Arthur Dimmesdale is the pastor of this small puritan town, who has a secret affair with this girl named Hester Prynne. Hester gets pregnant and is publicly shamed in front of everyone in the town. Dimmesdale decides not to come out and tell everyone that he is her lover, by not doing this Dimmesdale causes himself great emotional pain. Most people just inferred that Dimmesdale would never do anything like this and didn't even think to question him. Unlike Ms. Prynne who confronts her guilt and shame early on in the story, Dimmesdale holds onto his guilt secretly until he finally goes through a process of, at first blaming Hester, then realizing that it wasn't all her fault, to having such strong guilt that he starts hurting himself, to doubting that he will ever get better, after which he comes out and shows everyone his scarlet letter, this…
Hester Prynne’s sin in the Scarlet Letter, was adultery. She committed adultery with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. This sin in particular was one of the more frowned upon of the Puritan faith. In result of this sin, she became pregnant and gave birth to Pearl, who becomes the highlight of Hester’s life. Dimmesdale’s sin as recently explained was adultery as well. He as the priest was looked upon as the most honorable man in the community and was supposed to be considered sinless.…
In addition, Dimmesdale’s faces many obstacles and challenges that killed him and eat him in the inside. For example, of a challenge that he faces is not confessing to Hester Prynne up front to the townsfolks that he was Hester partner in the affairs. Another example is that when Hester walk up on stage and confess that she was responsible for the adultery and while she was talking she seen Chillingworth looking at her and places his finger on his lips to tell Hester to not tell everybody in town where is he. In fact, Dimmesdale was her partner in an affairs but he really did not what to confess to the town that he was Hester partner in affair if he did everybody will question the minister for being sin so over the time he started to have physiognomy…
Dimmesdale’s symbol changes throughout the entire book. It starts off by him symbolizing a holy figure since he is the reverend so the Puritan society looks up to him and they don’t expect him to commit a sin. For the most part, he symbolises hypocrisy, in chapter 3, he states “What can thy silence do for him, except to tempt him---yea, compel him, as it were---to add hypocrisy to sin?” (page 65). He knows what what will happen to him if he keeps his sin to himself, but at that point in the book he’s already afraid to let the townspeople know. He goes to preach every week on how bad his sin is and how bad of a person he is but he still keeps it to himself. Since the townspeople don’t know about his sin, they still look up to him as if he were…
The secrecy behind Dimmesdale and Hester’s tawdry affair emphasizes a sole, unique aspect within the three individuals that, when combined, create the crucial essences contained in each human being: the malicious facet, religious loyalty and guilt, and the need for redemption.…
How can one be assigned the title of suffering the most? This is a complicated question presented in the book, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter is a book that revolves around a sinner named Hester Prynne, a minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, a physician, Roger Chillingworth, and a little girl named Pearl. Hester and Dimmesdale are both who has committed adultery; however, the story starts with Hester being a woman who is branded with a Scarlet Letter A, that represents adulterous, while Dimmesdale is not shown to be the person who Hester had an affair with. Throughout the story, Hester, Dimmesdale, Pearl, and Chillingworth are all in the midst of a troubling situation, while…
By having this battle going on in his head Dimmesdale became weak. Hawthorne explains this by saying "his spirit lacked the strength that could have borne up, as thine has been, beneath a burden like thy scarlet letter" (p.124). Because Dimmesdale was so confused by the two different…
There are a lot of characters that change throughout the story; one of them is Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale engaged in doing a big sin in the puritan society he lived in, Dimmesdale slept with another man’s wife, Hester Prynne and she became pregnant. Hester got punished for doing this sin but Dimmesdale did not admit to committing the sin, so instead he lives with guild and it builds up which makes it worse for him because he is a puritan minister. Since Dimmesdale does not commit to the sin to the public, he instead inflicts humiliation upon himself in private because he isn't punished by the public for committing the sin of adultery. The place where Dimmesdale transforms most throughout the story seems to always be at the same place; The Scaffold.…
A shocking story about a young women committing adultery in a such strict community. This event occurred in the seventeenth-century Boston.The young women who committed the sin is Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne had committed this sin with a Puritan minister named Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester’s real husband in disguise is Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth had sent Hester to America while he stayed behind in Europe but was supposed to follow Hester. The result of Chillingworth not following Hester was a baby girl named Pearl.…
The section in which Dimmesdale stood on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl impressed me the most. He conquered his fear and pride, and, as clearly as he could, confessed his crime. He recognized that though he had done an immense amount of penance, of good works, they could not atone for his sin. Only to “show himself to mankind as they would see him at the judgment-seat” would be the true act of penitence.…
In the Scarlet Letter two of the primary characters are provided by the author to show us a kind of foil. The one character, Reverend Dimmesdale, seems as if he is kind, but he has been living with a terrible burden, hindering him everywhere he goes. Chillingworth is his opposite, you would assume him to be nice when really he is quite evil. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth bring out each other's characteristics and bring out the characteristics of other characters around them. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth but heads in every aspect of their lives especially when it comes to Hester, who just so happens to be the only thing they have in common.…
Through all his inner turmoil, Dimmesdale still remains with a connection to God. He says that he will not confess to Chillingworth because he lacks to spirituality of God to heal a disease of the soul. Only God can heal this spiritual illness because he is the only “physician of the soul.” Dimmesdale’s religious beliefs still remain despite him growing weaker. His recognition of God’s heavenly power over him, allows him to believe that God will do with him as he pleases. Due to Chillingworth’s inability to heal him, He does not want him to come between him and God.…
Arthur Dimmesdale was a very important character in The Scarlet Letter. He encountered many problems and resolved them throughout the novel. He changes a lot throughout the novel, physical and mentally. While reading the novel, the reader can relate to Dimmesdale by his actions and feelings. Minister Arthur Dimmesdale explains the moral of the story, and helps the reader understand what the novel is about.…
Unfortunately for Dimmesdale, he is unable to escape the unbearable suffering of his shame and does not find it as enlightening as Hester does. Dimmesdale cannot express the truth regarding his actions with Hester and that silence is more shameful than any punishment she receives (Kilborne 473). Hawthorne describes Dimmesdale’s life as:…
Dimmesdale’s self-hatred and inability to confess drive him to the practice of flogging himself, fasting and keeping vigils, all of which weaken his body. Describing the self-abuse, Hawthorne writes, “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… but could not purify himself” (90-100). The deterioration of the minister’s health certainly must be due, at least in part, to open sores caused by self-flagellation, to starvation, and to sleep…