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Scarlet Letter Essay
The Scarlet Letter is a fascinating read that describes every detail of a character’s actions and psyche. Two of the main characters that Hawthorne really provides physiological attributes for is Roger Chillingworth, and Reverend Dimmesdale. These two characters are the ones who the main conflict revolves around. In the story, Dimmesdale commits adultery with Chillingworth’s wife. Dimmesdale feel guilty and tortures himself physically and psychologically. When Chillingworth finds out, he decides to live with Dimmesdale as his personal doctor and uses this to psychologically torture him throughout the story. Nathaniel Hawthorne shows the psychological thinking of Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet
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Letter through their speech and actions. Throughout the story Roger Chillingworth has a drive to get revenge on his wife’s lover. As part of his plan to exact his revenge, he moves in with her suspected lover ,Dimmesdale, and poses as his physician. Chillingworth finds Dimmesdale asleep one night and sees a red A on his chest which proves that he is Hester's lover. Now that he knows Dimmesdale’s crime, he wants to torture him for taking his chance at a family. He hides his intentions so that nobody will find out “Calm, gentle, passionless, as he appeared, there was yet, we fear, a quiet depth of malice, hitherto latent, but active now, in this unfortunate old man, which led him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever wreaked upon an enemy” (Hawthorne 130). This is when Chillingworth is out for revenge constantly plotting against Dimmesdale. He stalks him for seven long years and Dimmesdale feels that the devil is stalking him. He thinks he sold his soul to the devil, so he tortures himself physically and mentally. Chillingworth acts like he is trying to help Dimmesdale but he really just wants to torture him as long as he lives, he even admits this to Hester “But it was the constant shadow of my presence!—the closest propinquity of the man whom he had most vilely wronged! —and who had grown to exist only by this perpetual poison of the direst revenge! Yea, indeed!—he did not err!—there was a fiend at his elbow! A mortal man, with once a human heart, has become a fiend for his especial torment!” (Hawthorne 160). At the end of the story, Chillingworth torments him psychologically until Dimmesdale finally breaks. When Dimmesdale finally confesses his sin and dies, Chillingworth's purpose in life is suddenly gone and he dies a few months afterwards. He leaves his fortune to Hester's illegitimate daughter, Pearl, even though the child is proof of her sin against him. Typically when people are chasing revenge they feel good, but once they have achieved it, they feel something missing in their life. There is a hole in his heart where there was once a goal. Chillingworth wants revenge against Dimmesdale and he was not able to complete his revenge. His wife wronged him, Dimmesdale stole his life, and he saw only one person who did not wrong him. That was Pearl. After Dimmesdale dies, he found that torturing Dimmesdale psychologically was wrong and to make up for it, he gave his wealth to the one person who was innocent throughout these course of events. Dimmesdale is tortured by Chillingworth and he is broken by it. After feeling Chillingworth’s devil-like presence, he questions his life choices and whether adultery was worth not going to heaven. He thinks about whether or not hs grave will be respected “...when poor Mr. Dimmesdale was thinking of his grave, he questioned with himself whether the grass would ever grow on it, because an accursed thing must there be buried” (Hawthorne 133). He feels that because of his sin he may not be one of the chosen few to go the heaven. Dimmesdale feels guilty for his crime and wonder how this will affect him spiritually and how it will affect his duties as Reverend. Chillingworth’s psychological torture is too much for Dimmesdale, and he even tortures himself psychologically and mentally for his wrongdoings “All that guilty sorrow, hidden from the world, whose great heart would have pitied and forgiven, to be revealed to him, the Pitiless, to him, the Unforgiving! All that dark treasure to be lavished on the very man, to whom nothing else could so adequately pay the debt of vengeance” (Hawthorne 130). Dimmesdale has kept the guilt balled up inside and is psychologically messing with his brain. He does not have a sense of right and wrong. He senses that his time is coming soon and does not know his fate. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth have a psychological battle.
Where Chillingworth tortures Dimmesdale and Dimmesdale does not know and because his mind makes him feel guilt, he tortures himself psychologically and physically to deal with the pain. Dimmesdale feels guilty which leads him to carve an A into his chest and silently tortures himself and mentally ball himself up. When he finds out that Chillingworth was the one stalking him for seven years he gets furious and says, "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 183). Here, Dimmesdale feels that he has been violated and just wants to be forgiven in the eyes of God. Dimmesdale feels that Chillingworth is full of evil and revenge has clouded his brain from senses right and wrong. Dimmesdale claims that him and Hester’s sin have not made them as bad as Chillingworth. In his mind, however, he feels the need to do what is right so he does not feel influenced to do evil acts. When Dimmesdale dies after confessing, he feels complete because he lifts the weight of his sin off of his chest. When Chillingworth dies, however, it is quite the opposite, “–seemed at once to desert him; insomuch that he positively withered up, shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun. This unhappy man had made the very principle of his life to consist in the pursuit and systematic exercise of revenge” (244). In this quote, Chillingworth’s drive to fulfill his mission to find Hester’s lover has failed. He tried to pursue his revenge and failed. His reason for living was to exact his revenge, and because Dimmesdale died he couldn’t exact his revenge. So, he shriveled up without a meaningful purpose in
life. Ultimately, Chillingworth and Dimmesdale have an intense psychological battle where Dimmesdale confesses to his sin and Chillingworth has an unsatisfying revenge. Chillingworth wants Dimmesdale to be publicly shamed for what he did and tortured his mind for seven years. Dimmesdale, in order to lift the guilt and pain, confessed to his crime from seven years ago. In the end, Chillingworth saw that revenge was not worth the pain he wrought. Instead, to make up for the pain he caused, he gave the money to the one person who had not hurt him, Pearl. Through Chillingworth’s speech and actions, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows Chillingworth’s psychological thinking and the result of it. It is through Dimmesdale’s speech that Hawthorne shows the effect of psychological torture. In the end, unjust psychological torture can lead to everything revolving around the conflict to crumble.
[having] a wild look of wonder, joy, and horror? (135) at the same time. Hawthorne goes further beyond this description by comparing this sudden outburst of emotion to Satan?s ecstasy by saying that the only factor which ?distinguished [Chillingworth?s] ecstasy from Satan?s was the trait of wonder in it? (135). As the reader delves deeper into the book, we come to the conclusion that Dimmesdale is indeed the father of Pearl, the product of the horrendous sin consummated through Dimmesdale?s and Hester?s illicit affair. This point brings us back to Chillingworth?s reaction to realizing this earlier at the end of chapter ten. Although this shocking news explains why Chillingworth might have been angry or horrified, it does not clarify why Chillingworth did not attempt to murder or poison Dimmesdale whilst he had the chance, especially since the reader knows from a point made by Chillingworth earlier in the book, that after Chillingworth had sought out the man who had an affair with his Hester, he would have his long sought-after revenge (73).
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Mr. Dimmesdale’s greatest fear is that the townspeople will find out about his sin of adultery with Hester Prynne. Mr. Dimmesdale fears that his soul could not take the shame of such a disclosure, as he is an important moral figure in society. However, in not confessing his sin to the public, he suffers through the guilt of his sin, a pain which is exacerbated by the tortures of Roger Chillingworth. Though he consistently chooses guilt over shame, Mr. Dimmesdale goes through a much more painful experience than Hester, who endured the public shame of the scarlet letter. Mr. Dimmesdale’s guilt is much more damaging to his soul than any shame that he might have endured.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter many aspects of evil and sin are reflected through the characters Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth made their own choice of being a sinner and being evil. Therefore, that is what Hawthorne believed to be the definition of evil and sin; an individual chooses to do an action that is considered sinful. Although Dimmesdale and Chillingworth both portray evil and sin they portray it in two completely different forms. Dimmesdale is shown as being a secret sinner throughout the novel, but with the evil torturing that he receives from Chillingworth and himself it drives him to the point where he then becomes a public sinner. It is better for an individual to confess their sin than to bury it deep down.
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 his society
Nathaniel Hawthorne was a truly outstanding author. His detailed descriptions and imagery will surely keep people interested in reading The Scarlet Letter for years to come. In writing this book he used themes evident throughout the entirety of the novel. These themes are illustrated in what happens to the characters and how they react. By examining how these themes affect the main characters, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, one can obtain a better understanding of what Hawthorne was trying to impress upon his readers.
No matter what Dimmesdale does, or where he goes, he cannot escape the chilling presence of the two. Chillingworth is there to find the truth and he wants to find the man who had an affair with his wife. Suspecting Dimmesdale, Chillingworth strives to be with him at all times. Because Chillingworth is a doctor, and Dimmesdale is obviously sick, it is encouraged that Chillingworth stays with Dimmesdale for health reasons. The idea is turned into reality and Chillingworth moves in with Dimmesdale, never leaving his side. Wanting to escape reality, Hester and Dimmesdale make plans to run away. They would do so by getting on a ship that was set to sail east to England. Considering the idea that one cannot run from there guilt, it is obvious Dimmesdale could not escape his most hindering inner thoughts. Just like Dimmesdale’s guilt would stick with him through his travels, so would Chillingworth. Knowing of their plans, Chillingworth arranges a way to join Dimmesdale and Hester on their escape journey to England. Chillingworth is a clear representative for Dimmesdale's undeniable
Life is unpredictable, and through trial and error humanity learns how to respond to conflicts and learns how to benefit from mistakes. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a character who changes and gains knowledge from the trials he faces, but first he has to go through physical, spiritual, and emotional agony. In the midst of all the havoc, the young theologian is contaminated with evil but fortunately his character develops from fragile to powerful, and the transformation Dimmesdale undergoes contributes to the plot’s climax.
Dimmesdale, driven by impulse, confesses publicly to his sin and falls dead on the scaffold. Chillingworth, left without a purpose for living, dies a year later. The passage in chapter 9 is start of the relationship between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. The dramatic irony found in the passage is due to the false identities that Chillingworth and Dimmesdale adopt and their interactions foreshadow their future relations.
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross once said, “Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death.” This quote truly captures Dimmesdale’s death and journey to death, it is guilt that drives him to the grave and it accompanies him throughout all five grieving stages. Dimmesdale is one of many characters in The Scarlet Letter that is faced with problems both personally and spiritually. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a romantic novel about a young woman, Hester Prynne, who is permanently marked with her sin by a scarlet A she must bare on her chest and also by her daughter Pearl. Hester committed adultery with the young minister of Boston, Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester, and her beloved child Pearl, learn to over come the A and change the meaning of it from adulterer to able, while they are changing the way society views them, Dimmesdale is withering away under the “care” of Rodger Chillingworth, Hester’s past husband. Chillingworth knows about the sin and seeks revenge on Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale is helpless and in a downward spiral. He let the sin become who he is, even though the towns people don’t know of his adultery until his dying breath. The Scarlet Letter is a story about overcoming the darkness that hangs above you and stepping out of the sin or gloom that controls you. For characters like Hester this is a fairly easy thing to handle, but on the flip side characters like Dimmesdale struggle and can not seem to escape their heinous acts and don’t find peace of mind until they die. The Scarlet Letter mainly focuses on the process of overcoming these troubling times and how each individual character handles the pressure, stress, and guilt that come along with it differently. Arthur Dimmesdale is a lost soul after his sin, he expe...
As the novel progressed, Chillingworth fits the profile of ‘vengeance destroys the avenger’. When Roger Chillingworth is first introduced to the reader, we see a kind old man, who just has planted the seeds for revenge. Although he did speak of getting his revenge, when Hester first met her husband in her jail cell, she did not see any evil in him. Because Hester would not tell him who she had slept with, Chillingworth vowed that he would spend the rest of his life having his revenge and that he would eventually suck the soul out of the man, whom she had the affair with. “There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of him. I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares” (Hawthorne, 101) As the novel develops, Roger Chillingworth has centered himself on Arthur Dimmesdale, but he cannot prove that he is the “one.” Chillingworth has become friends with Dimmesdale, because he has a “strange disease,” that needed to be cured; Chillingworth suspects something and begins to drill Dimmesdale. “… The disorder is a strange one…hath all the operation of this disorder been fairly laid open to me and recounted to me” (Hawthorne, 156).
Hawthorne's statement through Chillingworth offers insight into Dimmesdale and Chillingworth along with a representation of Hawthorne's disapproval of the Puritan values. This disapproval is the driving force of the novel, and it underlies the relationship between Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the prevailing greater justice of God. The contrast of the Puritans' justice and God's makes the message of the story greater than a love story or a story of a sin. With this theme, The Scarlet Letter becomes a comparison of the flawed justice of humans and the divine justice of God.
Most importantly, Dimmesdale rejects his sin and resolves not to do it again. “In Mr. Dimmesdale’s secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge” (131). He is causing his own suffering, clearly showing that he regrets what he did and feels very guilty about it. The whipping is meant as his punishment, and that, along with his psychological torture and Chillingworth’s constant provocation, acts as a constant reminder of what he did and not to do it again. Also, his suffering could be seen as God’s plan for him and his mortal punishment. Dimmesdale believes this and his dying words are: “God knows; and He is merciful! He hath proved his mercy, most of all, in my afflictions. By giving me this burning torture to bear upon my breast!...Had either of these agonies been wanting, I had been lost for ever!” (235). His suffering is actually a blessing because without it he would have had even more eternal suffering. In a way, he has been living through purgatory and, with this final confession, is liberated. And ultimately, his suffering brings him back to God. This is illustrated at the end of the novel, when Dimmesdale finally chooses to confess on the scaffold rather than escape to the old world with Hester. This must have been prompted by his ‘prolonged suffering’, which steered him to the right choice by choosing out of true remorse and repentance rather than
At one moment during their conversation Hester sees a “a glare of red light out of [Chillingworth’s] eyes” noticing just how connected he has become to the devil (148). The sin Hester and Dimmesdale committed has not gone unnoticed by the devil and Chillingworth appears to symbolize a sort of messenger for the demon. She says even when he smiles it cannot hide his true nature and the blackness of his charred soul. His whole being is on fire because of how vengeful he feels toward the impure actions committed by Hester and Dimmesdale. His natural lean towards being a man of science rather than a man of religion also sparks this blackness. Dimmesdale is the exact opposite of Chillingworth, and that is why it makes him so angry. Before this conversation with Hester he spent seven years with Dimmesdale trying to cure him with his use of black medicine all while knowing the cause of his pain and that it cannot be fixed with medicine. The presence of the devil within him causes pain within everyone whom he seeks revenge. Chillingworth’s sole purpose is to do the Devil’s work in this scenario. Their location also speaks significance as later in the story it is revealed that the “Black Man”, referring to the Devil, lives within the woods. Thus, Chillingworth is a full pawn of the Devil seeking revenge in a sinful
When Chillingworth learns that Dimmesdale was the man who commits the adulteress act with his wife he becomes fixated on getting revenge. His thirst for revenge was the only objective on his mind “This unhappy person had effected such a transformation by devoting himself, for seven years, to the constant analysis of a heart full of torture, and deriving his enjoyment thence,” (Hawthorn 157). Due to his fixation on revenge Chillingworth’s physical features have declined as he is now appearing as a mere replica of the devil as he begins embracing the evil that lurks within him. Dimmesdale has no other objectives each day besides causing chaos and this takes a toll on his body. After Dimmesdale delivers his sermon Chillingworth attempts to stop Hester and Dimmesdale from sharing the truth about their relationship in fear that they become happier than him. As Chillingworth rushes to the marketplace and his appearance is noted as he “thrust himself through the crowd, --or perhaps, so dark, disturbed, and evil was his look, he rose out of another region, --to snatch back his victim from what he sought to do!,” (235). Now, there is no point of return for Chillingworth not a glimpse of his previous self can be found in the fiend standing in the marketplace. The devil has crawled into his heart clutching it, causing his physical
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a study of the effects of sin on the hearts and minds of the main characters, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth. Sin strengthens Hester, humanizes Dimmesdale, and turns Chillingworth into a demon.