Arthur Dimmesdale's Guilt

As Dimmesdale has not been able to confess to his sin, he feels worse about himself. He tries in his sermons, but this is not understood by his audience, as they think it is simply a lesson. When he stands with Pearl and Hester on the scaffold at night, this is the first time he has “publicly” confessed to his crime; “[Hester] silently ascended the steps, and stood on the platform, holding little Pearl by the hand. The minister felt for the child’s other hand, and took it. The moment he did so there came a tumultuous rush of new life” (140).

<br>In the final scene, Dimmesdale overcomes the grip of Puritanism and turns directly to God. "With God's help, I will escape thee now," he says to Chillingworth. In fact, he does escape Satan, commending himself into the hands of grace. Dimmesdale finally wins his battle against evil. He faces God and dies with an open conscience, knowing of his salvation and freedom from

Instead of confessing to the community, Dimmesdale, to try and seek forgiveness in another way than confessing, tortures himself to the brink of death. Whilst talking to Hester in the forest, Dimmesdale says: “Had I one friend, —or were it my worst enemy! —to whom, when sickened with the praises of all other men, I could daily betake myself, and be known as the vilest of all sinners, methinks my soul might keep itself alive thereby. Even thus much of truth would save me! But now, it is all falsehood! —all emptiness! —all death!” (288-289). Dimmesdale is depressed in the way that the only thing keeping him alive is his sin. Hester after seven years, is seen as a sort of hero in the community, which is shown when the town calls her “our Hester” (244). Dimmesdale is not able to confess and be forgiven, in relation to Hester already being forgiven and living a relatively decent life. Dimmesdale also must look to other methods for forgiveness while Hester lives with a static punishment. Dimmesdale physically whips himself to attempt to achieve forgiveness, he also does not have anyone to counsel about his feelings, which leads to much depression. Dimmesdale also must deal with physical and mental pain, while Hester deals with

Every individual has signs of guilt with them, whether it is obviously plastered straight onto their body or secretly engraved within them. Typically, self-condemnation is due to what society or the person himself deems to be shameful, and that person often tries their best to beat the gnawing feeling of wrongdoing away to overcome it, or they resort to keep it hidden. In the subtle, yet dramatic scenes of “The Scarlet Letter,” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the early 19th century, reveals a character who is tugged from two opposing ends in his life; on one hand he held his unforgivable, adulterous past and the other his glowing reputation amongst society. Hawthorne distinctively expresses Arthur Dimmesdale’s hopeless struggle to uphold

This sin ends up consuming the rest of his existence because of the guilt he feels for not confessing. It is only in the end when he publicly confesses his sin that he is able to die in peace. His final words include a praise to God for “...bringing [me] hither, to die this death of triumphant ignominy before the people! (ch. 23)” Dimmesdale is glad that he gets the chance to be publicly shamed in his last minutes of life, because this was the punishment he deserved in the first place.

Hester asked him if after all their turmoil they'll share eternity together. Dimmesdale responds "The law we broke! The sin here so awfully revealed! Let these be alone in thy thoughts." (Page number).

Dimmesdale has yet to reveal the truth, which, so far, has been devouring him,physically and mentally. Since this good reverend is so spiritual, he cannot reveal his truths to the town so simply. He is of the Puritan faith and being a follower of that, the sin of adultery is a very grand sin. The whole town would look down on him as if he were a hypocrite. Which in fact, he is, but his sin of adultery in that town would have been scoffed at just as Hester’s has. The reverend is so well liked by the townsfolk that

Dimmesdale ultimately lets his fear of a bad reputation get in the way of his true happiness and internal peace. By not confessing his sins, he harbors guilt on his conscience until the very end of his life.

Dimmesdale, before the Scarlet letter, was a most beloved Reverend, but after the Scarlet letter, it wasn't that simple. After Dimmesdale commits adultery, he faces isolation from the townspeople, who all think he is innocent. With the townspeople, the isolation is more of an internal thing within Dimmesdale. As their pastor, Dimmesdale is still responsible for their preaching; so while The whole town is condemning Hester, they are getting their spiritual fill ups from the other person in need of equal condemnation. Dimmesdale is forced to put up a facade of his emotions from his townspeople so they will not grow suspicious. The quote "No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true."(145). Shows that Dimmesdale will eventually come out but, even after he admits to the adultery, the people to not believe it to be true.

Although he committed the same sin that Hester did he was able to redeem himself in a way by helping Hester and Pearl as much as he could. He was able to persuade the governor to allow Hester to keep Pearl so they would not be separated. He even believes that the constant judgement of the town is unjust and the only judgement that matter is God’s judgement, this is shown when he says, “At the great judgment day...thy mother, and thou, and I, must stand together! But the daylight of this world shall not see our meeting.” The worst part about Dimmesdale’s sin is that he bears the guilt in secret, and he feels this is much worse than bearing the guilt publicly like Hester, this is evident when Dimmesdale says, “I should long ago have thrown off these garments of mock holiness, and have shown myself to mankind as they will see me at the judgment-seat.

Reverend Dimmesdale was a renowned, prideful man stricken with sin and extreme guilt.  From the time Hester and Dimmesdale made love, he was grievous of his sin but he also felt a great love towards her.  Dimmesdale's stubborn pride troubled him greatly, and although he tried many times, he could not confess his sin to his religious followers.  Dimmesdale felt guilt so strongly that he scourged himself on his breast and patterned an “A” into his own flesh, yet he could not confess his sin until his grief grew so great it caused him to perish.  Reverend Dimmesdale's sin was greater than Hester's because he let his pride conflict with his repentance, and let his life be ruined by his anguish.

Dimmesdale is fearful as he does not want to reveal himself to the public, but rather have Hester reveal his name to the public because she shouldn’t feel, “pity and tenderness” for him. Continuing, he declares that it is worse to, “hide a guilty heart through life,” rather than admitting it to the public and stand on, “thy pedestal of shame.” Hawthorne includes this way of thinking in Dimmesdale because it contributes to the fact that he is morally ambiguous as he knows what he has done is bad, but doesn’t have the courage to admit his sin himself. In this moment, Dimmesdale endeavours at making himself feel ashamed as he talks about himself declaring, “what can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him--compel him,” but notably it doesn’t force him. He proclaims that his silence will eventually force him to speak out, yet his fear and pride as a righteous minister takes over him which causes him to not reveal his name.

This concealed sin is the center of his tormented conscience. The pressures on him from society are greater than those on Hester because he is a man in high standing, expected to represent the epitome of the Puritanical ideals. It is ironic that Dimmesdale, who is supposed to be absolutely pure and urges congregation to confess and openly repent their sins, is incapable of doing so himself. He knows the hypocrisy of his actions but cannot bring himself to admit his deed publicly. In resentment of this he punishes himself physically - he is "often observed to put his hand over his heart, with indicative of pain" (ch 9). Dimmesdale's resistance to be true to himself gradually destroys his well being as well as Hester's, and although he eventually declares the truth, his resistance ends him.

63). Here he says that it would be better for him to come down and stand on the scaffold than to keep in hiding. He even calls himself a hypocrite, but his concern for his reputation keeps him from doing the right thing. When Dimmesdale goes up on the scaffold, he must do it at night for fear of someone seeing him (pg. 136). This shows that his fear is still greater than the pain inside. Consequently, it will be too late when he finally does confess. "More than once, Mr. Dimmesdale had gone into the pulpit, with a purpose never to come down the steps until he should have spoken words like the above. More than once, he had cleared his throat, and drawn in the long, deep, and tremulous breath, which, when sent forth again, would come burdened with the black secret of his soul." (pg. 132). This again emphasizes that he wanted to change, but he is just too afraid of losing his reputation of a Godly pastor. Hester was able to bear the shame, and she is a better person for it, but Dimmesdale holds back because he does not see the big picture. It all boils down to his fear of losing his reputation.

Guilt, shame, and penitence are just a few of the emotions that are often associated with a great act of sin. Mr. Arthur Dimmesdale, a highly respected minister of a 17th century Puritan community, is true example of this as he was somehow affected by all of these emotions after committing adultery. Due to the seven years of torturous internal struggle that finally resulted in his untimely death, Mr. Dimmesdale is the character who suffered the most throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Mr. Dimmesdale’s ever present guilt and boundless penance cause him an ongoing mental struggle of remorse and his conscience as well as deep physical pain from deprivation and self inflicted wounds. The external influence of the members of