Arthur Dimmesdale's Guilt Quotes

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
process frees him to come to peace with what he did and accept his guilt and himself.

Arthur Dimmesdale is one troubled man. He is the reverend in a Puritan colony. Which complicates that he was also Hester Prynne’s secret lover and the father of her child, Pearl. Thats when things get complicated. Dimmesdale not only acts hurt that Hester would go and have an affair in the colony, but he even tries to publicly pressure Hester into telling the town who her secret lover is.
If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace, and that they earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-suffer. (50)
This shows how committed he is to not admitting his guilt but instead, he loads it all onto to Hester to take action. Dimmesdale almost commands Hester to state who her secret lover -“I charge thee”- but she still refuses. He tries to convince her that by refusing she is making it worse for her -“fellow-sinner”- and that she is just further delaying their salvation. Dimmesdale also states that for her own -“soul’s peace”- Hester needs to repent. It seems like Dimmesdale is doing reverse psychology. Why would he push Hester so hard to tell the whole entire town that it is actually him who is the illicit lover? Maybe he wants her to give him away, which suggests that Dimmesdale loves Hester more than being a pastor/God.
After Hester refuses to reveal who her secret lover is, Dimmesdale gives up on trying to persuade her. I think that his is the very beginning of that secret guilt that Dimmesdale is starting to form deep inside himself.
‘Live, therefore, and bear about thy doom with thee, in the eyes of men and women,- in the eyes of him whom thou didst call thy husband,- in the eyes of yonder child! And, that thou mayest live, take off this draught.’ (55).
Dimmesdale is telling Hester that since she refuses to say who her lover is that she is now “doomed” in the eyes of all the -“men and women”- in the town, -“thy husband”-, and even her -“child”-. Dimmesdale is damning Hester. As you read further into the story Hester and Pearl move out into an old pioneer cabin and remain there for several years. This is where Hester begins to embrace the letter A while Dimmesdale is doing the exact opposite and is just feeling worse about what he has done.
After about 7 years of not telling anyone about of what he did, Dimmesdale starts to become physically ill. He even starts to cause self-harm to himself out of shame and guilt. This is the where the peak of his hidden guilt is at.
In Mr. Dimmesdale’s secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody Scourge. Oftentimes, this Protestant and Puritan divine had piled it on his own shoulders; laughing bitterly at himself the while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh. (111)
I think that this is the evil side of Dimmesdale, I think that after suffering as much as he has that it begins to affect your judgement and that is why he keeps a -“bloody scourge”- in his -“secret closet”-. Don’t get me wrong, the suffering that Dimmesdale is going through is completely his own doing. It also sounds like there is another personality inside Dimmesdale -”laughing bitterly at himself”- . I think that this second personality inside him was created by guilt.
Hester and Dimmesdale are sitting in the forest having a conversation. The author makes the setting have an eerie, mysterious, sense to it. Dimmesdale is telling Hester that he can’t go on the way he is. He knows that Roger Chillingworth would expose Dimmesdale to the whole town if he found out. He eventually breaks down to Hester;
‘And I!-how am I to live longer, breathing the same air with this deadly enemy?’ exclaimed Arthur Dimmesdale, shrinking within himself, and pressing his hand nervously against his heart,- gesture that had grown involuntary with him. ‘Think for me Hester! Thou art strong. Resolve for me! (151) Dimmesdale is terrified of Chillingworth. He even exclaimed -”breathing the same air with this deadly enemy”- He is scared that Chillingworth is catching on that Dimmesdale is Hester’s secret lover and that if he official knows that he’ll expose it to the whole town. Which would inevitably ruin Dimmesdale's political image in the town and he would lose all that he had worked for. He also addresses that Hester is emotionally/mentally stronger than him -”Thou art strong. Resolve for me!”- Dimmesdale is at a very low place right now-”shrinking within himself”- This is the part where he realizes that he can’t keep going on hiding his guilt and his secret from everybody. This is Election day for the town.This is Dimmesdale’s biggest sermon that he’ll ever do and presumably his last. Everybody in the crowd can tell that Dimmesdale is very sick and is close to death. This is where Dimmesdale tells everyone about him and Hester and accepts his guilt and himself.
With a convulsive motion, he tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed! But it were irreverent to describe that revelation. For an instant, the gaze of the horror-stricken multitude was concentrated on the ghastly miracle; while the minister stood, with a flush of triumph in his face, as one who, in the crisis of acutest pain, had won a victory. (196-197)
This is a very dramatic part in the story. Dimmesdale reveals the letter A that is on his chest-”It was revealed!”- Everyone one was -”horror-stricken”- and were confused because what he did was -”irreverent to describe that revelation”-. This was closure for Dimmesdale in a way because he finally got to reveal the truth about him and Hester. The overwhelming guilt that he also had was set free -”won a victory”- even though at first no one really knew what was going on this was a very important turning point for Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale starts out as being the person who convicts Hester.
He is also the person who damns her because she wouldn't say who her lover was when really it was him. Thats when the secret guilt inside of Dimmesdale started. It got so bad to where he started to scourge himself with wips. He eventually becomes very ill because of this overwhelming guilt that he has and breaks down to Hester and tells her that he can’t go one the way he is. Eventually Dimmesdale reveals to everyone the truth about him and Hester and their secret affair. 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 process frees him to come to peace with what he did and accept his guilt and
himself.