Hypocrisy In The Scarlet Letter

Hypocrisy negatively affects both sides involved, whether they know it or not. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s the Scarlet Letter, the nature of hypocrisy is displayed though the characterization and actions of Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, and the masses of the Puritan society.

Hypocrisy is seen though Dimmesdale’s refusal to accept punishment for what he’s done, and letting Hester Prynne take the fall. “Hypocrisy is an important element in The Scarlet Letter, exemplified most completely by Dimmesdale's delivery of his most eloquent sermons to his congregation even as he is consumed by the knowledge that he has failed to live according to their rules (Bomarito 3).” Arthur is too worried about letting this incident ruin his reputation, and doesn’t own up to what he’s done. After the pastor interrogates Hester Prynne on the identity of the father of her child, he questions, “What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him- yea, compel him, as it were- to add hypocrisy

to sin (Hawthorne 62)?” He lies about not knowing the father, to convince the pastors it wasn’t him. Even presented with a chance to redeem himself and confess, Dimmesdale refuses because he still can’t handle the shame. Given the opportunity to admit the truth by Chillingworth, who inquires the true nature of Dimmesdale’s sickness, the minister retorts with, “Surely it were child’s play to call in a physician and then hide the sore (117)!” Dimmesdale, be it noted, presents the letter as a material inscription upon his own body. Hester, in contrast, represents the letter through her embroidery (Ullen 4). Ultimately, Dimmesdale essentially kills himself by bottling up his grief and shame, torturing himself by never admitting his sins. “The minister is so weakened and worn out that it is becoming impossible for him to maintain his false public face before his entire congregation (Pimple 12).” He dies immediately following his confession to the entire town (216).
Hester Prynne’s hypocrisy is seated in good intentions, but enforces the idea that she deserves to be punished more than the man she had a child with. Out of love, Hester Prynne keeps Dimmesdale’s identity as her lover a secret to protect his identity. Once when Dimmesdale himself is the questioner, then again in defiance to Chillingworth’s request to seek revenge on the father. After asking the father’s name, Hester Prynne responds to Chillingworth with, “Ask me not!” and “That thou shalt never know (Hawthorne 67)!” In her dedication to protect Arthur, Hester Prynne allows the town to treat her like dirt while hailing Dimmesdale as the holiest and purest person there, despite having committed the same sin. While Hester takes the fall, the minister pretends to admit his sins during many a sermon, to a crowd who he knows will interpret it to raise his holy reputation higher. “I, who have laid the hand of baptism upon your children… I, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie (124)!” Dimmesdale's ploy is complex and subtle. He says to his congregation something like, "I am the worst sinner among you," a statement he believes to be true; he is not lying. But he knows full well that his people, in ignorance of his adultery, will interpret this not as a confession, but as an example (Pimple 5). “Hester, publicly guilty, in private remains unrepentant; Dimmesdale, officially stainless, in private suffers from the awareness of his hypocrisy (Ullen 4).”
The Puritan society’s hypocrisy reveals itself when the woman in an adulterous relationship is punished before the man. “Hypocrisy is... an issue regarding those who sit in judgment of Hester, among them her fellow parishioners, the Puritan authorities, the governor, and Chillingworth (Bomarito 3).” The town priests and leaders don’t try to figure out the father’s identity until after Hester Prynne had spent a long time in prison. “Speak woman!... Speak, and give your child a father (Hawthorne 63)!” Aside from hiring a physician to take care of Hester and to figure out who the father is, the town government gives up on trying to learn his identity pretty quickly. After being questioned by Chillingworth, the town leadership doesn’t exert much effort past that in attempt to learn the father’s identity. Pearl will be forever an outcast because of how she was born, and because of how the townspeople are automatically convinced she is a spawn of satan without ever even interacting with her first. “Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter… and the likeness of the scarlet letter running along… let us fling mud at them (90)!”
Hypocrisy negatively affects both sides involved, usually unknowingly.

In only planning on exacting his revenge on Arthur Dimmesdale, Chillingworth ends up dying himself after the minister dies, draining the physician of evil purpose. After Dimmesdale’s confession, Chillingworth knows he has been beaten. “Thou hast escaped me… thou hast escaped me (215)!” In only blaming Hester Prynne for her sins, the town unknowingly gets bamboozled by the sinful minister, convincing the people that he was pure. In response to Dimmesdale’s “confessions,” they praise him with compliments like “The Godly youth!” and “The saint on earth (125)!” In shunning Hester Prynne from society, they unknowingly banish a talented seamstress who would have much more time to work if she hadn’t been imprisoned. “Her needlework was seen on the ruff of the governor… and the minister on his band… in the coffins of the dead (74).” Despite Hester Prynne’s upstanding character and skill, she is ridiculed as a servant of

Satan.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s the Scarlet Letter, though the characterization and actions of Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne, and the masses of the Puritan society, the underlying nature of hypocrisy is made plainly visible. It is seen in Dimmesdale’s speeches and sermons in an attempt to make himself look better. Even in Hester Prynne, her hypocrisy plants the town’s ridicule squarely on her shoulders, while keeping the young minister out of trouble. And in the Puritan society, through its harsh and absolute judgement of sin, its hypocrisy is made clear. Hypocrisy is a deadly illness that can only be cured with the truth.