Arthur Dimmesdale's Guilt In Scarlet Letter

By revealing this small, hidden regret, he exposes Hester’s tortured state of mind. Unable to reach salvation in the town she desired to live in, she regretfully decided to leave and abandon her sorrows. The burden society placed on her with the scarlet letter was too demanding for her to handle any longer. Similarly, Arthur Dimmesdale was distressed from his ignominy. Afraid of societal repercussions, Dimmesdale had been “overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast” (102). Society’s extensive honor toward him exacerbated his pain, thus causing society to trap Dimmesdale; this prevented him from revealing his dark secret and reaching salvation. Additionally, he began to picture his surroundings as an obstacle designed to hinder his path to redemption. His shortcoming to reach salvation agonized Dimmesdale to the point where he was incapable of recalling “[any] text of Scripture, nor aught else, except a brief, pithy, and, as it then appeared to him, unanswerable argument against the immorality of

Hawthorne’s message about obtaining salvation through the means of being open and true to yourself, is shaped by the contrasts of consequences the characters Hester Prynne, who publicly acknowledges her sin, and Arthur Dimmesdale, who hides his sin, face. In Hester’s case, she was publicly shamed for her sin from the beginning and was forced to wear the symbol of her sin, the scarlet letter “A” representing adultery, to isolate her from the rest of society. She had the opportunity to leave the town and begin a new life free from the scarlet letter, but she decides to stay as, if she were to run away or remove the scarlet letter, she would be admitting to the shame of her sins. Her staying, shows she wants to change the scarlet letter to not represent her sin, but her as a character.

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

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, a main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, proves to be a sinner against man, against God and most importantly against himself because he has committed adultery with Hester Prynne, resulting in an illegitimate child, Pearl. His sinning against himself, for which he ultimately paid the

God does not like the sin of adultery. He does not like lying. He does not like hypocrisy. There are two roads that one can choose. In the end, what may seem like the easy way may have far greater consequences than the hard way. Arthur Dimmesdale chose the easy path and learned that the pain of guilt is far greater than the pain of shame.

In the novel The Scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, it is about a young woman named Hester Prynne, who has committed adultery and gave birth to a daughter named Pearl. As a punishment, Hester has to wear a cloth with a scarlet letter ‘A’ on her chest that stands for ‘Adulteress’ for all her lifetime. Meanwhile, Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, who has been missing for two years come back and decides to take a revenge on Hester’s lover. Throughout the novel, Chillingworth has discovered that a young minister named Dimmesdale is Hester’s lover. Dimmesdale is the worst sinner than Chillingworth because Dimmesdale doesn’t have moral, he is coward that decides to keep his secret, and he doesn’t have

Arthur Dimmesdale has continually suffered because of the sin he has committed. He is tortured by his only friend who is really his enemy. He grows weaker day by day because he will not confess his sin. He starves himself and whips himself. He has a daughter but no one can know. People look up to him and he does not want to let them down. If only people knew that he committed adultery with Hester Prynne. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, the author writes, “While standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr.Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at the scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart. On that spot, in very truth was, and there had long been,

In The Scarlet Letter Arthur Dimmesdale’s sin of concealment leads to his downfall. Arthur Dimmesdale had an excellent reputation in town as a Puritan minister, however Dimmesdale himself bore a lot of guilt because he was keeping his sin, his affair with Hester Prynne, a secret. Dimmesdale and Hester had a baby. Hester was punished as an adulterer, however she refused to say who the baby’s father was. Dimmesdale knew that his reputation would be ruined if the Puritan people found out his sin.

Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, and Roger Chillingworth all committed sins that needed forgiveness. However, only Hester found what they were all searching for. They also were needing to bring it upon themselves to forgive themselves and others. That forgiveness was life or death to Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. They ended up in the grave.

Throughout the novel of the Scarlet letter, Hawthorne expresses many themes such as guilt, isolation, and pride all within the characters. Although, many of the same characters share the same themes with each other. In my opinion, Dimmesdale, clearly shows the most guilt within himself about Hester. He constantly struggles with the fact that he’s the father of her child, and what gravely sin he has committed. With his battle of himself, including his cowardice, he punishes himself over his guilty consciences about Hester. He battles with the fact that he is a known Reverend and high up in the community: and knows that people will leave, punish, and lose all respect for him. Going back to his guilt with himself, he severely punishes himself as shown in chapter 11.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne paints a picture of two equally guilty sinners, Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale, and shows how both characters deal with their different forms of punishment and feelings of remorse for what they have done. Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale are both guilty of adultery, but have altered ways of performing penance for their actions. While Hester must pay for her sins under the watchful eye of the world around her, Reverend Dimmesdale must endure the heavy weight of his guilt in secret. It may seem easier for Reverend Dimmesdale to live his daily life since he is not surrounded by people who shun

The setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet letter” is crucial to the understanding of the event that takes place in the story. The setting of the story is in Salem, Massachusetts during the Puritan era. During the Puritan era, adultery was taken as a very serious sin, and this is what Hester and Dimmesdale committ with each other. Because of the sin, their lives change, Hester has to walk around in public with a Scarlet Letter “A” which stands for adultery, and she is constantly being tortured and is thought of as less than a person. Dimmesdale walks around with his sin kept as secret, because he never admits his sin, his mental state is changing, and the sin degrades his well-being. Chillingworth

Scarlet Letter Paper In The Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne examines the moral consequences of sin and how individuals can be redeemed through the themes of guilt, alienation, appearance vs. reality, and the breaking of societies rules. The two central characters in the novel, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, commit a sin, or an offense against religious or moral law, of adultery and the deal with their wrongdoing in opposite ways. Initially, it seems that Hester Prynne’s sin is worse than that of Reverend Dimmesdale because her sin is visible to all of society. Even though she becomes alienated by society, Hester uses her newfound independence due to her sin as strength and becomes a better person.

Hester’s scarlet letter is a piece of clothing, the “SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom” (Hawthorn 51). Her interpretation of the extremity of her sins is one of self composure and calm. She views her sins solely as a "violation in the natural order" of the environment and therefore cannot even perceive her sin as being evil except through outside influence. Dimmesdale on the other hand, has a scarlet letter carved in his chest. This is revealed when Dimmesdale was giving his revelation, in which “he tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed!” (Hawthorn 232). Dimmesdale 's personal interpretation as to the extremity of his own sins is a "violation of God 's law," which is the law that he is totally dedicated to and supported by. Dimmesdale 's interpretation of his sin is much more severe than Hester 's, it is a violation and direct contradiction of his own self consciousness and physical existence. Therefore the appearance of his A, even though it is never directly described in the novel, must be powerful, broken, and brutally dishonest (...a ghastly rapture; Hawthorne pg.95). Since the Scarlet Letter on Hester is visible to the public, she was criticized and looked down on. “This women has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die” (Hawthorn 49) is said by a female in the marketplace talking about Hester. She becomes a stronger person through living this hard life.

“He had been driven hither by the impulse of that Remorse which dogged him everywhere, and whose own sister and closely linked companion was that Cowardice which invariably drew him back, with her tremulous gripe, just when the other impulse had hurried him to the verge of a disclosure” (101). In the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne’s secret lover, suffers from the guilt of hiding his secret but fears the consequences of his public confession. Syntax, vivid images, historical allusions, and symbol work to convey the atmosphere that reflects Dimmesdale’s guilt and agony caused by his inner conflict of whether or not he should reveal his true identity as Hester Prynne’s lover.