Reverend Dimmesdale In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale is struggling with publicizing his sin so that he can seek forgiveness. Dimmesdale and hester have committed adultery, and Pearl is the result. He also struggles because the community keeps referring to him as a holy man because he is a minister of the town, but no one knows the truth except Hester. As the storyline progresses in The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale is a silent sufferer, then a secret, guilt-ridden sinner, and finally a tortured, broken confessor.
In the first scaffold scene Reverend Dimmesdale is a silent sufferer, and he just sits back and watches what is going on. Dimmesdale is very ashamed of the sin he has committed; therefore, he does not want
to come out and say it was him who got Hester pregnant. Dimmesdale preaches "If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer!" (Hawthorne 73). He knows that if he says that he is the father of Pearl his reputation as the minister will be ruined, and everyone in the town will hate him. Dimmesdale is caught in a situation he does not want to be in, he could just let Hester suffer, or he could confess and suffer with Hester. Dimmesdale knows he is in the wrong and he should confess and risk his reputation, but he does not confess to the community, which does not bother Hester much. He is secretly suffering, knowing his actions. Dimmesdale says to Hester "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, except it tempt him —yea, compel him, as it were —to add hypocrisy to sin?”(Hawthorne 73). Dimmesdale is saying this even though he knows who did it. He starts leaning towards telling people about the sin he committed. Dimmesdale is a secret guilt-ridden sinner who is feeling guilty for his actions but still does not want to confess.
By this time Dimmesdale knows how much pain Hester has been in, and how hard it has been for her not to tell people that is was Dimmesdale. Pearl asks Dimmesdale when he is going to join her on the scaffold, and he says “At the great judgment day,” whispered the minister—and, strangely enough, the sense that he was a professional teacher of truth impelled him to answer the child so. “Then, and there, before the judgment seat, thy mother, and thou, and I, must stand together. But the daylight of this world shall not see our meeting!” (Hawthorne 149). Pearl knows that Dimmesdale is her father, and she is confused as to why he is not standing with her and Hester on the scaffold. This makes Dimmesdale feel more guilty because now he knows he is not telling the whole truth and he is being questioned by Pearl why he is not standing with them. Dimmesdale does mark himself, he marks himself with an “A” on his chest under his clothing. No one knows he is doing this until he falls asleep and Chillingworth lifts up his shirt and sees that he marking himself with this “A”. Chillingworth goes and examines him, “But what distinguished the physicians ecstasy from Satan’s was the trait of wonder in it” (Hawthorne 136). This proves that Dimmesdale feels guilty about what he does and he is mentally and physically going through more pain than Hester has to go
through. Seven years later, in the final scaffold scene, Dimmesdale decides to confess; he goes and stands on the stand with Pearl and Hester. On election day Dimmesdale was asked to give a speech, and his speech focuses on the relationship between God’s relationship with the human community, in the article it says “he insists on viewing the world as the creation of a merciful Providence” (Twayne 5). Reverend Dimmesdale proceeds to ask Hester and Pearl to join him on the scaffold, which then everyone realizes that it was Dimmesdale, even though this whole time he has been giving speeches about the person needing to confess. When they are on the scaffold in the final scaffold scene, Reverend Dimmesdale says “May God forgive thee! Thou, too, hast deeply sinned” (Hawthorne 238). The minister is asking for forgiveness for him and Hester. The minister knows God has given them the chance to make things right, which was standing on the scaffold with Hester. This is the scene that Dimmesdale dies, His guilt and his confessing are what kills him; there was no medical reasoning for him dying. Dimmesdael says “Had either of these agonies been wanting, I had been lost forever! Praised be his name! His will be done! Farewell!” (Hawthorne 239). Dimmesdale is saying how he had been lost for a while, but realizes he was lying to himself and lying to God. Now that he has come forward about his sin, he is saying God has gotten what he wants; he wanted the minister to confess to the town. Dimmesdale has become a tortured, broken confessor in the last scaffold scene. It is election day, Dimmesdale’s day to make his big speech. He focuses his speech on mercy, and God forgiving. After this speech Hester and Dimmesdale are now standing side by side with Pearl on the scaffold.