Men are nothing more than children. They still squabble and misbehave, and must be punished accordingly for their safety as well as the safety of others. Dimmesdale in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and John Proctor from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible were guilty of adultery, or extramarital sex, among other crimes. Proctor was accused of witchcraft which could involve anywhere from controlling spirits to communing with the devil. Punishments for such crimes included flogging or whipping. Dimmesdale committed adultery and hid his guilt through lies. Proctor and Dimmesdale each suffered for their crime, but nothing compared to what they should have received. Proctor was chastised through separation from his family and ultimately death. Dimmesdale inflicted his punishment upon himself through whippings, vigils, fasts, blinding lights, etc. Dimmesdale’s punishments, while effective and warranted, were not performed by one appointed to do so in view of the public and God. Proctor and Dimmesdale were ultimately punished with death, but not even death was a proper punishment for their heinous crimes. Before Dimmesdale’s untimely death in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale committed the sins of adultery and lying. In order to keep his sins a secret, Dimmesdale spoke nothing of his involvement in the affair until it tore him apart from the inside out.When Dimmesdale tried to confess his sin to his congregation, they saw the confession as if it were part of his sermon. “He had spoken the very truth, and transformed it into the veriest falsehood”. (Hawthorne 171) Instead of correcting their assumption, Dimmesdale went along with it, once more hiding his sinfulness. When Dimmesdale finally confessed his sin openly... ... middle of paper ... ...oth scope and number. They died in the end, but did not receive the proper punishment beforehand to cleanse their souls for entrance to heaven. Works Cited Cox, James A. "History.org: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's Official History and Citizenship Website." The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site. N.p., Spring 03. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. . Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Enriched Classic ed. New York City: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Student ed. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2005. Print. Phelps, Brian. "Crime and Punishment in the Massachusetts Colonies." Crime and Punishment in the Massachusetts Colonies. PhelpsTek, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. .
Proctor and Dimmesdale both live in late 17th century New England. This is a time when religion is the only basis of government and moral standards. Everyone believes so deeply in the Bible. Both Proctor and Dimmesdale are high figures in their respective societies. Dimmesdale is the minister in his town, and Proctor is a highly respected townsman. In addition to the similarities in their personalities, Proctor and Dimmesdale are very similar in their physical characteristics. Both men are roughly thirty years old. They are both tall, attractive, and in good physical condition. Both men have also committed a sin. They have committed adultery. Dimmesdale has had sex with Hester Prynne, a woman in the town who has a husband back in England, and Proctor has engaged in sexual congress with Abigail Williams, who had previously been Proctor’s servant. Both men, due to their high stature in their respective communities, must keep their sins concealed from the public. Dimmesdale is the minister of the town, and therefore, the moral leader of the people. Every Sunday, he leads the townspeople in worship and tells them to confess their sins. If people knew that he had commi...
Both John Proctor and Minister Dimmesdale died by telling the truth. John Proctor could have admitted to being a witch and saved his own life. But, he chose to do the moral thing and stick to the truth. He told the truth, and died for what he believed in. Minister Dimmesdale also died by telling the truth. He lived for several years as the guilt continued to build up inside of him. He fell to his death on the scaffold after he told the townspeople he was indeed the father of Pearl. Both men’s lives ended when the truth was revealed.
In the book The Scarlet Letter, the character Reverend Dimmesdale, a very religious man, committed adultery, which was a sin in the Puritan community. Of course, this sin could not be committed alone. His partner was Hester Prynne. Hester was caught with the sinning only because she had a child named Pearl. Dimmesdale was broken down by Roger Chillinsworth, Hester Prynne’s real husband, and by his own self-guilt. Dimmesdale would later confess his sin and die on the scaffold. Dimmesdale was well known by the community and was looked up to by many religious people. But underneath his religious mask he is actually the worst sinner of them all. His sin was one of the greatest sins in a Puritan community. The sin would eat him alive from the inside out causing him to become weaker and weaker, until he could not stand it anymore. In a last show of strength he announces his sin to the world, but dies soon afterwards. In the beginning Dimmesdale is a weak, reserved man. Because of his sin his health regresses more and more as the book goes on, yet he tries to hide his sin beneath a religious mask. By the end of the book he comes forth and tells the truth, but because he had hidden the sin for so long he is unable to survive. Dimmesdale also adds suspense to the novel to keep the reader more interested in what Reverend Dimmesdale is hiding and his hidden secrets. Therefore Dimmesdale’s sin is the key focus of the book to keep the reader interested. Dimmesdale tries to cover up his sin by preaching to the town and becoming more committed to his preachings, but this only makes him feel guiltier. In the beginning of the story, Dimmesdale is described by these words; “His eloquence and religious fervor had already given earnest of high eminence in his profession.”(Hawthorne,44). This proves that the people of the town looked up to him because he acted very religious and he was the last person that anyone expected to sin. This is the reason that it was so hard for him to come out and tell the people the truth. Dimmesdale often tried to tell the people in a roundabout way when he said “…though he (Dimmesdale) 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.
“Danforth:... You will sign your name or it is no confession, Mister! His breast heaving with agonized breathing, Proctor now lays down the paper and signs his name… Proctor has just finished signing when Danforth reaches for the paper. But Proctor snatches it up...His breast heaving, his eyes staring, Proctor tears the paper and crumbles it, and he is weeping in fury, but erect.” Not once in his time from that moment in the court, or jail, or at Gallows Hill did he confess to witchcraft, despite Reverend Hale’s attempts to persuade him otherwise. Proctor stood against the court, the girls, and some of the townsfolk, and although he was in the right, and his claims were accurate,...
By the end of the novel and the play, both John Proctor and Reverend Dimmesdale are dead. While Proctor dies a hero in defense of the truth, Dimmesdale dies a martyr, a testament to the destructive nature of hypocrisy and pride.
Lathrop, G. P., ed. "Hawthorne, Nathaniel." The Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. Binghamton, New York: Vail-Ballou, 1962. 439-40. Print.
Often when looking at American history, people tend to lump all the characters and actors involved as similar. This is especially the case in regards to Early American Colonial history. Because the Puritan communities that grew rapidly after John Winthrop’s arrival in 1630 often overshadow the earlier colony at Plymouth, many are lead to assume that all settlers acted in similar ways with regard to land use, religion, and law. By analyzing the writings of William Bradford and John Winthrop, one begins to see differing pictures of colonization in New England.
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.
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale from The Scarlet Letter and John Proctor from The Crucible seem like they have nothing in common. Not only are they from different novels, but they also are regarded differently in their societies, have different perspectives on their shared Puritan faith, and the societies that they live in differ in their perception of sin. Despite these differences, however, when you further analyze these characters, you will find that they both share one fatal similarity; ultimately, their committing of the sin of adultery leads to their deaths.
In further developing Dimmesdale's character, Hawthorne portrays him as a hypocrite. His outward demeanor deceives the villagers, appearing as a completely holy man. However, before the action of the novel begins, he stumbles into sin, by committing adultery with Hester Pryn...
Smiles, Samuel. "The Scarlet Letter." The Critical Temper. Ed. Martin Tucker. New York City: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1962. 266.
"History.org: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's Official History and Citizenship Website." We are starved : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site. http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Winter07/starving.cfm (accessed April 1, 2014).
Gerber, John C. "Form and Content in The Scarlet Letter." The Scarlet Letter: A Norton Critical Edition. Eds. Seymour Gross, Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty, and E. Hudson Long. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1988.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1850; New York: Bantam Books, 2003.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Scarlet Letter." Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York: Norton, 1987.