The Transgression Of Disgrace In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The 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

Later in The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale digs himself into a dark hole of shame and failure. At this point in the book Dimmesdale’s guilt has built up to an extreme amount he inflicts torment

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 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 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.

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.

Reverend Dimmesdale is a character foil of Hester Prynne. Whereas she represents repented and forgiven sin he does not. Dimmesdale cannot forgive himself and tortures himself because of it. He does this by holding vigils and famines. This causes him to be weak and frail, whereas Hester is strong and thusly causing her to be the strength of Dimmsdale both mentally and physically. Together Hester and Dimmesdale plan to leave Boston to return to England, but Dimmesdale dies due to his constant torture.

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.

In the beginning of the story, Hester leaves the prison with the scarlet letter etched on to her clothing. From then on, she is looked down at. The “A” stitched onto her clothes stands for adultery, which was a huge sin in the Puritan society back then. Since she left the prison holding her baby along with the scarlet imprinted on her, she has been facing the consequences severely. The hatred people showed towards her was quite horrid. Also, it seems that the rest of the town envies her for the crime. they think she didn’t get a big enough penalty and that she is very beautiful. All the people, mainly women, envy her. This doesn't help her with her problem. It only adds on to the intensity of it all. People avoided her; they judged her. She was quite isolated. Even her own daughter didn't get along with her at times. As time passed, however, she grew strong. All the things that life threw at her changed her for the better. She conquered many challenges, in my opinion. She got through all that was given to her. She took all of the blame, when she really shouldn’t of had. I think that a huge moment that helped form Hester into who she is today was that time when her and Dimmesdale were together and he apologized to her. I think this is very important because it shows that Hester is able to forgive. He did not take blame for his crime. He left Hester to suffer the consequences alone, when really, he should have been by her side every step of the way. This event showed how

However he is too weak and cowardly to confess, so he thrusts the responsibility to reveal him on Hester. He asks her “to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer!...Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him--yea, compel him, as it were--to add hypocrisy to sin?”(Hawthorne 70) In this quote, Dimmesdale does not only demonstrate the weakness he feels and his fear of confessing, but also his desire to confess. These conflicting emotions only serve to increase his guilt, but he is not yet willing to confess himself. Thus, he is not only imploring Hester to confess for him, but also describing his emotions in the process. He clearly believes that confessing is preferable to living in guilt and that hiding is only making him a hypocrite, especially due to his status in the Puritan community. However, he still does not confess. While Hester at the time is on a platform in front of the town, surrounded by light and the sight of the other Puritans with her secrets exposed, Dimmesdale is not in the spotlight. He still has his secret hidden and is seen as admirable by the people. His refusal to confess could be due

As the story continues, Hester Prynne continues to be plagued by guilt and embarrassment. Every look from a fellow citizen seems to make the scarlet letter burn on her chest. Throughout all this though, Hester Prynne remains true to herself and becomes stronger because of all her trials. Reverend Dimmesdale on the other hand, becomes weaker and weaker

He continually makes excuses to justify his wrongdoings and compares himself to others. He explains to Hester “We are not… the worst sinner in the world. May God forgive us both! There is one worse than even the polluted priest! That old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated… the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so!” (TSL 176). He sees the wrong in Chillingworth’s heart and turns to criticizing that rather than taking ownership over his own life. He sees the relatively worse intent of another as justification for his faults, even though he knows, on some level, that he is still in the wrong. Eventually, however, Dimmesdale recognizes that the reason for his anguish is his secrecy, so he decides to admit his secret to his fellow townspeople. Dimmesdale ultimately reveals “I stand upon the spot where, seven years since, I should have stood; here, with this woman ... Lo, the scarlet letter which Hester wears! Ye have all shuddered at it! ... But there stood one in the midst of you, at whose brand of sin and infamy ye have not shuddered!” (Hawthorne, TSL 227). He cannot live with the guilt of lying to others about his equal culpability as Hester. Dimmesdale knows that the only means to find peace is to be completely

Hester’s selflessness shows in this because she willingly gives up her life for the sake of Dimmesdale’s. Along with ruining her image for the sake of Dimmesdale’s, Hester Prynne’s selflessness is also shown when she provides him with comfort. Dimmesdale has been majorly impacted as a result of keeping this sin inside of him. He has begun to go crazy and spirals downhill because of his lack of courage and honesty with rest of the town. Upon seeing this side of Dimmesdale, Hester immediately sympathizes for him and tells him that “(t)hou art crushed under this seven years’ weight of misery” (178).

Hester Prynne’s ability to sustain her stability and strength of spirit is the express result of her public guilt and penance. She was Arthur Dimmesdale’s partner in adultery, but she is used by Hawthorne as a complete foil to his situation. Unlike Dimmesdale, Hester is both strong and honest. Walking out of prison at the beginning of the novel, she decides that she must “sustain and carry” her burden forward “by the ordinary resources of her nature, or sink with it. She could no longer borrow from the future to help her through the present grief” (54). Hester openly acknowledges her sin to the public, and always wears her scarlet letter A. In the forest scene, she explains to Dimmesdale that she has been truthful in all things except in revealing his part in her pregnancy. “A lie is never good, even though death threaten on the other side” (133). Even Dimmesdale himself realizes that Hester’s situation is much healthier than his own when he states, “It must needs be better for the sufferer to be free to show his pain, as this poor woman Hester is, than to cover it all up in his heart” (92-93). This life of public shame and repentance, although bitter, lonely, and difficult, helps Hester retain her true identity while Dimmesdale seems to be losing his.

This concealed sin is the center of his tormented conscience. The pressures on him from society are greater than those on Hester because he is a man in high standing, expected to represent the epitome of the Puritanical ideals. It is ironic that Dimmesdale, who is supposed to be absolutely pure and urges congregation to confess and openly repent their sins, is incapable of doing so himself. He knows the hypocrisy of his actions but cannot bring himself to admit his deed publicly. In resentment of this he punishes himself physically - he is "often observed to put his hand over his heart, with indicative of pain" (ch 9). Dimmesdale's resistance to be true to himself gradually destroys his well being as well as Hester's, and although he eventually declares the truth, his resistance ends him.