Scarlet Letter Essays 1. Arthur Dimmesdale is the greatest mystery of the story. It starts with the simple question of who Pearl’s father is, but it grows into something much larger. Dimmesdale’s sin eats away at him every day, and every day he becomes more and more worse for wear. Despite his wanting to tell the whole world of his sin, he doesn’t out of fear. Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s real husband, seizes this opportunity to take his revenge on Dimmesdale for what he did. Dimmesdale is almost certain he will never be rid of the torture he feels within himself until he comes out with his secret, but it would be years before he ever does. One of the reasons Dimmesdale doesn’t reveal his secret is his own personality. He has a tendency to always appease the masses in any way that he can. He is always worrying about what others think about him and always wants the people’s respect. He fears that if he tells the people that he committed adultery and is the father of Pearl, he will be punished as …show more content…
It serves as a constant reminder that he has yet to reveal his deepest, darkest secret. Its shining glow radiates onto him and cannot be ignored, which may very well torture Dimmesdale as he feels forced to see it. The letter A is one of the reasons why Roger Chillingworth is desperate to find the father to Pearl (the other reason being Pearl’s birth). Its blazing color could symbolize Roger’s own burning hatred. It could also symbolize the fires of hell because of it’s burning, red glow. The letter A on Hester’s chest is used to symbolize many things. It’s the driving force of the story that reminds the reader and the characters within the story of what they want and each of their end goals. Its attachment to Hester gives it the opportunity to be seen in many different lights, it all depends on how each character decides to see
Arthur Dimmesdale is a young Reverend who fell in love with Hester Prynne and is the father to Pearl. Hester refuses to name Pearl's father as the Reverend in order to protect his honor but this guilt eats away at the Reverend and cause him to constantly punish himself for the sin he has committed, he starves and whips himself and stays up praying for hours. This psychological and physical torture he puts himself through causes him to develop a heart condition. The Reverend's biggest obstacle he must overcome is himself; the Reverend lives a very difficult life because he is supposedly a man of god yet he has committed a deadly sin. In order to alleviate his guilt the Reverend writes wonderful sermons, which he delivers, to his followers. The
Throughout the novel, Hester keeps the secrets to protect herself, her daughter Pearl and her lover Dimmesdale. Hester keeps secret from the Puritan society that Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl in order to protect Dimmesdale's position in the church. When the town asks Hester to admit who the father is she states, ""I will not speak!" answered Hester, “And my child must seek a heavenly father; she shall never know an earthly one!”" (78). Hester was willing not to share even though Dimmesdale wanted her to confess and it would allow Dimmesdale help parent Pearl. This demonstrates the good character of Hester, despite how it ridiculed her that her lover had high power in the community when he was just as much to blame. Also, Hester never shares the true identity of the mysterious doctor Chillingworth to society in fear of hurting her lover. As Chillingworth starts getting closer to Dimmesdale and affecting his h...
Arthur Dimmesdale’s house not only contained his own secrets, but also accommodated Roger Chillingworth’s as well. It was from their residence together that the detrimental repercussion of their enigmas appear; thus relating in the key point: secrets destroyed the keeper. The first indication of this correspondence was Dimmesdale’s developed illness. Withholding the reality of his position as the father of Hester’s child from the town for status purposes had begun to physically dismantle him, literally from the inside out. For example, “‘I need no
This shows how the community saw a sinner and the "A", not Hester. The women sneered and jested at her in public and wanted to take Pearl from her. The prison also symbolizes isolation and alienation. Hester lives in a prison of alienation and Dimsdale in his guilt. Yet later as Hester shows signs of humbleness by embroidering items for others and still wearing dim colored clothing, the community says her "A" is for able. To Dimsdale, the letter represents his guilt and agony. It constantly torments him throughout the book. It reminds him of his undeclared sin and also how Hester suffers for him. For Chillingworth, the letter is his need for revenge and he wants what is on the minister's chest unveiled to the community. He did not want this to happen as fast as it happened for the letter was Chillingworth's life, and he died shortly afterward Dimsdale's death because he had nothing to do with his life.
"On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter 'A.'" (60) This "A" represented the adultery Hester once committed, as did her child named Pearl. From the very beginning, Hawthorne indicates to his readers that Hester feels no guilt in being an adulteress. The ravishing embroidered fashion in which the "A" is presented to the reader shows the haughty and defiant attitude Hester possesses. Not only does Hester embellish the letter but she also dresses up her daughter in red cloth with gold thread. "It was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!" (103) By doing t...
In The Scarlet Letter, symbolism in the symbolism in this novel plays a large part in the novel, in the scarlet letter “A” as a symbol of sin and then it gradually changes its meaning, guiltiness is symbolic in the novel, and of course the living evidence of the adulterous act, Pearl. The actions of Pearl, Dimmesdale and fate all return the letter of Hester. They give Hester the responsibilities of a sinner, but also the possibility to reconcile with her community, Dimmesdale and the chance to clean her reputation.
In the statement, “For, Hester, I am a dying man. So let me make haste to take my shame upon me,” Dimmesdale confesses his sins and takes some of the burden that Hester had carried. This statement shows his love for Hester and Pearl. Dimmesdale confession also saves Pearl by giving her a human father and thus able to have human feelings. In the end, he asked Pearl for a kiss, which she gives
He often times felt very guilty and shameful which brought him down into great depression and misery. His fear of publicity caused him to whip himself and fast, “…rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance” (115). The fasting affected him both physically and mentally. He had delusions of going to the scaffold and announcing his sin to the people, causing him to walk very poorly. Pearl always notices that he keeps his hand over his heart and wonders why, and it is because of his sin and suffering. "And will he always keep his hand over his heart?" (167). It represents his scarlet letter that he forces himself to wear, whether intentionally or subconscious. Dimmesdale's suffering enables him to deliver some of his most powerful sermons, which all focus on the topic of sin.
As Pearl represents the id, Dimmesdale represents the superego. This is so because he, even when given the chance to tell the truth, continues to lie about his sin, afraid of what society might think. As a result, he punishes himself mentally and physically. His fears and punishments fit the superego because the superego is the subconscious that reflects all the behaviors and punishments influenced by society. It is evident that Dimmesdale continues to lie about his sin because he fears society’s reactions. This is seen clearly in the beginning of the book. When Dimmesdale is standing on the scaffold with Hester, who is being questioned about who the father of the baby is, he has every opportunity at this moment to confess. He chooses not to.
Arthur Dimmesdale is an eminent minister in Boston and also the father of Pearl. He is a tortured man who constantly places his hand over his heart when agitated. His health is quite bad, and it is thanks to Roger Chillingworth's potions that he is able to stay alive. Dimmesdale admits to being Pearl's father at the very end of the novel, and reveals that he has a scarlet letter branded into his flesh. He dies upon the scaffold while holding Hester's hand.
In “The Scarlet Letter,” the main character Hester get punished for adultery. In the beginning, she thought that her husband has died so she fell in love with Dimmesdale. However, her husband did not die and came back. Her husband, Chillingworth, later finds out that Hester has a secret lover. Therefore tried to find out who he is. At first Chillingworth does not reveal himself as Hester’s husband because she was being punished for adultery and he did not want to be ashamed. Later he tries to find out Hester’s secret lover by asking her but she will not tell him which makes him for desperate and angry. When he finds out that the secret lover is Dimmesdale, he finds out a secret about Dimmesdale.
He even mounts the scaffold one night and calls Hester and Pearl to his side -- but it is under the cover of darkness. Unfortunately, Chillingworth watches this second scaffolding scene in the darkness. He now has his final proof that Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl. His revenge intensifies. Hester realizes what is going on between Dimmesdale and Chillingworth and gains permission from her husband to reveal his true identity to the minister.
As soon as Hester stands on the stocks with Pearl for a day without him, Dimmesdale becomes forever haunted from his guilty conscience. He self-inflicts a great deal of harm upon himself both physically and mentally. “And thus, 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 a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart. On that spot, in very truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain. Without any effort of his will, or power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud; an outcry that went pealing through the night, and was beaten back from one house to another, and reverberated from the hills in the background; as if a company of devils detecting so much misery and terror in it, had made a plaything of the sound, and were bandying it to and fro” (Hawthorne 128). Dimmesdale comes close to confession many times, but cowardice and self-preservation come into play, affecting his decision. He is unable to summon the power to confess, but instead tortures himself and engraves an “A” by his heart. He quickly realizes that he will not survive long in his current situation.
The “A” or scarlet letter is the ultimate symbol of the entire novel. Initially, the letter symbolized shame then shifted later in time. The differences that Hester and Dimmesdale have with the “A” are the ways that they display it towards the moralistic society. Hester did not fight with society when indicted of the crime that she
While Hester tries to protect Dimmesdale by not giving the name of Pearl's father, she actually condemns him to a long road of suffering, self torture and disappointment. She does this by letting him keep the sin he committed in secret while he watches her being publicly punished. Chillingworth observes Dimmesdale's desire to confess, as well as his lack of willpower to do so. Dimmesdale rationalizes not confessing; all the while Chillingworth is torturing with constant reminders of his hypocrisy. Hester never voluntarily confesses to committing adultery, and never feels any remorse for it. Her public punishment comes not as a result of her having any contrition, but rather her apparent pregnancy. She stays in the town to be close to Dimmesdale, as a reader would find on page 84, "There dwelt...the feet of one with whom she deemed herself connected in a union..." She also stays in town to convince others, as well as herself, that she is actually regretful for her sin even though she knows in her heart she is not. She does this to appease her guilt. As Hawthorne puts it on page 84, "Here...had been the scene of her guilt...