In The Scarlet Letter we see how private turmoil is worse than public shame. Throughout the book we are shown the struggle of Hester as she deals with the consequences of her actions after she commits adultery and bears a child from the affair. She is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest to symbol adultery and further outcast her from her community. She takes this punishment to heart and makes a extremely flashy letter “A” which she wears with no regret and for much longer than she is required too. This is shown when Hawthorne says, “In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, looked around at her townspeople…
In Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter, although Dimmesdale does reveal his sin and claims Pearl, he is unable to triumph over his sin because of his need for his reputation in the town to be untainted, a restriction he fails to eliminate from his soul. The Puritan community is incapable to see sin as anything other than a hamartia which forces Dimmesdale into a battle with himself about his need for self importance against his guilt. A battle which ultimately ends in Dimmesdale being consumed by his guilt. Despite inflicting pain on to himself and his many attempts to reveal his sin to the town, the townspeople are unable to look past the veil of holiness they have placed on their minister.…
He waited so long to tell of his sin that when the truth came out Roger Chillingworth already knew about it. The shame that Arthur Dimmesdale felt was so great that he wanted to run away with Hester and Pearl and leave their old life of shame and guilt behind. It is clear in The Scarlet Letter that Dimmesdale and Hester did not want to sin again because of the shame that inflicted them (Hawthorne). Just like them the son whose mother made him stand outside of the school with a sign saying he stole made him feel the shame of his sin and not want to do it…
Dimmesdale revealing his sin will ultimately lead to him being set free, then shortly dying in peace after the harshness of his sin is finally going to be lifted off his shoulders, leading to his end. In conclusion, The Scarlet Letter uses antithesis to commonly compare, along with anaphora to emphasize, and metaphor to reveal. These devices all convey the author’s position, that your sins will haunt you and you will never be free until…
This alludes to the idea of original sin. Man is born sinful. Puritans believed we lived in a “fallen” world. The result of sin is always punishment and suffering.…
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale suffers internally from suppressing his secret. Dimmesdale’s perception of himself changed immensely because of his transgression and directly led to him punishing himself in various forms. “In Mr. Dimmesdale 's secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge. Oftentimes, this Protestant and Puritan divine had plied it on his own shoulders, laughing bitterly at himself the while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh. It was his custom, too, as it has been that of many other pious Puritans, to fast—not however, like them, in order to purify the body, and render it the fitter medium of celestial illumination—but rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance.…
In The Scarlet Letter, after overseeing the death of a highly thought of governor, Reverend Dimmesdale meets with Hester and Pearl on the pillory where Hester stood seven years earlier. While on the pillory, Dimmesdale promises that one day he will “stand with thy mother and thee one other day, but not tomorrow.” (149) He meets with Hester again in the woods where they profess their love for each other and decide to sail away together, away from Chillingworth, who at this point has all but figured out that Pearl’s father is Reverend Dimmesdale. The guilt that both men feel is so powerful that it makes them seek some kind of repentance, Proctor cleans his conscience by telling Elizabeth, whereas Dimmesdale holds his secret within him. Because he holds in his secret, Dimmesdale’s physical and mental health suffers greatly.…
People make decisions every day that can affect someone’s life in many different ways depending on the severity of the decision. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne showcases the decisions in the form of sin in the Puritan lifestyle. The novel goes through the daily lives of New England Puritans as they struggle through the harsh punishment of sin. One of the main characters, Hester Prynne, is the first character shown to receive consequences for the sin she commits. Hester has an adulterous relationship with the minister Arthur Dimmesdale; who is idolized in the community for his holiness.…
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter”, Chillingworth is guilty of Dimmesdale’s death. For one he tries to poison Dimmesdale with some medicine, he makes him suffer mentally, and he tortures him for it all and tries to make him feel guilty for all that he’s done. Chillingworth believes that Dimmesdale was the father of Pearl, Prynne’s baby after he found out that she got pregnant from Dimmesdale. Chillingworth came to visit Hester, only to find out she was in prison for committing adultery.…
"Ah, but," interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, "let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart", claimed a townswomen in The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne p. 36). Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, her lover, are punished publicly and privately because of the sins they committed. In the Scarlet Letter, the use of the characterization of Hester and Dimmesdale demonstrate that private punishment is stronger than personal punishment. Hester suffers from many forms of public punishment, it begins with the prison.…