How Does Arthur Dimmessdale's Character Change

At this point in the chapter, Hawthorne expresses that Dimmesdale was on the verge of true repentance and confession. He even caught a glimpse

his sermons becoming better and more relatable, his nightly lashings, and the deterioration of his health. Dimmesdale 's sermons becoming more relatable proves that with each passing day, he can feel the guilt of his mistake gaining weight on his psyche. His lashings indicate that he is cowardly and would rather physically hurt himself in private than take responsibility for what what he has done with dignity and honesty. The deterioration in his health is symbolic of the time he has left to confess. The longer Dimmesdale took to confess, the worse his condition got; his sickness was pushing himself to confess by draining his health so he would finally break and redeem himself. Throughout the novel, Dimmesdale attempted to keep his double life together but his guilt forced him to confess, exposing his true nature.

Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter conveys the war between passion and responsibility, and how it concerns moral duty. Conflicts which Reverend Dimmesdale faces show readers how difficult it can be to come forward and reveal your sins. The circumstances which victimized Dimmesdale made it harder for him to accept responsibility publicly, which is the foundation of much of this novel. Hawthorne uses Dimmesdale’s character to convey the true struggle between passion and responsibility in The Scarlet Letter. While Dimmesdale yearned to face his sins, his passion overpowered him and took over the

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

Nelson Mandela once said, “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” In most cases, it is difficult to distinguish and fully understand when you have changed. Whether it be a trivial change in habit to a crucial character transformation, it is best to set oneself up against an untouched canvas, and begin to analyze the newfangled person from there. Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, the concept of identifying one’s changes is apparent in two of the main characters, Pearl and Dimmesdale. Both characters experience their own engenderment of maturity and personal growth, though Dimmesdale’s involvement with it is much more deleterious in comparison to Pearl’s.

Hawthorne is right when he says that facades are abominable. While returning from his forest meeting with Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale begins to self reflect as he walks back, prompting the narrator to say, “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”(Hawthorne 340). Dimmesdale has been torn apart from the inside from his guilt of hiding his sin for the past seven

The power of imagination makes us infinite, and when it is dulled, one can feel trapped. Only after freeing ourselves, can we understand the beauty of a creative mind. Nathaniel Hawthorne explains how he also had to get back in tune with his imagination after not using it for years while working at the Custom House. Hawthorne draws a very well sketch of the boring life at the Custom House, and how after his head was “cut off” he got the mindset to be able to write the Scarlet Letter. In this long introduction to the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses rhetorical devices to describe character traits, show relationships between characters, hint at future events, and enrich the plot for the reader's enjoyment. With his effective use of imagery, symbolism and biblical allusions, Hawthorne adds depth to the novel while creating a connection to the meaning beyond the story that it tells.

               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

Life is unpredictable, and through trial and error humanity learns how to respond to conflicts and learns how to benefit from mistakes. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a character who changes and gains knowledge from the trials he faces, but first he has to go through physical, spiritual, and emotional agony. In the midst of all the havoc, the young theologian is contaminated with evil but fortunately his character develops from fragile to powerful, and the transformation Dimmesdale undergoes contributes to the plot’s climax.

Secrets can destroy even the most respected people. Sometimes is not the secret itself that drives people into exhaustion, but the emotional baggage that comes with it. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale physically deteriorates because of his guilt caused by a dishonorable sin. The Puritan society in which the story is set discourages the idea of the private self, which Hawthorne shows by creating distinctions between the characters’ private and public lives, specifically Dimmesdale’s.

It is said that the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing are interconnected among spiritual men. Should the spiritual wellbeing be compromised, through sin or some such disconnect with God, mental and physical health declines. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, a similar degeneration of health, both physical and mental, is undergone by the tortured minister, Mr. Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale is the secret lover of Hester Prynne, the young, passionate protagonist of the novel. Having sinned, he cannot reveal himself to the townsfolk, and thus is resigned to suffer with it himself for years. His subconscious guilt is constantly agitated by Roger Chillingworth, and as he becomes more and more guilt-ridden, he becomes untrusting and frail, melancholy and beaten. His mental and spiritual health diminish to the point of his untimely death in the finale of the book. Indeed, The Scarlet Letter is a psychological novel, illustrating the steady dissolution of Arthur Dimmesdale from a healthy, young, and enthused minister to a frail, sickly, and defeated shadow of his former self due to his inability to cope with his actions.

      Throughout his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals character through the use of imagery and metaphor.

Hawthorne uses the strong emotion of despair that overwhelms Arthur Dimmesdale, a beloved reverend in the town, to show how pretending to be the pure, sinless man that the town believes him to be causes him great pain, but by confessing he was relieved from his suffering. Romanticism encourages the acceptance of strong emotion, and embraces the free expression of feelings, unlike the Puritans, and in Dimmesdale’s case the emotions were mostly negative. Dimmesdale has been bearing the guilt of his sin for several years after his daughter Pearl’s birth, while Hester has been isolated and able to move on. This has enabled him to keep his religious position in the town, and his status with the townspeople. He attempts to continue the image society has of

athaniel Hawthorn’s book, The Scarlet Letter, is rife with complex and captivating characters. Throughout the book, Hawthorn displays his ability to write characters who are believable, and yet fascinating at the same time. Each of his characters posses different, unique traits, and are all intriguing in their own right. One character who stands out among the rest, is Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale is one of the main protagonists of the book, and is the tragic character of the story. He proves his tragic nature through his steady decline from upstanding Pastor to sinful hypocrite, his torturous treatment of himself, out of remorse for his sin, and by others, and his eventual overcoming of his in conflict.