Arthur Dimmesdale's Internal Conflict In The Scarlet Letter

Penance vs. Penitence In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes of the hypocrisy of the Puritans in the 1600’s. He expresses the hardships of Hester Prynne and her adulterous lover, Authur Dimmesdale, who is also the town’s preacher. Because Reverend Dimmesdale is a very noble preacher, he has to persist with the guilt of his sin and continue to preach how one should live a holy and pure lifestyle.

Beowulf: The Evil within the Anglo-Saxon Culture and the Modern Culture In the epic Beowulf, the eponymous hero, Beowulf, from Geat land comes to the rescue of Hrothgar, the king of Danes, whose land is being attacked by a malicious massive monster known as Grendel. The eponymous hero succeeds at defeating Grendel, killing him with his bare hands, as a show of his power. The song Demons by Imagine Dragons talks about difficult times and defeating internal evil. The narrator is putting forth a valiant effort to defend someone from suffering from the demon inside of him.

The first thing I learned was how keeping a secret from everyone destroys a person. “This feeble and most sensitive of spirits could do neither, yet continually did one thing or another, which intertwined, in the same inextricable knot, the agony of heaven-defying guilt and vain repentance” (Page 144). This quote is showing how Dimmesdale’s guilt and secret is destroying him, and turning him into a madman of sorts. I think this lesson still hold true in our society today. A majority of people have a very strong conscious, and when they are guilty of something, or they have a major secret and they don’t tell anyone, it will tend to destroy the person.

In order to reveal Dimmesdale's sorrowful nature. Hawthorne describes the different actions the poor minister takes in order to attempt to atone for his sins such as “[fasting]” and his use of a “bloody scourge” he genuinely believed that this would help to purify himself of his sins and to relieve the burden that he was forced to bear upon his shoulders, however his attempts to atone ultimately lead to even more torment. Hawthorne discloses this by describing Dimmesdale’s visions of the “herd of diabolic shapes, that grinned and mocked at the pale minister” this further reveals the utter anguish that he is going through another example of this is the vision of his mother “turning her face away as she passed by” the emotional

In Heather James’ Fire, the first novel of the Elements of Power trilogy, she explains the consequences of isolating and secluding oneself: “Seclusion wasn't good for anyone; it made you forget how to protect yourself.”  Seclusion can range from being alienated by other people, to staying in solitude, to isolating oneself on purpose. While people often go into seclusion with a motive or a reason, they can end up with negative traits because of it. This theme of isolation is discussed and implied in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works of literature, especially The Scarlet Letter and “The Minister’s Black Veil.” In these works, Hawthorne elaborates on how different methods of isolation have their negative tolls on the different characters that experience

The title of this book is Dante’s Inferno and is written by Dante Alighieri. Dante’s Inferno was first published in 1317 and fits into the genre of an epic poem. The setting of this story is mostly hell in the year 1300. The author of this poem has a very moral tone. The two most prominent characters in this poem are Dante and Virgil.

While Dimmesdale was being interrogated verbally but mentally as well by the malevolent physician Roger Chillingworth. The physician was becoming very aggravated by the pastor’s replies and therefore left. Dimmesdale looked out of the window and saw Chillingworth standing at the same location as Pearl, the devil spawn. Chillingworth left something on the grave then proceeded to his room. The ailing pastor forced his failing body to walk to the grave.

Consequently, Arthur Dimmesdale is the cause of Hester Prynne's shame for he is the man whom Hester loves. No one knows he is the father of Pearl, Hester won't say and he isn't strong enough to speak up. He struggles with this knowledge that Hester is being punished and not him. The only truth that continued to give Mr. Dimmesdale a real existence on this earth was the anguish in his inmost soul, and the undissembled expression of it in his aspect, (Hawthorne 142). Being a minister of God the citizens look up to him, and he feels guilty about his hidden sin.

Young Goodman Brown believes that he lives in the most perfect world where all is good, and no evil exists. Although, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” tells a twisted story of a newlywed learning of all the evil that is in this world. In the end, the narrative reveals that many people give in to temptation and sin. In this case, the devil himself persuades town members into sinning against their beliefs, and eventually Young Goodman Brown himself. Hawthorne puts an unusual twist on the beliefs of Puritans showing that not one human being is as faithful to their religion as they claim to be because of temptation which leads to sin.

Throughout history, social status plays a significant role in the way people are treated. The Scarlet Letter is a novel with a clear distinction between the lives of those who are in the upper class and those in the lower class. Author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ancestors were firm believers in Puritanism. Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter to portray the one-sided ideology of societies that allow socioeconomic status to determine how people are treated, and as a call for change to diminish this unfair treatment. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the disparity between the treatment of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in order to establish that it is unjust to treat people differently simply due to their social status and that

In the book The scarlet letter , Nathaniel Hawthorne questions the reader by questioning whether it is okay to punish sinners since we all have committed sins. Scarlet letter takes place in massachustes in new england in the time of colonization of the new world.at the time massachustes is very religious and the church has alot of power over the people, they control almost evry aspect of their life and punish thoose who commit sins. Dimmesdale is the head of the church in salem massachusetts and he is defined by how people admired him and how people liked him, this traits affect the theme and other characters in the story because it makes dimmesdale look pure and sin free making people make wrong assumption and decisions when it come to dimmesdale. At the beginning of the book Dimmesdale is liked by his community and is well respected.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” the basic structure for the novel is also provided by the scaffold scenes because everything else revolves around what happens during these scenes. Each scaffold scene foreshadows the next and brings about a greater understanding of the story itself. In the Scarlett Letter, Hawthorne uses these scenes to bring together the major characters and bring attention to the scarlet letter "A" on Hester Prynne and the significance of both her and her relations with Dimmesdale as well as the influence of Pearl on the entire story. The first scaffold scene gives the reader insight as to what the story is going to depict and how sin and guilt play major factors in the characters' lives.

Have you ever thought how blaming someone could cause problems for you and others? In The Scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne was blamed for being an adulteress and even took the blame for Dimmesdale, who didn’t say anything for seven years, which made him feel guilty about not revealing to truth. Many readers believe blame doesn’t affect anyone. Blame and guilt affected Dimmesdale’s life throughout the book, and you see countless amounts of blaming during the presidential debate. In my life I have blamed people for my mistakes and regretted it.