Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale And The Scarlet Letter

One of Reverend Dimmesdale’s most foremost depictions of cowardice was his abuse of the congregations faith and trust in him. When Dimmesdale was first introduced by the narrator hit “eloquence and religious fervour had already given the earnest of high eminence in his profession.”. This exhibits the respect that the congregation has for this shell of a man. Moreover, he went on to interrogate Hester, the very woman who he had the affair with. This action obviously did not have the intention that Dimmesdale portrayed. Since the entire community was watching as he performed this deceitful action, he was just clearing himself of any suspicion that may have somehow been aimed at him. In addition, even a respected peer and friend of Dimmesdale was not safe from his manipulative nature. Reverend Wilson, the aforementioned peer,

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

In the beginning of the novel in "The Market Place," Dimmesdale urges Hester to reveal him as Pearl's father because he could not bring himself to say it himself. Despite the extreme guilt displayed on the scaffold at night with Hester and Pearl, Dimmesdale is not able to bear himself to face his sin in public. Even in "The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter" he does not directly confess, but drops obvious hints that the Puritan could not pay attention to the world around them and only see what they want to see. The highly respected reverend is considered the most sacred in the society and for someone like him to commit such a sin would devastate the people and result in complete turmoil. Not only does the reaction of the society play in the mind of Dimmesdale, he also has personal reasons as well. "She thought of the dim forest, with its little dell of solitude, and love, and anguish, and the mossy tree-trunk, where, sitting hand in hand, they had mingled their sad and passionate talk with the melancholy murmur of the brook. How deeply had they known each other then! And was this the man? She hardly knew him now!" describes how two-faced Dimmesdale

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne exhibits how three very unique characters are evidently brought together by the sins that they have perpetrated and how they manage to perform acts of atonement in the puritanical Boston society. Hester Prynne sins by committing the shocking transgression of adultery. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, who as well engages in adultery with Hester, abandons her and their daugher because of his own cowardice and hypocrisy. Roger Chillingworth grows to become a maleficent being who tries to corrupt the very soul of Reverend Dimmesdale. Although Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale do sin greatly, it is Roger Chillingworth who sins to the most ferocious degree.

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the popular, gifted, young clergyman and in which no expected, was Hester Prynne’s secretive lover. The citizens of Boston saw him as the perfect man, who could do no wrong. Little had they known, his sin was just as bad as Hester’s. Just like Black’s quote stated, Reverend Dimmesdale, acted on his light side, and used his sins to preach his best of sermons. Hawthorne stated on page 131, ‘To the high mountain-peaks of faith and sanctity he would have climbed…”. As many can observe, the young clergyman was a tremendous minister. He preached wonderful sermons and truly showed himself to be a man of God. Dimmesdale was a talented young man with a dark side that few people knew of. “…Mr. Dimmesdale was thinking of his grave, he questioned with himself whether the grass would ever grow on it, because an accursed thing must be there” (Hawthorne 131). This shows while he was preaching tremendous sermons, his health started to deteriorate, due to his inner guilt he was holding within himself. Perhaps if his lingering sin had not expended him, he would have been able live a happier, healthier life. However, unfortunately for him, the secret he was keeping was eating at him from the inside out and his darkness was prevailing. Dimmesdale’s sin of keeping 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.

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.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter provides a window into the puritanical mind through his character Reverend Dimmesdale. Reverend Dimmesdale comes to understand that one's relationship with God supersedes any other relationship one has, whether it's with one's beloved, one's children, or one's social circle. He expresses it publicly on the scaffold in a dramatic sequence in a passage in chapter 23. Throughout the story Dimmesdale is supposed to be an example of upright godly behavior but he's lying everyday, all the time, in every relationship because he had an affair with Hester. While adultery was illegal, it was also against one of God's Ten Commandments.

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, on the other hand, was a pastor, a position that was highly esteemed in Puritan society. Dimmesdale had a lot more to lose than did Hester. Also, Dimmesdale believed he could continue to be the mouthpiece of God if he kept his sin hidden. (17-172/173). Being a godly man, Dimmesdale only feels the guilt of his crime

Oh how the mighty fall. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's “THE SCARLET LETTER” we see this man of God, this mighty Reverend who was viewed in an almost aristocratic way plunge head deep into a pit of guilt and self pity, because he is scared to admit he is Hester's secret lover, and our good reverend eventually drives himself mad with sorrow and meets his end. This can be confirmed by a line for a paper written about Dimmesdale's feelings throughout the book “Dimmesdale alone knows that he is the man signified by this "A" for adultery and "A" for Arthur. This scarlet letter is indeed a letter, an item of private correspondence between lovers” (Valenti, 10). WE later see our grand reverend’s snapping moment in the twentieth

Everyone makes mistakes and creates sins, but that doesn't mean you have to punish yourself for it. Suffering is a part of life and usually follows after committing a crime or sin because there is punishment or they feel horrible. In The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale and Hester suffer from their sins, but Dimmesdale suffered more than Hester did.Hester took in and admitted what she did and she still suffers. Meanwhile, in my opinion, had nothing to live for because of the guilt he had to keep hidden and couldn't come out

Mr. Dimmesdale is an almost perfect example of the contrast between public and private truth in The Scarlet Letter. The young clergyman is often seen as saint by the public. Many of his sermons throughout the book bring dozens to Christ in the small town. The people of the town even began to say,“The saint on earth! Alas, if he discern such sinfulness in his own white soul, what horrid spectacle would he behold in thine or mine!”(Hawthorne 246). In private though, Mr. Dimmesdale is actually being eaten alive by the guilt that his sin with Hester gave him. Mr. Dimmesdale’s adulterous act caused

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