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How Is Dimmsdale Presented In The Scarlet Letter

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Dimsdale is reluctant to admit his sin because he has the mentality that he can never lose respect from the public however in order to gain redemption for his sins he has to sacrifice his reputation. Dimsdale is one of the main characters in Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “The Scarlet Letter” he is the minister of the puritan community in Boston and everyone in the community looks up to him. Dimsdale is the puritan minister of Boston who has a high reputation who is considered to be an important member of the community. Sin is intolerable within the puritan community and that is why Dimsdale is so conflicted when it comes to confessing his sin since he is a person that everyone looks up to. When Dimmesdale goes to stand on the scaffold in the middle …show more content…

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). This internal conflict of sin over reputation is a huge burden for him. This desire to have redemption and respect is unattainable but he tries to find a solution by trying to find a way to redeem himself by any other means so he can still keep his respect within the community.“ in order to purify the body, and render it the fitter medium of celestial illumination—but rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance…. he tortured, but could not purify himself” (96). He does this by whipping himself when he is alone but in the end, he still knows that even though he thinks that he brutally punishes himself he still feels the guilt and he knows that he will never have salvation from hs sin unless he confesses his

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Dimmesdale's guilt overtakes him. With the stress from the congregation viewing him as someone who is "holier-than-thou", and Mr. Chillingworth bating him, he becomes conflicted with his feelings of sinfulness and feels the need to keep this a secret from the congregation. The more his guilt overtakes him, the better his sermons got. Because he is so overwhelmed with remorse and shame his sermons have become famous. he connects more with the audience because he believes that he is more sinful than they are.

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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.”

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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).

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Deception In The Crucible, By Arthur Miller

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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.

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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.

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Due to Dimmesdale’s perfect reputation, he chooses to hide his sin from people. As a young pastor, God’s words judge Dimmesdale’s soul deeply, and sin in his heart burns his soul wildly. The more people trust him, the more he agonizes internally. Therefore, Dimmesdale starts to torture himself with whip, and even puts a letter “A” on his chest. Hidden sin in his heart break him down gradually.

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Dimmesdale had achieved a brilliant popularity in his sacred office. He won it, indeed, in great part by his sorrows. (Hawthorne 128) The guilt of his sin has eaten him alive, so much that his visage and demeanor are almost cadaverous. Dimmesdale does not confess his sin until the end of the novel because he does not want to disappoint his congregation.

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Mentally, his guilt strains his mind, which causes his physical deterioration, and the weakening of his body. As Dimmesdale finally admits his sin to the townspeople, his guilt is lifted, and he is able to release himself from his captivity. Though he deteriorated both mind and body from his guilt, by telling the townspeople of his sin, it was as if “a spell was broken” (238). He no longer needed to force himself to hide his sin, which was what was hurting him. By finally dealing with his sin in a similar way to Hester, Dimmesdale was able to free himself of his self-imposed captivity and

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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).

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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).

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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.

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Two of the main characters with many similarities as well as differences is Hester Prynne and Rvd. Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester and Dimmesdale are both characters in the book that had their identities set up in the beginning of the story, within the first 4 chapters. Hester and Dimmesdale are the parents of Pearl, who they had in an act of adultery and sin in the eyes of the townspeople. This book goes through the story of Hester and Dimmesdale's punishments, as well as repentance.

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Because of the effects that Dimmesdale’s sin has on Chillingworth, the town suffers as well. The betrayal of their pastor leads them to refuse to see the truth when he pleads for the public to see his guilt at the end of the novel, and his secrecy from the people that adore him is one of the slyest and vile parts of his sin. The blind faith that the public has in their reverend is mislead by his deceit, which causes his sin to grow to a scale that Hester’s never did. Dimmesdale also harmed Pearl, by not standing with her and Hester on the day they were condemned. When she is grown, she asks, “Doth

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Arthur Dimmesdale was a character with plenteous authority and a vast following from the puritan people which admired him, but he lost all of the power. The sin he committed mentally and physically exhausted himself which consequently lead him body to death. Dimmesdale receives brutal punishment because Nathaniel Hawthorne wanted to use him to teach a moral lesson that sin doesn’t have to be the event that defines how to live a life. Although Dimmesdale fails to move past his sin, Hawthorne presents the reader with an offering that would have free Dimmesdale of his crime to show redemption was still possible. Dimmesdale could not move past the emotional chain of events that were a result of sin, and therefore, he could not live a life of happiness as he did before his crime.

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