Dimmesdale's Burdens In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Arthur Dimmesdale uses the strategies of ethos and pathos, as well as devices such as rhetorical questions in order to provoke emotion in his audience: Mr. Wilson, Governor Bellingham, and Roger Chillingworth. While the group of men, Mr. Wilson, Governor Bellingham, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale are walking in Governor Bellingham’s garden, Hester Prynne and her child Pearl are walking to Governor Bellingham's mansion. There was a rumour spreading, and one that was becoming quite popular among the townspeople, that Pearl, a child of sin, should be taken from her mother. Hester had come to discuss this situation with governor Bellingham and try to persuade him to not take her light away, but he would not listen. In an act of desperation,

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

However, Dimmesdale’s self-punishment goes to a new level when he begins to torture himself physically. Not only had the minister been refusing to seek help, evident by his uneasiness towards Roger’s medical advice even before his true identity was revealed, but he went as far as to inflict harm upon himself. As Nathaniel Hawthorne describes, “In Dimmesdale’s secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge.... It was his custom, too, as it has been that of many other pious Puritans, to fast… until his knees trembled beneath him… He kept vigils, likewise, night after night…” (141). This demonstrated the extent of Dimmesdale's self-punishment through starvation, whippings, and sleep deprivation. The self-torment escalates even further when it is found out that Dimmesdale had also been imprinting his chest with the letter “A,” leaving many to theorize that the mark either came from burning or cutting. In comparing Dimmesdale’s fasting to that of the other Puritans, Hawthorne also states, that Dimmesdale did not harm himself “in order to purify the body and render it the fitter medium of celestial illumination, but… as an act of penance” (141). The novel emphasizes that Dimmesdale’s self-torment is not him committing self-flagellation to purify his soul of sin, but rather an attempt to punish himself for what he believed was a wrong-doing. Due to these actions, Dimmesdale’s character could be viewed as a desperate man attempting to right his wrongs, but the fact

From her initial introduction to the reader as the “yonder babe, (…) of some three or four months old”, Pearl represents the beauty of the truth (54). As she struggles to find answers about her mother’s scarlet A while simultaneously growing up, Pearl identifies as an innocent character, despite her creation. It is frequently noted that she looks similar to the scarlet letter that her mother so reluctantly bears, with her “bright complexion [and] eyes possessing intensity both of depth and glow, and hair already of a deep, glossy brown” (76). Her similar appearance to the scarlet letter furthers her permanent connection to the letter. Additionally, it highlights the notion that her mother will likely never be able to look at her without reminiscing upon her sin. As Pearl develops, her fire-like actions and dark appearance further molds her into the fleshly expression of Hester’s adultery. Furthermore, Hawthorne ensures to characterize Pearl throughout the novel as a friend to the sunlight, a friend to the truth. As she begins to pick determine that Dimmesdale is her father, the sunlight welcomes her. This is because she is the only innocent character who is not afraid to step into the sun’s rays. Pearl recognizes the light’s love for her and audibly notes, “the

When considering this further, the burden, which the scarlet letter and its separate culpabilities imply, reveals how the character Dimmesdale feels shame in his inability

Dimmesdale realizes that he must confess his sin and face whatever consequences may lie ahead of him, whether or not his confession is seven years past due. Before reaching the “well-remembered and weather-darkened scaffold,” where Hester Prynne had encountered the “world’s ignominious stare,” Arthur Dimmesdale cautiously comes to a pause (246). Only two people in the crowd, Roger Chillingworth (Hester’s husband) and Hester Prynne, understand why Dimmesdale halts before ascending up the scaffold. He will finally reveal his identity to the town and release the guilt that has built inside of him for seven years. As Hester and Pearl are about to accompany Dimmesdale up to the scaffold, Chillingworth “trusts himself through the crowd” – or, from Hawthorne’s description, “so dark, disturbed, and evil was his look,” Chillingworth “rose up out of some nether region to snatch back his victim from what he sought to do” (247). Ignoring Chillingworth’s effort to stop Dimmesdale, the three mount the scaffold and face the eager crowd. In one of Dimmesdale’s final speeches, he claims that Hester’s scarlet letter “is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast” (250). The moment after Dimmesdale reveals his ‘scarlet letter’, he stood “with a flush of triumph in his face as one who had won a victory” (251). As Dimmesdale had wished, his remorse and internal pain is forgotten once he reveals his true identity, allowing his soul to experience its elapsed freedom.

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.

Dimmesdale is constantly harming himself because of his sin. He whips himself on a regular basis feeling as if it is only right to punish himself for his sin. He starves himself as well. Every time that he whips or starves himself he grows weaker. Everyone sees him getting weak and they start to worry. He lives with the physician so he should start to feel better but he constantly gets worse. The author writes, “How feeble and pale he looked, amid all his triumph!” (Hawthorne page 238). Though Dimmesdale is successful in his job his heart and body are failing him. He has done so much harm to himself all because of his sin.

               The fact that Dimmesdale is a hypocrite causes him to experience increased torment due to his guilt.  Dimmesdale beautifully illustrates Hawthorne’s point, because if he were not such a highly religious man, then he would not care about his crime.  However, he does care, and he inflicts torment on himself, including long periods of fasting. In addition to hours of staring at himself in the mirror, he could also be caught numerous times in his closet, whipping himself and burning the letter "A" on his chest.   Or he could be seen at the scaffold in the wee hours of the morning, practicing how he is going to confess the next day. Deluding himself by pretending that his

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 society of the puritans punished Hester Prynne for a crime that their minister, Dimmesdale, participated in. My question is, why does Hester get punished and not Dimmesdale? It takes two to have a baby, so two people should be punished for the crime. Although the community doesn’t know Dimmesdale participated in the crime, as soon as they find out it was him, they should punish him. Throughout the Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale changes drastically. He starts as a minister who is afraid to admit his sin, and then he changes to a character that is willing to confess the sin that he committed. "If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I

Dimmesdale’s love and agony towards Hester was shown in his physical and mental degeneration, furthermore, his love to Pearl, his daughter, was shown when he was trying to kiss her, but he always got her refusal, and this was the climax of his weakness and deterioration of character. yet, at the end of the novel, Dimmesdale’s health was in it’s worst stages, therefore he had nothing to lose, so he confronts his society and tells them about is adultery crime that he committed with Hester, and after he did that he gives up life, but as a matter of fact his death was not a sad one, for he was relieved from the pain in his heart and also got to kiss his daughter Pearl whom he never got to kiss, hence, at the end of the novel, the latter character musters courage and loses his weakness which was replaced with the powerful character that confronted without fear.

To make a decision, one weighs the benefits and the downfalls, and concludes by judging the factors of each alternative. One's choice of whether to conform to society's demands or submit to personal impulses is difficult, especially under strenuous circumstances. Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is a profound romance in which the characters must make such a decision. A reconciliation of the two forces is not seemingly feasible. Reliance of self consumes Hester Prynne, while denial of self engrosses her partner in the crime of adultery, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. The roles of Hester's daughter, Pearl, and her estranged husband, Roger Chillingworth, as individual beings are less evident than that of their impact on Hester and

Critics generally agree Hawthorne uses the effects of the scarlet letter to reveal the atrocities of the patriarchy and masculine hegemony. The patriarchal forces women to carry the burden of an action despite the entity of the original sinners. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne takes the responsibilities and consequences of adultery, even though Dimmesdale should have equal, if not more, punishment. When Hester stands in front of a jury and endures the tremendous hatred from the individuals within the audience who believe Hester “has brought shame” to society, she declares,“Ye cannot take it off, and would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!” (Hawthorne 39, 49). Hawthorne reveals how society isolates and condemns women for the actions and results of men. If the women do not hold the accountability of all sin, they experience ignominy from society; if they do hold accountability of all sin, they still experience ignominy. The patriarchy enforces the idea that women should hold all responsibilities for all of men’s actions. Advancing Hawthorne's argument, critic Jane Swisshelm reveals the treatment of women as they endure ignominy: “[Hester] was the moral leper whom none might dare to touch - the blazing emblem of the virtuous indignation of an entire community” (Swisshelm 273). So long women exist, the consequences of the world’s