Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter Essay - 1578 Words

The Scarlet LetterArthur Dimmesdale 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 price of death, proved to be more harmful and more destructive than this sin of the flesh, and his sin against God. Socrates said, â€Å"Knowthyself,† and Shakespeare said, â€Å"To thine own self be true.† If Reverend Dimmesdale had been true to himself he certainly wouldn’t have suffered as much as he did. What drove Dimmesdale to hold in his self-condemning truth? To†¦show more content†¦Dimmesdale portrays himself very ironically. He is a very well respected reverend and yet, has, for the last 7 years, worked on preaching the word of God, especially while he urges the congre gation to confess openly to repent unto God. While, in reality, Dimmesdale is the one whoneeds a clean conscious. He feels like he needs to confess not only to the town but also too himself. Halfway through the novel 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 Hawthorne states, â€Å"They fancied him the mouthpiece of Heaven’s messages of wisdom, rebuke, and love. In their eyes, the very ground on which he trod was sanctified.† ( 139 ) How else can the reverend live without revealing his identity? He has been doing it for seven years, and it must be hard for him, mentally and physically. Mentally, his whole body shuts down because he cannot take it anymore, even though he does not give in to confess yet. He has become emaciated because he has let the sin against himself churnShow MoreRelatedReverend Arthur Dimmesdale And The Scarlet Letter1909 Words   |  8 PagesReverend Arthur Dimmesdale and the Scarlet Letter As the loved pastor whose undisclosed guilt destroyed him and the secret lover of Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale is an interesting character in The Scarlet Letter and plays an important role throughout the book. Dimmesdale is a â€Å"Reverend† and pastor at the church. His interactions with the other main characters in the book such as Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynne, and Pearl are secretive and painful, and display his inner pain. Hester had committedRead MoreThe Suffering of Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne985 Words   |  4 Pagesit can take a merciless toll on a person. For most people, guilt is often a short-lived feeling because we confess why we feel guilty and get it off of our chests. However, this is hardly the case for Arthur Dimmesdale, the father of Hester Prynne’s child in the novel The Scarlet Letter. Dimmesdale does not confess that he has committed a sin with Hester, and for a brutal seven whole years, he withholds his guilt inside of him. Throughout all of that time, he reverts to self-punishment in the formRead MoreShame And Guilt Of Arthur Dimmesdale s The Scarlet Letter952 Words   |  4 PagesShame and Guilt of Arthur Dimmesdale Shame and guilt are both similar feelings but what is the difference? â€Å"Although many people use these two words interchangeably, from a psychological perspective, they actually refer to different experiences. Guilt and shame sometimes go hand in hand; the same action may give rise to feelings of both shame and guilt, where the former reflects how we feel about ourselves and the latter involves awareness that our actions have injured someone else. In other wordsRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale Essay1914 Words   |  8 PagesThe Scarlet Letter is a classic novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne which entangles the lives of two characters Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale together through an unpardonable sin-adultery. With two different lifestyles, this act of adultery affects each of them differently. Hester is an average female citizen who is married to a Roger Chillingworth from Europe while Dimmesdale is a Puritan minister from England (61). Along the course of time after the act of adultery had happened, Hester couldRead MoreDimmesdale And Arthur Chimesdale In The Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne1211 Words   |  5 Pagesyourself? Do you have high or low self-esteem? If you do something that is wrong, do you confess it or keep it to yourself? Matters like these are presented in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter. In Hester Prynne, we see an example of a person whose sin is known to everyone. In Arthur Dimmesdale, we see an example of a person whose sin is kept to himself. He suffered daily from the guilt of his secret, and yearned for it to be publicly exposed. Though they both experienced great shameRead MoreScarlet Letter Essay : Hester Prynne Vs. Arthur Dimmesdale884 Words   |  4 PagesDeimler 1 Abby Deimler Mrs. Garcia Period 5 March 6th, 2017 Scarlet Letter Essay, Hester Prynne vs. Arthur Dimmesdale Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are the two main characters in the novel the scarlet letter. As parents to Pearl, the daughter out of adultery, these two go through the journey of shunning and hatred, but not together. Their stories are very different, and yet, so very similar. Hester Prynne is the main lady in this novel, she is the mother of Pearl, a seamstressRead MoreAnalysis Of Revered Arthur Dimmesdale In Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter800 Words   |  4 PagesDavid A. Bednar, the president of Brigham Young University once said â€Å"guilt is to the spirit what pain is to the body,† Revered Arthur Dimmesdale of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter was a man who not only related to this quote but lived it. After committing one of the gravest sins possible in the Puritan community, Dimmesdale lives with this so-called â€Å"pain of the spirit† every day of his life. Not to mention the fact that nobody knows of his wrongdoing so the guilt just continues buildingRead MoreComparing John Proctor and Arthur Dimmesdale from The Scarlet Letter1157 Words   |  5 PagesComparing John Proctor and Arthur Dimmesdale John Proctor and Arthur Dimmesdale are exceptionally similar characters despite the fact that each was written about in very different eras. Both characters lived in the same time period, however, The Scarlet Letter was written in the late 1800’s, and The Crucible was written in the 1950’s. One cannot look at the qualities of Proctor and Dimmesdale without discussing each author and the time period in which each story was written. Despite minorRead More Transformation of Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter992 Words   |  4 PagesThe Scarlet Letter:   The Transformation of Rev. Dimmesdale Life is hard, but accepting that fact makes it easier. This common phrase clearly states a harsh fact that Rev. Dimmesdale, a character in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter, had to face. In this story of deception and adultery set in the Puritan era, Hawthorne introduces Dimmesdale as a weak and cowardly man who refuses to take responsibility for his actions.   The Rev. Dimmesdale is a transitional character in that he is, atRead More Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester’s Quest for Identity in Hawthornes Scarlet Letter2490 Words   |  10 PagesDimmesdale and Hester’s Quest for Identity in The Scarlet Letter  Ã‚     Ã‚   While allegory is an explicit and tempting reading of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, I see in this novel also the potential of a psychological reading, interpreting it as a search for one’s own self. Both Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne goes through this process and finally succeeded in finding the duality of ones personality, and the impossibility of complementing the split between individual and community identity