Dimmesdale's Responsibility For Sin In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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.

The relationship between Pearl and Reverend Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter is one that both intrigues the reader and keeps them wanting to find out more. At the beginning of the story nothing is very clear about Pearl’s father but as you read on there are many cues that lead you to Reverend Dimmesdale, the pastor of the church where Pearl’s mother, Hester Prynne, was a member. Through all the twists and turns there are a few things that stick out in the readers mind such as the progression of their relationship, the behavior and psychology of Pearl and how the novel could be seen as a story almost all about Pearl. The progression starts during the third chapter of the novel when Hester and her young child are on the scaffold to be publicly shamed for her adultery.

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!" (Hawthrone 277). This reply Dimmesdale gives to pearl when she asks him why he cannot stay with his mother and her together shows that even though Dimmesdale feels guilt and wants to make things right with Pearl and Hester. However, he still has a constant fear of what the public would think of him and the fear of losing his position in the church/society.

In 1964, Lawrence Kohlberg, a psychologist introduced the idea that humans evolved through different stages of morality. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne male characters exemplify a moral development as the story unfolds. In particular, Arthur Dimmesdale’s morality differs from the beginning of the novel to the ending of the novel. His morality undergoes continuity and change by constantly changing from selfishness, social order, and social contract. Dimmesdale undergoes the morality maintaining the social order and being considerate of others to eventually being selfish and only thinks about himself.

Effect of Sin and the Chance of Redemption Sin is a powerful action that has an everlasting consequence of guilt. Once done, the person wants to forget about his felonious actions; however, hopefully a person’s conscience is a constant, nagging reminder. In order to be free of the constant pain, redemption is pursued for even the person who sinned in public or private. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne proves that the truth of sin eventually need to be confronted in order for a person to stop suffering.

Irony in Dimmesdale’s Speech In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a woman named Hester Prynne committed adultery, resulting in a child in her Puritan community in the mid seventeenth century. Hester persistently denied the townspeople the name of the man who shares her guilt. This man, named Arthur Dimmesdale, given the hypocritical task to convince Hester to speak his very name often speaks ironically, with many double meanings.

While Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter certainly tells a compelling story, the novel also acts as a psychological study of sorts; delving deep into the minds of complex and troubled individuals. Each main character; Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, is confronted with their own predicament to which they all react distinctively. Their responses to Hester and Dimmesdale’s sin are constructed by their own distorted perceptions of the world due to the mental illnesses they are all troubled by. Each character’s method of retaliating, coping, or succumbing indirectly reveals the illogical patterns within their mind. In Hawthorne’s

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne explores recurring themes of suffering surrounding the main characters, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester and Dimmesdale both commit adultery with each other, and, as a result of this, both experience gruesome and occasionally unbearable forms of suffering. Though they undergo different forms of pain, both of their experiences are highly reliant on how the Puritan society treats them. Hester 's pain stems from the shame and estrangement she receives from the community, while Dimmesdale’s is due to the reverence with which the community regards him. Although, in spite of the fact that both Hester and Dimmesdale receive harsh penalty for their sin, by the end of the book, Hawthorne shows how their suffering is, in fact, the key to their salvation.

First and foremost is the role of romantic love in The Scarlet Letter, most prominently visible in the romance between Hester and Dimmesdale. While the reader is not afforded the opportunity of learning about the details of the affair, it is the most important driver of the events in the novel. It functions as the locus of virtually all the controversy the characters are forced to endure as Hester refuses to reveal the name of her lover, going so far as to say that “[Pearl] will never know an earthly father” (page 64). This action, noble as it may seem, raises innumerable questions among the townspeople and speaks volumes to the reader about Hester. Hester loves her lover more than she loves her own husband, a blasphemous act for Puritan New

The “A’” significance and manifestation all pertain to sin. The Scarlet Letter is a Book written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that shows the true meaning of sin and guilt through another person's life in puritan society. Hester Prynne a lonely women departed from her ugly husband in england,commits infidelity or adultery with local preacher Dimmsdale and has a daughter out of the sin that was committed. To punish Hester she was forced to where a Large “A’” on her breast,to let everyone know what she has done. The Letter “A’” has different meaning to different people throughout the book.

Hester and Dimmesdale are both forgiven because even though they did commit a sin they both confessed and apologized. When Hester and Dimmesdale are trying to leave, Hester takes off the letter and the sun shines on her, she lets her hair down and she is beautiful. “Her sex, her youth, and the whole richness of her beauty, came back from what men call the irrevocable past, and clustered themselves with her maiden hope, and a happiness before unknown, within the magic circle of this hour.” When God sees the letter on Hester it almost seems that he frowns upon her with a dark shadow and almost shows that he is upset she still wears the letter. When she takes it off the sun shines on her and she is beautiful like God is happy and proud that she took the letter off.

guilt reflected by the letter’s nearness can only be achieved by the will of God, in contrast with Hester’s letter which only reaches her chest. Dimmesdale’s affliction resulting from his guiltiness affirms that the letter’s proximity reflects his guilt. “Gnawed and tortured” while “suffering under bodily disease,” Dimmesdale’s guilt subjects him to a wild and bestial pain (128). This intense suffering stems from “some black trouble of the soul” due to the darkness of his guilt spiritually afflicting him and perpetually agitating his heart. What is bothering him is tied to a spiritual level, expressing the idea that in a way the trouble has darkened his spirit.

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.

Arthur Dimmesdale is a very important character in The Scarlet Letter. He is the highly respected reverend of what is now present-day Boston; they called their little town the Massachusetts bay colony. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale embodies a secret that the audience quickly finds out in the beginning of the novel. He has committed adultery with Hester Prynne. Dimmesdale is guilt-ridden because of the sin he committed with Hester.

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).