Owning Up In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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.

In the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the characters, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth face the burden of making paramount decisions. Each character chooses to make bold choices with substantial effects which determine how the story plays out. First, Hester chooses to not expose Pearl’s father. Second, Dimmesdale refrains from revealing himself. Lastly, Chillingworth chooses to hide his true identity as Hester’s husband. The end results of the antecedent decisions influence the shape and structure of the novel.

All of the major characters in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne are dynamic and go through some form of character development. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, who are at the forefront of the central conflict in the plot of the novel, are no exception. While their respective evolutions in character were noticeably different, each was emphasized by the three scaffold scenes. The differences of Hester and Dimmesdale’s respective character developments are highlighted and emphasized by the three scaffold scenes in the novel.

At this point in the book, Dimmesdale is well respected by the townspeople, and looked up to by many. He has a superior reputation and worries about ruining it. Dimmesdale urges Hester on the scaffold to tell the officials and the community the name of Pearl’s father. Though he does not have the courage to, since Dimmesdale is Hester’s spiritual mentor and pastor, he is obligated to question Hester about the crime. He knows that if he admits to his sin, he will lose the respect of the townspeople. The speech is two fold, meaning something different to both Hester and the townspeople. Dimmesdale starts contradicting himself, wanting Hester to name the father, but at the same time also not wanting her to: “Even in the first scaffold scene Hawthorne shows forth the deep ambivalence of Dimmesdale’s position: the minister would like to be named and known for what he is, an adulterer” (Twayne 3). Dimmesdale encourages Hester to give up his name when he says, “What can thy science do for him, except tempt him—yea, compel him, as it were—to add hypocrisy to sin?” (Hawthorne 26). According to his ability to keep in his true emotions, Dimmesdale seems unafraid to the community. Dimmesdale is a healthy Reverend, but his confidence slowly deteriorates as his sin consumes

It revolves around a forbidden act of passion that alters around a forever the lives of some people in small puritan community; Hester Prynne, an adulteress forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” at all times; the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, a well-respected minister of the community; and Hester’s husband and daughter, Roger Chillingworth and Pearl. These several morally ambiguous characters played different pivotal roles, in fact, most characters presented can be evaluated as embodying both “good” and “evil” qualities. Dimmesdale is an especially ambiguous character. His moral and social prestige and contrasting roles as a reverend minister and adulterer granted a chance to him to play a crucial role throughout the story. Dimmesdale’s moral ambiguity comes from his lack of courage to be the “right person” and to do the “right

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne focuses more on the symbolic meaning than on characterization. The Scarlet Letter revolves around the themes of sin, guilt and redemption, which are conceptualized through an adulterous life story in Massachusetts. Adultery is expressed in a means, which is not only psychologically disturbing but also reflects upon understanding of the human heart. Hester Prynne is an adulteress who is forced to wear a scarlet letter A on her gown according to Puritan practices. Arthur Dimmesdale, struggles in the background with guilt for fathering her secret child, Pearl yet the woman gets to be castigated independently. Furthermore, Dimmesdale is a cleric and Chillingworth who is Hester’s husband, from

When Dimmesdale is at Governor Bellingham’s house to talk about what actions should be taken regarding Hester’s daughter, Pearl, he shows physical pain from his shame. While they fight about whether or not Pearl should be taken away from Hester, Dimmesdale is described as, “the young minister at once came forward, pale, and holding his hand over his heart, as was his custom whenever his peculiarly nervous temperament was thrown into agitation” (Hawthorne 117). Since Pearl is the real-world symbol of Dimmesdale’s sin, she causes him to hold his hand over his heart because he is overwhelmed with the shame and guilt of seeing her and having to keep his sin a secret. Dimmesdale thinks of his sin as not showing loyalty to God; However, he avoids confessing his sin do to the fear of judgement, and losing his upheld reputation in the society. As a result, he can never ease the shame and guilt to release his suffering.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter is about sin. Its heroine, Hester, and the town minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, both bear the weight of adultery on their backs. Hester’s sin is discovered, and she is forced to wear a scarlet A on her chest. Dimmesdale’s sin remains hidden, and it eats away at him for years. Ultimately, Hester finds comfort in the public nature of her sin.

Punishment is a penalty inflicted for an offense or fault. The intended effect of a punishment is to discipline an individual. However, in The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne introduces additional impacts of this practice. Punishment causes one to reject rehabilitation, acts as the subject of an individual’s life, and causes a person to drive himself to his breaking point. A person who is enduring some type of punishment can reject the expected rehabilitation result.

As a prose romance, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter sets characters up in opposition to each other to illustrate extremes of human experience. Dimmesdale is presented as the ultimate hypocrite, preaching moral righteousness to the Puritan community whilst being an adulterer himself. Hester, on the other hand, is painted in stark contrast to Dimmesdale: although shunned as an adulterer by the Puritan community, she lives out her life honestly, taking care of her illegitimate daughter Pearl. The forest is a place of liberation from oppressive social norms and a place of revelation for Hester and Dimmesdale, where they are able to reveal aspects of themselves that they

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays how a young woman, Hester Prynne, is forced to live with the scarlet letter “A” on her breast to mark her shame of adultery. Hester commits the appalling crime with the widely known Puritan minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. Being punished to wear the scarlet letter brings about a change among Hester’s character due to the ridicule from the public, the constant reminder of her sin from Pearl, and becoming secluded from society. Knowing his reputation and importance to the town, Dimmesdale is forced to bury this sin, bringing about an increasing amount of guilt through the years. Along with Hester and Dimmesdale, the letter affects Pearl’s life, making it difficult for the poor child to reach acceptance

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a nineteenth-century author who lived in the 1800s, and his novels were focused on Puritan-era New England in the 1600s. His novel. The Scarlet Letter, tells the story of a woman named Hester Prynne and how she must pay for her sin of adultery by wearing a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom for the rest of her life. Throughout the story, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism to represent and convey his themes. In the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of Pearl, the cottage, and Dimmesdale to contribute to the overall theme of imperfection.

Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, the constant theme of guilt, resentment, and revenge is mirrored through various scenes and characters. Hester Prynne commits the cursed sin, adultery, leading to her wearing of the notorious scarlet letter “A”. Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne’s adulterer, struggles with the crushing burden of guilt; as the respected pastor of the Puritan community, Dimmesdale must keep the heavy weight of sin to himself. Hawthorne most clearly depicts the subject of guilt through Dimmesdale, a respected reverend who ironically commits an unforgivable crime of passion. He is exemplary in performing his duties as a Puritan minister, a sign in which he was one of the chosen disciples of God, but he would not forget his sin and considers himself as a hypocrite. With the guilt

The novel “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells the dark and mysterious tale of Hester Prynne, an adulterer in a highly Puritan town and her daughter, Pearl while also focusing on Hester’s husband and the person she committed adultery with, Minister Dimmesdale. Hawthorne uses imagery, supernatural ideas, and negative or juxtapositioned diction to help create a dark and dreary mood that continues throughout the novel. These stylistic choices allow the reader to distinguish between “good and evil” while also creating an overall dark mood that gives a feeling of mystery and darkness to the story.

The novel Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne deals with diverse themes which vary from social problems to convoluted psychological sketches. The most prominent psychological sketch is developed in two characters Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale who sinned together and the novel follows the aftermath. Obviously, the most visible consequence is the birth of their child Pearl but there are also nonvisible and harming outcomes. Hester was rejected by the society and she was forced to wear the letter