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.
Arthur Dimmesdale was the town minister in The Scarlet Letter, a story of a young woman who committed adultery and faced the consequences, such as wearing a scarlet “A” on her chest. Dimmesdale was a very interesting character because he was very religious but also committed a sin that haunted him everyday. He also happened to be the man who was involved in the young woman’s adultery. He was never convicted, however he still faced the consequences everyday. Dimmesdale was a man of God.
Should names and labels put on people always be believed? If these labels are believed, is the name always true? Puritans, as a collective people should be exactly as they sound, pure. The reality of their society, however, is not. Some may say that they are perhaps the most judgmental and unaccepting society to have ever lived in America.
Within the “Scarlet Letter”, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Dimsdale to show how hiding a sin can destroy a person's life . Dimmesdale's character developed dramatically through the 7 year time period. His character traits such as religion pruty, respect ,changes ,and tragic hero transforms throughout the story . Primarily, Dimmesdale’s religion is a main component in his life .He is a minister which automatically grants him to heaven. The fear he has with god keeps him a well grounded person.
There are many changes in peoples character in the scarlet letter, one of those characters is Arthur Dimmesdale. The sin Dimmesdale committed was great, he slept with a woman who was married. Hester became pregnant and admitted her sin, while Dimmesdale did not. This causes him to have a great deal of stress and guilt come over him. Which he, being a puritan minister makes it worse.
Whether this hidden duality is shown or not, it is always present no matter who or what the subject may be. Duality is shown to not only be a large portion of current society, but it has a massive effect on a fictional, yet realistic community from 17th century Massachusetts Bay. All throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter characters and symbols representing duality have been present, taking shape in important characters such as Hester Prynne, Pearl, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale, as well as objects such as the rose bush, the scaffold, and the forest. One of these symbols is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the Puritan Priest of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dimmesdale is seen
However, he also uses these allusions to create a new side to his narrative as evident when he describes Hester’s resilience, and to create a new element in the plot as evident in his description of Dimmesdale’s penance and need for redemption. Therefore, Hawthorne demonstrates an effective use of allusions to craft a religious and detailed narrative for The Scarlet Letter by reviewing on parallels between the Bible and the novel’s main characters. There’s more to The Scarlet Letter than these allusions though, and there are many questions to answer about this book. These questions may never be answered fully, but by reading the novel itself, we might find the right places to start searching for answers and formulate our own opinions on the matter. What’s important from this novel is the realistic warning about what might happens when an individual place themselves too highly among others, a message Hawthorne writes to warn against the fervor of transcendentalism of his time.
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, one of the protagonists of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, stands as a highly conflicted character. The source of his divide stems from the consequences of private sins, and is prevalent within the first paragraphs of Chapter 12, “The Minister’s Vigil,” where the narration chronicles Dimmesdale’s surroundings as he dream walks through the town in a state of limbo. He is portrayed as a model citizen who lacks moral imperfections to the general public yet suffers privately from the juxtaposition of his sins to his position within the community. In this specific passage, Hawthorne uses somber diction and imagery to illustrate Dimmesdale’s strife, while portraying his internal conflict through the formation
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.
Many characters from The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, changed throughout the progression of the novel, — including Chillingworth, Hester, and even Pearl herself. No character, however, has changed as much as Dimmesdale has. Towards the beginning of the novel, Dimmesdale tries to ignore his sinful actions. Near the middle of the book, the clergyman, with the ‘help’ of Chillingworth, is able to realize his wrongdoings, and starts obsessively thinking of those wrongdoings. Around the end of the novel, with the help of the forest’s freedom, is able to finally repent correctly for his sin.
Term gender role is described as a set of social norms of what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate or desirable for a person based on their sex ussualy centered around opposing conceptions of femininity and masculinity. Gender roles traditionally were often divided into distinct feminine and masculine gender roles, until especially the twentieth century when these roles diversified into many different acceptable male or female roles in modernized countries throughout the world. Gender roles are closely linked with gender stereotypes.
The Scarlet Letter Essay Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale were two of the main sinners in The Scarlet Letter. Both characters kept their sins secrete throughout the story. These sins included adultery, revenge, and even murder. Out of the two sinners, Chillingworth was the worst, because he never felt guilt for the terrible things he was doing. Dimmesdale spent his entire life in guilt and remorse for the sins he had committed (“Who”).
The exploration of societal pressures. Life can be separated into two equal parts totally independent from one another. The inner self, being the innermost thoughts and feelings of the individual, and the outer self, how the individual decides to conduct itself around the others in society. Often times one of these parts takes control of the other, suppressing its partner. The suppression is often not of equal frequency because of the obligation humans feel to be liked and to fit in causes the outermost self to be given the most thought and worry.
Literary Devices in The Scarlet Letter Literary devices are often used to capture a reader’s attention in a text. Nathaniel Hawthorne used many different types of literary devices in his book The Scarlet Letter. He uses symbolism to give hidden meaning to elements in the story, conflict to make the story interesting, and allusion to make references to historical events (ex. biblical references). While reading The Scarlet Letter, the literary devices did not jump out at me, but now as I reflect upon them they help me understand the book well. Literary devices can make a passage have a whole different meaning.
Psychological Nature Today the world now has medications, therapy, and much more to treat psychological diseases and disorders. Psychological nature is the nature of someone affecting the mind. The psychological nature is very important essentially it is not just affecting someone’s mind but there whole body and the wellbeing of that person.