What Is The Biggest Sin In The Scarlet Letter

Dimmesdale’s inability to confess his sin and to accept his punishments eventually leads to his downfall. Dimmesdale wanted to desperately admit his sin to the world, but just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Dimmesdale tells Hester “,... it would be better for him to do so than to hide a guilty heart for the rest of his life. What can your silence do for him, except tempt him- almost force him- to add hypocrisy to his sins?” (Page 73) Dimmesdale pleads Hester to tell the name of the father, and fellow sinner. He is too weak minded to do it himself. Since he was not revealed, he hides his guilty heart.

The third example of Dimmesdale is the worst sinner than Chillingworth is because he doesn’t have responsibility for what he has done. After Hester is out of prison, she is punished and she takes all the blame and their shared sin while Dimmesdale chooses to hide behind her. Dimmesdale let Hester and Pearl go through hash criticizing, disparaging, and insulting from everyone in the towns. People disparaging Hester by saying “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law

A reader may label Dimmesdale the purest of the sinners. Adultery, in the Christian world, is the one of the greatest sins a man can commit, second only to premeditated murder. In a Puritan society, it must be close to the same. Dimmesdale tries to purge himself of this evil sin by scourging and self-denial. However, he shies away from public confession, rationalizing the good he can instill in other men and women with his sermons. We find this illogical reasoning on page He endures Chillingworth's revenge and hatred while trying to preach what he doesn't practice. At his weakest point, Hester tempts him to cave in to the sin and do it all over again. Out of desperation to flee from the torture, he crumbles

He suffers from extreme guilt because of the sin he committed with Hester. His place in society prevents him from confessing; he keeps the sin a secret. He distances himself from everyone only so that he would not feel the pressure into confessing, this leads to him being emotionally isolated. When Roger Chillingworth talks to Dimmesdale about his troubles, Dimmesdale feels as if he is being drawn close to a confession and leaves the scene out of fright. He says, “But who art thou, that meddlest in this matter?—that dares thrust himself between the sufferer and his God?” (113). Dimmesdale is afraid that Chillingworth is going to discover his sin and thus decides to leave. Although Dimmesdale succeeds in hiding his sin from Chillingworth, he still feels the need to end his priestly duties because he is not the man everyone thinks he is. “‘I have laughed, in bitterness and agony of heart, at the contrast between what I seem and what I am! And Satan laughs at it!’” (159). All the townspeople revere Dimmesdale and act upon his every word, this makes Dimmesdale realize that revealing his sin will not only destroy his image. He continues to hide it and his feelings from the entire town, leaving him deserted with his emotions. His isolation leads to pangs of pain that only he understands. He reaches for his heart because he felt a pain that no one else knew of. His

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale takes the easy way out and does not tell the community that he is the one that committed adultery with Hester Prynne, which led to more pain than he saved. Him and Hester Prynne committed adultery together and as a result of that, they have a

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.

Since the beginning of time we have shown our imperfections as human beings. As detailed by the Bible in the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge committing the original sin. This infraction against God resulted in Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and set the foundation for the judgment of mankind. The word sin derives from Old English synn and is defined as something shameful, deplorable, or utterly wrong. In this essay I will be comparing exposed sin to hidden sin as related to The Scarlet Letter, and the effects it has on people.

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

Dimmesdale believes that Hester has declared her sins through the scarlet A on her chest and it relieves her burden. Dimmesdales hidden thoughts, however, seem to be the source of his illness. Despite this, he doesn’t tell anyone and doesn’t believe in confessing to an “earthly physician” and believes he should only confess to Christ. Chillingworth gets impatient but after they fight, the two men make up. Later, Dimmesdale falls asleep and Chillingworth goes to his room and lifts his shirt to reveal something that excites him. To me, his secretive nature reveals his not-so-positive intentions and the townspeople rightly suspect him of acting darkly towards the

Roger Chillingworth’s sin, however, was not in an instant. His was calculated, drawn out, and committed with malice towards both Dimmesdale and Hester for years on end. He tormented Dimmesdale psychologically for years, and drained what little life Dimmesdale had in him out slowly and intentionally.He felt no guilt for these sins, nor was he ever punished for them in life.

Another effect on Dimmesdale, seen as his guilt slowly wears him down, is how he compares his actions to those of Roger Chillingworth. This is clearly seen when Dimmesdale claims to Hester, "We are not, Hester, the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! That old man 's revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so!” (Hawthorne 185). Even in the privacy of the forest, he did not want to accept the full reality of his actions. This is a step forward for him, however, because he chooses to actually say aloud that what he did was wrong, just not as wrong as Chillingworth’s terrorizing of him. Eventually, Dimmesdale is able to confess to the public his sin, and this is due to his longing to escape the torture Chillingworth has been putting him through. Dimmesdale is no longer affected by the guilt that his actions brought about, so Chillingworth has no reason to aggravate him anymore. Sadly for the reverend, the shame

The third example of Dimmesdale is the worst sinner than Chillingworth is because he doesn’t have responsibility for what he has done. After Hester is out of prison, she is punished and she takes all the blame and their shared sin while Dimmesdale chooses to hide behind her. Dimmesdale let Hester and Pearl go through hash criticizing, disparaging, and insulting for everyone in the towns. People disparaging Hester by saying “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and

In contrast to Dimmesdale, there was Chillingworth, the legal husband of the woman Dimmesdale sinned with. Disguised as a healer, Chillingworth waits and observes, trying to discover the identity of the father of Pearl, the child of Hester. When he discovers that Dimmesdale was the lover, he moves in with Dimmesdale to torture him. Chillingworth uses his position as a healer to do the opposite of his occupation, to hurt Dimmesdale’s mind, tormenting him psychologically, and ultimately poisoning his mind. He tortured Dimmesdale throughout the whole novel and not once showed remorse for his horrible sin. He was never confused about his sin; he never questioned if it was right or wrong. This was a result of his religious views; he wasn 't religious at all in fact, he was referenced as the Devil.

Its makes him even more of a coward because he gives advice to others about taking full responsibility for their sin, but he doesn 't even listen to himself. "His spirit lacked the strength that could have borne up, as thine has been, beneath a burden like thy scarlet letter" (page 178 paragraph 4). In this scene Roger Chillingworth tries to make Hester recognize Dimmesdale 's hypocrisy but she denies it. He says that Dimmesdale can preach a good sermon about the consequences of sin, but he can 't deal with them himself. It 's true what Chillingworth says about Dimmesdale yet it is ironic because he is a reverend he is supposed to follow the Puritan lifestyle strictly however, he does not. He becomes more beaten as he keeps hiding the truth while he doesn 't accept his punishment that he deserves.

The third example of Dimmesdale is the worst sinner than Chillingworth is because he does not have responsibility for what he has done. After Hester is out of prison, she is punished and she takes all the blame and the sin while