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 the first scaffold scene Dimmesdale is aware of his guilt and hypocrisy when he questions Hester but is too cowardly to confess his sin. Hester, while holding her child, stands in front of the public on the scaffold enduring humiliation and trial from the authorities of the town, in which they insist upon her to reveal the child’s father. Even Dimmesdale, as one of the authorities, says to her, “what can thy silence do for him, except… to add hypocrisy to sin?” However, she is unwilling to speak his name. Dimmesdale acts with great dishonesty and cowardice, deceiving the public into believing that he is not in the wrong - that he is a wise and benevolent pastor. He allows Hester to suffer the pain and humiliation alone. With this first stage of guilt, Dimmesdale only falls deeper into the sin he has committed.…
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…
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…
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…
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 scaffold was the only place where Dimmesdale could go to and apologize for his sin, guilt and escape his persecutor's commands. Dimmesdale committed a sin that was frowned upon by god but convinced himself that not confessing his sin was protecting the townspeople. Hester had countless opportunities to name her fellow sinner but she choose not to.…
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.…
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.…
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.…
Hawthorne often places Dimmesdale’s character amongst the shadows, concealing him and the secret. If those surrounding him were to discover his disgraceful act, he could lose everything. By staying hidden in the heavy folds of the curtain, Dimmesdale withholds his actions and emotions while residing out of the sunlight cast upon the floor. Correspondingly, once the first opportunity passed for telling his secret, Dimmesdale took it upon himself to ensure no one uncovered the truth because of his job. His sin suddenly becomes a considerably heavier burden than Hester’s.…
The scene in the story where the colony finds Dimmesdale 's sock on the scaffold is a good representation of how high Dimmesdale 's pedestal is in their mind. Though the people know whose sock they 've found they force the thought that it 's the devil 's because they are so deep in with their minister that believing that he 's sinned makes their believes 'lies '. These people, who should be a comfort for Dimmesdale, because he has a following that loves him, are really what end up killing him in the end because the reason he couldn 't confess was because he wanted their approval; also, they make him feel guilty for lying to them since they have so much faith in him. Another way society pulls him is by punishing Hester as much as they did. Dimmesdale feels guilty because he gets off clean and squeaky while Hester gets a life full of ridicule for her and their daughter. This affects him so much because he feels like she wouldn 't be in the situation if not for him; also because Hester let him off the hook and took all the humiliation on herself and he wasn 't even enough of a man to step up and admit to what he did on his on accord. If society was softer on Hester he wouldn 't have been so consumed by his…
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…
Physically, his sin caused him to look like “an emaciated figure, his thin cheek, his white, heavy, pain-wrinkled brow” (149); he had become so physically pathetic from the guilt which tore at him internally. Dimmesdale’s method of repentance was much worse than Hester’s, both emotionally and physically. Emotionally, Dimmesdale was deeply torn over his moral responsibilities to himself and his responsibility to the community, ultimately refusing to confront his sin and redeem himself. Instead, he attempts to justify and convince himself that he is refusing to “display [himself] black and filthy in the view of men...because, thenceforward...no evil of the past be redeemed by better service” (91). Dimmesdale refuses to expose his secret in fear of losing the his role and respect in the Puritan community. He laments the relief that he has seen in “sinful brethren...who at last draw free air, after long stifling with his own polluted breath” (90), as he is both physically and emotionally pained by the stifling of his guilt. However, contradicting his own morals--based in the Puritan religion--and those that vest right action and right thought in Hester, Dimmesdale continues to suppress his guilt in an attempt to maintain his prestigious standing within the…
When Dimmesdale stands upon the pulpit, trying to fess up, he begins to worry, “Would not the people start up in their seats… and tear him down from the pulpit which he defiled… They heard it all, and but did reverence him more” (P.99). Dimmesdale half-heartedly tries to confess, never fully willing to commit to revealing his secret but receives no input from the town who loves him. Thus, he creates an excuse for himself and denies his sin. Though there is an attempt at confession, he ultimately does not profess his crime, thus continuing his denial. When sat in front of the town, “Mr. Dimmesdale was thinking of his grave, he questioned himself whether the grass would ever grow on it, because in a cursed thing must there be buried” (P.98). Dimmesdale’s guilt shows as he ponders upon his grave, he feels massive guilt that causes him pain, yet he does not disclose his mistakes. He battles himself with immense shame, but faithfully chooses to harbor pain within himself over facing the consequences of his adultery. With Dimmesdale’s reluctance to divulge his misdeed, he contrasts with…