One spontaneous but significant mistake made by Arther Dimmesdale caused him to live the rest of his life crawling with guilt. Arthur Dimmesdale, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, had an affair with a married woman, and that crime ruined the lives of almost everyone in the novel. The Scarlet Letter remains a classic to this day because it emphasizes harsh penance which highlights the difference between the treatment of sinners today and those during the 17th century. The way Puritans view sin and guilt cause Dimmesdale’s life to come to an unfortunate end. Puritans believe in harshly disciplining sinners and criminals, which inspired ever-growing fear in Dimmesdale. Presently, adultery is not considered illegal, but in the 1600s …show more content…
First of all, the townspeople believe that Dimmesdale is unquestionably sublime. Everything he declares appears to make them revere him greater than before, and nothing he says changes their mind. Even when Dimmesdale announces that he is “the greatest sinner among you,” the townspeople suppose he is acting humble. Also, keeping a secret from the townspeople leaves him feeling more guilty with every passing day. He admits that there remains a “contrast between what I seem and what I am.” This refers to Dimmesdale’s beliefs that the townspeople honor him only because he keeps secrets from them. Lastly, his guilt from misleading the townspeople tempts him to announce his crime. However, Dimmesdale cannot explain to them his misdeed, or he will lose everything he has, including his reputation. Lastly, when Hester and he congregate in the woods, she suggests that he takes comfort in the people’s reverence of him. However, he answers that it brings him “only the more misery.” Because Dimmesdale fears letting the townspeople down, his guilt festers with the their admiration of …show more content…
For example, when Hester finally disclosed that Dimmesdale’s enemy lives with him, he refrained from revealing Chillingworth’s identity. Releasing that information allures him, but he hid his identity because Chillingworth would have turned him in as a result. Secondly, Dimmesdale decides to disclose his secret to the town one night. Yet, instead of waiting until the next morning when the everybody would notice, he scampered to the scaffold in the dead of night. If he truly intended to undertake the confession, the following morning prevails as the most appropriate choice. Instead, he climbed on the scaffold immediately in an attempt for instant relief from his persistent guilt. His plea for instant relief manifested itself in the release of “an outcry that went pealing through the night.” Finally, when Dimmesdale receives a chance to be free once and for all, he abolishes it as well as all hope of freedom from his chains of guilt. On Reverend Wilson’s way home from Governor Winthrop’s deathbed, he treads right past the scaffold upon which Dimmesdale stands. Unsurprisingly, he did not speak a word to expose his position, and Dimmesdale remained anonymous in the most public location in town. He indicates throughout the novel that he wants to confess; however, his actions insinuate otherwise. Dimmesdale would rather struggle with his guilt than risk losing his
In chapter 11 especially Dimmesdale struggles to come to terms with his sin and it weighs heavily on him but he is still not willing to sacrifice his respect within the community. Dimmesdale struggles to come to terms with his sin because he knows that he will be unable to fully redeem himself if he continues to hide his sin from puritan society but he feels extremely conflicted because he doesn't want to sacrifice his reputation. ”They deemed the young clergyman a miracle of holiness. They fancied him the mouth-piece of Heaven’s messages of wisdom, and rebuke, and love. In their eyes, the very ground on which he trod was sanctified”(pg.94).
Dimmesdale’s True Colors Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, also the father of Hester’s child, showed prominent parts of his character throughout the story. The first trait the reader becomes aware of is Dimmesdale’s cowardice. He has no intentions of revealing his sin to the public, due to how highly he is seen in the community’s eyes. Remorse, or guilt, is another term that can be associated with Dimmesdale, growing increasingly more prominent as the novel goes on. Cowardice, a lacking of bravery when facing danger, was a trait that Dimmesdale carried.
Similarly to Pastor Hooper, although he was not physically isolated, Arthur Dimmesdale’s internal struggle regarding his sin was able to seclude him from the rest of society. He had a different state of mind compared to everyone else due to his inability to confess his adulterous sin. Hawthorne also shows the struggles he went through and the perceptions others had of him which made it harder for him to confess. In Chapter 3, “The Recognition,” regarding Dimmesdale, Reverend John Wilson states “‘But he opposes to me that it were wronging the very nature of woman to force her to lay open her heart’s secrets in such broad daylight, and in presence of so great a multitude. Truly, as I sought to convince him, the shame lay in the commission of the sin, and not in the showing of it forth’” (63).
He goes to the church and preaches about how awful sin is but his need to be accepted and adored by his town shadow his duty to God. The seven years of mental torture and physical breakdown that follow are because of his own doings. Dimmesdale is selfish and knows that no secret punishment self-inflicted will gain him forgiveness but he continues for a temporary feeling of relief. As Dimmesdale craves acceptance from his town despite the lies he holds so does Mary Warren in Miller’s The Crucible.
In The Scarlet Letter, the strictly Puritan townspeople of Boston view sin as the ultimate and most irredeemable offense. Arthur Dimmesdale, a highly revered minister among the people of Boston, refrains from confessing his adultery to the public for the entirety of seven years. Throughout this expanse of time, Dimmesdale rises to the ministerial pulpit on hundreds of occasions to tell “his hearers that he was altogether vile, a viler companion of the vilest, the worst of sinners, an abomination, a thing of unimaginable iniquity,” but on each occasion, he refuses to fully disclose the details of the sin he has committed (Hawthorne 99). Dimmesdale omits this aspect, fearing that the truth of his adultery will irreversibly destroy the public’s view of his character and his status as minister. Upon the revelation of the scandalous truth, his entire congregation could turn away from him, leading Dimmesdale to withhold the details in hopes maintaining his following.
Dimmesdale truthfully wants and feels the need to reveal his sins, however because he is afraid of the backlash, he cannot. Afterwards he goes on to argue how there is “ ‘no power short of the Divine mercy’ “ that could reveal the secrets hidden in someone’s heart (123). Due to Dimmesdale’s profession of ministry he believes that divine powers are the only ones who can reveal secrets. The Divine mercy is this higher power that nothing can compare to, and its power is so immense that it is the only way to get a secret revealed from someone's heart. Dimmesdale also tells Chillingworth that many men may choose not to confess their sins because they don’t want to be “ ‘displaying themselves black and filthy’ “ (124) as in Puritan society, many things were considered sins, and sinning was the worst thing that could possibly be done.
Although it is not stated in the text, Dimmesdale, similar to which is further elaborated on by Mary Diorio. She discusses the issues that Dimmesdale faces, such as how being a preacher and a man of God is pulling him down. Diorio demonstrates the challenge Dimmesdale must face, ultimately deciding that “His fear of losing his good reputation is greater than his love for Hester. (Diorio
Dimmesdale thinks about this even more throughout the novel. When he meets with Hester and Pearl in the woods he comes to the conclusion that he needs to tell the truth to the townspeople with Hester and Pearl at his side. When Dimmesdale does tell the townspeople that he committed adultery they do not believe him. After failing to convince them, Dimmesdale dies with a heavy heart. Although, they don’t judge him as harshly as they did Hester.
He tries to confess to the public but ends up failing every time. This leads to a problem where the people start having sympathy for Dimmesdale; they fail to understand the significance of his confession and the minister disapproves of that. The more he tried to reveal the truth, the more sympathy the society felt for him and the more holy they claimed he was. But the more he felt sympathy, the more he’d hate himself. Hawthorne creates a loop for him that Dimmesdale can escape.
He knows that if he reveals what he has done, then his followers will lose their respect for him. He is burdened with his sin; therefore, he inflicts pain upon himself for his wrongdoing. Dimmesdale goes as far as having vigils all night, being tortured by “diabolic shapes,” and emaciating and whipping himself. Dimmesdale punishes himself because he wants to repent for the sin that he has committed.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale commits a mortal sin by having an affair with a married woman, Hester Prynne. As a man of the cloth in Puritan society, Dimmesdale is expected to be the embodiment of the town’s values. He becomes captive to a self-imposed guilt that manifests from affair and his fear that he won’t meet the town’s high expectations of him. In an attempt to mitigate this guilt, Dimmesdale acts “piously” and accepts Chillingworth’s torture, causing him to suffer privately, unlike Hester who repented in the eyes of the townspeople. When Dimmesdale finally reveals his sin to the townspeople, he is able to free himself from his guilt.
Erin Joel Mrs. Janosy English 2H P 5 22 October 2015 Quote Explication Dimmesdale is trying to overcome a conflict within his own soul, defying his own religion, and choosing to do wrong by keeping his sin to himself. In a theocracy type community like Dimmesdale's, God is known as the supreme civil ruler, and a crime would be known as a sin. On the other hand, Hester’s sin was made known to the public, receiving the public shame and ridicule she deserved. During the duration of time when the public knew Dimmesdale was hiding his sin, “the agony with which this public tortured him” (Hawthorne 119).
Dimmesdale starts living with Chillingworth so the doctor can keep the feeble minister ‘healthy’; the doctor, reversely, tries to make Dimmesdale feel conflicted about his morals which leads to Dimmesdale obsessively whipping himself “...on his own shoulders” and“... fast[ing]...in order to purify [his] body… rigorously...until his knees trembled beneath him[self]...” (132). He is enveloped in his sin, and cannot escape it unless he tells the truth. In fact, Dimmesdale could not stop thinking about his sin which “...continued to give Mr. Dimmesdale a real existence [which] was the anguish in his inmost soul” (133).
It is similar to keeping an agonizing virus inside of your body. Hawthorne finds a skillful outlet to speak on this truth through Dimmesdale. Hawthorne uses Dimmesdale to not only show that everybody has transgressions deep beneath their skin, but he also shows how wretched it makes a man feel. Dimmesdale was a very respected and accomplished clergyman at this time. In a flurry of ardent love Dimmesdale had an adulterous affair with the main character Hester.
This remark implies that Dimmesdale’s morality revolves around his self-conscience and what is right and wrong in the eyes of society and his social status as a clergymen. He demands Hester to exploit him for his actions in taking part of the adultery scenario with Hester. With respect to Kohlberg’s level of moral reasoning, he is at stage 4 “Maintaining the Social Order” for risking his entire reputation as a respected man in society over the action of one sin. Then, in Chapter 10 by now most of the Puritan society built suspicion of Chillingworth as a devil seeking to take ill Dimmesdale's soul. Since Chillingworth was first seen god like for his knowledge in medical care, he was truly valued by the Puritan society.