Preview

Character Analysis of Dimmesdale in the Scarlet Letter

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
542 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Character Analysis of Dimmesdale in the Scarlet Letter
Character Analysis of Dimmesdale in the Scarlet Letter

The character this paper is analyzing is reverend Dimmesdale, because through out the story reverend Dimmesdale made some dramatic changes in his life. In the beginning of the story, Reverend Dimmesdale was a quiet but great man, adored by others and worshiped by many. Toward the middle and the end of the story Reverend Dimmesdale changed as each chapter went on. Reverend Dimmesdale was killing slowly by keeping something within him that make him feel guilt and anguish each and everyday.

By Reverend Dimmesdale keeping something within, he felt extremely guilty and not functioning to his full potential, isolating himself did not do any better, as a matter of fact, isolating himself from the rest of the world began to eat away his feelings. Everybody in Salem looked up to and idolized lost his dignity and the trust of the people in the town in due time.

Before Reverend Dimmesdale even had problems or stress and anguish, Reverend Dimmesdale preached to the people of Salem with all of his heart and might. Reverend Dimmesdale was a person you could talk to for the first time and you know you just made a new companion. Reverend Dimmesdale was a very honorable man filled with a preacher’s faith. The perspective that I had was he was one of the main characters or an important secondary character.

Even though he kept his secret within himself, somebody close to him found out what was wrong with Reverend Dimmesdale and is going to use that to his advantage to torture and torment Reverend Dimmesdale. Mr. Chillingworth, Reverend Dimmesdale’s personal companion within his quarters found out by opening his shirt and finding an “A” carved into Reverend Dimmesdale’s chest, an “A” across the chest in these days usually meant that somebody committed a sin or something that is not acceptable in the town.

Without knowledge that Mr. Chillingworth knew his secret. Reverend Dimmesdale gave in to every word and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Dimmesdale carved his scarlet letter into his chest permanently in hope that he would never forget nor forgive himself for his sin. Dimmesdale was a coward and hid his away for no one to…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 175 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dimmesdale inhabits the shame brought on by religiosity. After sinning twice, first the adultery he commit with Hester and second by lying and hiding the first, Dimmesdale wallows in his own guilt. He begins to have visions of Hester and Pearl pointing out his guilt and of members of the community mocking him. He wishes to stand with Hester and Pearl on the scaffold. He wishes to tell his congregation, "to speak out, from his own pulpit, at the full height of his voice, and tell the people what he was" (125), but he hides this and the guilt gnaws at him. It gnaws at him until…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever hated someone? Do you wish something terrible would happen to that person? That is exactly the feeling you have when reading the Scarlet Letter. Roger Chillingworth is Hester Prynne's husband. He is a physician, but he is not your ordinary friendly doctor. Chillingworth works for "the Black Man" and tortures what we learn later to be Hester's "baby daddy", who is also a minister for the local church, Reverend Dimmesdale. Your hatred doesn't develop after reading the first chapter. Your opinion is formed steadily, and your anger grows more intensely. Chillingworth is the most hated character in the Scarlet Letter because he's blind, has control issues, and is revengeful.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The pain Dimmesdale went through was clearly depicted in the book and it was obvious that he was getting weaker gradually. Danforth, however, suffered mostly mentally because he had to bear with the decisions he made. Dimmesdale, a God's man and the minister of the town committed a sin. Because he could not confess his wrongdoings, he was forced to punish himself. "In Mr. Dimmesdale's secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge." (Hawthorne 141) From this quote it is clear that Dimmesdale tortured himself. He felt guilty for breaking God's law therefore he punished himself causing deterioration in his physical and spiritual condition. As the book progressed, Dimmesdale became weaker. If he did not feel so strongly about God, he would not feel guilty for what he did with Hester and would definitely not harm himself physically. Similar to Dimmesdale, Danforth was also eaten away by his guilt. During the witch-hunt, most of those that were accused were condemned by Danforth. He interpreted laws strictly based on the Bible, however when he realized that those who were condemned were actually innocent, it was too late for him to take back his…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    >Dimmesdale is a complete hypocrite. He preaches about resisting sin and temptation, while he can’t even do that himself. He is supposed to be a Puritan Society example, but follows a completely different lifestyle from what he preaches. He should have confessed his sin at the scaffold with Hester right from the start. Although it would still have been shameful, he could have, like Hester, redeemed himself in the eyes of the townspeople. Instead, he confesses everything seven years later, and…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    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.…

    • 100 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since his first encounter with Hester, Chillingworth promises himself and Hester that he will seek the man that partook in their sin and without and sympathy, make him suffer. Chillingworth cold-bloodedly poisoned Dimmesdale by pretending to be a helpful physician, which provided him opportunities that “turned to a cruel purpose” (Hawthorne 174). Chillingworth is hurt by Hester’s betrayal and therefore feels like he, in a way, has to return the pain by torturing Dimmesdale. In this time period, women were expected to wait for their husbands even when they were uncertain of their existence. Although it was Hester’s “responsibility” to anticipate their husband’s arrival, Dimmesdale, as a minister, should not have committed adultery with her, knowing that she was…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hester and Dimmesdale meet at the forest and have a conversation. Dimmesdale has been lying to the church officials and to the townspeople for the sin he has committed for seven years. To the townspeople, he is a respectable minister loved by everyone, but in reality, he is a sinner. Provided that, Dimmesdale feels relief speaking to Hester.…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reverent Dimmesdale 's journey through the story shows how his insecurities effect his decisions. Dimmesdale often let his thoughts of rejection from his life as a loved godly man take away from what he needed to do. He shows, by these actions, a want to be accepted that is so strong that it can overpower his churchly values. Dimmesdale 's inner-conflict with his conscience demonstrates how his need to fit in with society overpowers his value to have a pure repented heart.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He had arrived in Salem to do the Lord’s holy work, and he brought with him only the best and purest ideals of the religion he preaches in order to save the townspeople, yet those gifts he was confident in caused death and the wrongful spilling of blood. In confessing that he caused the tragic outcomes because he advocated for the presence of the Devil in Salem while he remained silent and willfully ignorant of the plausible doubt of the accused's guilt, he called for the evil within himself and the members of the town to…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scarlet Letter Hypocrisy

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Although Chillingworth moves in with him to help cure, it is clear that no medicine or religion can recover what he is suffering from. Dimmesdale believes that his recovery would be a working process if he admitted to the community but still does not admit to it. He understand that he, like Hester, is a symbol of something larger than himself. In his case he is a symbol of piety and goodness. Chillingworth takes advantage of all of Dimmesdale’s weaknesses. In chapter 11 he has no question about the minister’s quilt. He plans to wreak Dimmesdale emotionally which turns out to be…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pretending to be somebody else, by acting like them, in order to fit in or be popular is something that most people have done in their lives; however, this has always come back to bite them in the end. Similarly to how Dimmesdale did not show his true feelings and emotions in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, instead of letting people see what he was really feeling. This inner anguish is what made Dimmesdale so sickly and made the town believe he was ill and dying, when he was actually just feeling guilt for not owning up to his sin of adultery with Hester. Therefore, Dimmesdale’s outward conformity to the town’s values and beliefs while withholding his own values and beliefs led to his inevitable death proving that not being who you…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Many characters go through transformations in The Scarlet Letter, and one of those characters is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Author Nathaniel Hawthorne writes of a puritan society, and it is the laws of that society, both written and unwritten, that Dimmesdale breaks and which causes the changes to occur. He commits the sin of adultery, and by sleeping with Hester Prynne, breaks the laws that he is supposed to represent. He cannot admit his sin because he is a holy man, and admitting his sin would mean losing the faith of his congregation. Instead he struggles with his sin and tortures himself in an effort to gain forgiveness for what he has done. Dimmesdale is described as the worst of sinners, yet he is seen as the holiest man in his community. Dimmesdale's progression occurs throughout the story, but can be seen in three main parts. He first denies his sin, then he unwillingly accepts it, and finally he overcomes it. The three scaffold scenes can represent these three stages.…

    • 1288 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dimmesdale lived in secret with his guilt buried within him, while Hester lived out in the open with her sins and guilt displayed upon her chest. As a result, Dimmesdale underwent physical and emotional torment every day, allowing his conscience to suffer so much pain. Dimmesdale tried to find a way out of this life of guilt when he begged Hester to “be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him-yea, compel him, as it were- to add hypocrisy to sin?” (Hawthorne 65).Dimmesdale tried to convince Hester to help him reveal his sin. He so badly wanted to let his guilt free so that he was not internally tormented any longer. This shows that Dimmesdale is an internally fragile individual who needed help from Hester, an internally strong individual, furthering exhibiting the contrast between the two characters. Dimmesdale’s fragile inner state is shown further, and the contrast between he and Hester is developed even more when he asks, “‘Is not this better...than what we dreamed of in the forest?” Hester did not believe it was better for them to “both die, and little Pearl die with [them]” (Hawthorne 249). Dimmesdale was too afraid to live with his guilt, so he would rather die than do so. He was willing to let Hester and Pearl die for his hypocrisy, his sins, and his guilt. He was a good man at heart, but hypocrisy evidently had a very negative effect on his…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays