Love for Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne
*Works Cited Not Included
Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, is a brilliant story about truth
and love. He wrote The Scarlet Letter during a time in the 19th century
when romantic literature was popular in America. His tale dwells on the
sin of adultery in a Puritan village. The first character that Hawthorne puts
to life is Hester Prynne, a young bride awaiting her husband. Next,
Hawthorne suspiciously sneaks Arthur Dimmesdale into the plot, an
inspired Puritan minister who is beloved by the citizens. After Hawthorne
reveals Dimmesdale's sinister secret, and link to Hester, it is noticeable that
Dimmesdale does not have the love for Hester as she holds for him.
It is obvious from the beginning that Hester loves Dimmesdale.
When she is being grilled for the identity of the father of her child in front
of the entire village, she cares for him enough to refuse to reveal his
identity. When offered the chance to remove the scarlet letter "A" if she would only speak his name and repent, she stands up to the crowd and
refuses to give in to its pressure. Another noticeable feature of her love for
Dimmesdale is that she remains in the village as an outcast rather than
fleeing to a more accepting environment, where she might possibly live a normal life. According to the narrator, she could not leave this place
because; "there trode the feet of one with whom she deemed herself
connected in a union, that, unrecognized on earth, would bring them
together before the bar of final judgment". She realizes that she cannot
lead a normal life in this community with Dimmesdale, but even so, she
cannot bring herself to leave him. This is evidence of...
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...unts and tempts me thus?" he asks himself. Finally,
Dimmesdale makes an assumption that he would like to believe, "Did I
make a contract with him(the devil) in the forest, and sign it with my
blood?" Why would Dimmesdale want to believe Hester was an agent of
the devil? First, if Hester was evil, then it would have not been his fault
that he had been so strongly tempted, he would be rid of blame. Also,
Dimmesdale would feel noble for resisting Hester's bid of a new life and
confessing his temptation towards sin before the congregation. The fact
that Dimmesdale was questioning whether Hester was evil or not implies
that he wasn't even thinking about loving her. While Hester constantly
forgives and blesses Dimmesdale, showing her devotion towards him,
Dimmesdale displays no signs towards an involvement in her life, a
gesture that her love is not returned.
In the words of Alexander Pope 'To err is human.' Everybody makes mistakes. It is human nature. However, how one deals with the mistake is much more important than the mistake itself. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Dimmesdale and Danforth's sins have similar motives, but the characters have distinctly different methods of sin and resolution.
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.
She started to try and forget and just fall asleep, but her thoughts would always wander too far for her to return to her natural state of mind. She contemplated with herself, why she was running away? What she was running away from?
Cowardice creates self-destructive lies with which an individual must conceal themselves to delay the inevitable ramifications of their wickedness. The Bible states, “the cowardly…sexually immoral…idolaters and all liars [will] be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur” (NIV Revelations 21:8). Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, depicted a holy minister who hypocritically hid within cowardice despite the commands of the Biblical teaching in which he preached. Through reverend Arthur Dimmesdale’s actions and motivations, cowardice was exemplified in order to prove the minister’s regret of adultery with a woman who was less significant to him than Hawthorne’s readers were led to believe. Arthur Dimmesdale’s weakness in hiding behind
The Metamorphosis of Dimmesdale in Scarlet Letter & nbsp; In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are many characters that transform; one of them is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale committed a great sin of the Puritan society, he slept with another man's wife and Hester Prynne became pregnant. Hester was punished for her sin but Arthur Dimmesdale had not admitted to it, so he lives with this guilt and it is much worse for him because he is a puritan minister. Dimmesdale inflicts punishment upon himself because of his adultery. Dimmesdale transforms throughout the novel, always in the same place as "The Scaffold." & nbsp; The town is all out to witness the punishment of Hester Prynne.
She lived in a sheltered world—a world she did not see. She saw what she could get out to see--almost what she could steal--even in her mind.
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.
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
"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 Hawthorne's 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, at the beginning of the novel, outwardly good but inwardly deceitful and by the end of the novel he becomes both outwardly and inwardly truthful.
Inevitably, her escape was against her father’s wish as he believed that she would not be capable of successfully making through this trip by herself. However, she shows autonomy after being left alone by a guardian set up by her father, half way through the journey, she was able to, she was able to fix this situation on her own. With minimal help, she makes it to the cottagers defining that she set her own path for the continuity of her life. This independence is also expressed in such ways where she teaches herself social and language aspects of the cottagers. She did not rely on Felix to help her make it through this new life. Therefore, giving herself the freedom to educate herself in order to survive in this new
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne has introduced a character that has been judged harshly. Because, she has been misinformed of her husband’s death; therefore, she was greave and had sought comfort resulting in a baby from the lover whom gave her comfort. When her secret had been discovered she was isolated for committing a treacherous crime of adultery, as one of her punishments she was forced to wear an A on her chest. The novel presents a structure of a society, using symbolism and diction to give underline meaning to the themes, portraying religious tendencies ruled by the philosophy of good and evil.
One of the most common and prominent themes of The Pearl is greed. One of the first examples of this is when Kino went to the doctor to beg for treatment, but the doctor responded, "‘Has he any money?’ the doctor demanded. ‘No, they never have money. I, I alone in the world am supposed to work for nothing- and I am tired of it. See if he has any money!’” (Steinbeck 11). Many would consider it unethical to refuse treatment to someone simply because of their poverty. The doctor refusing to cure the ill child shows how greed has corrupted him to the point of having an innocent baby die rather than offering up his services for free. Another early instance of greed was when the news of the pearl “came to the priest walking in his garden, and it put a thoughtful look in his eyes and a memory of certain repairs necessary to the church. He wondered what the pearl would be worth” (Steinbeck 21). Even the people of God, those believed to have the highest morals, became materialistic. He who is supposed to be satisfied with just the love of the lord suddenly hungered for more. This greed eventually came to Kino when Juana suggested throwing away the pearl, but Kino replied, “‘No,’ he said. ‘I will fight this thing. I will win over it. We
Kino found one of the most valuable and precious pearls in the world and being convinced of its worth was not going to be cheated by only minimally upgrading his condition of life. Instead he wanted to break the fixed life and role that he and his family had and always would live. Kino refuses the maximum offer of fifteen hundred pesos that would easily ease his and his family’s pain and suffering for the coming months. Kino is then determined to trek to the capital to find a fair and just offer. Kino continues determined through the mountains after an attempt at the pearl, his canoe destroyed and his hut set a blaze. Continuing to put his family’s life on the line. It eventually takes the death of his beloved son Coyotito to make him realize he needs to stop being so greedy, no matter how hard he tries and to shut his mouth and know his role.
...t’s great value became the primary motivation factor for greed, prompting evil and injustice wherever it went. Nearly every character in Kino’s story outside his family acts upon their greed to try and take advantage of Kino’s situation. The doctor in chapter one, at first uninterested in helping a patient that cannot pay, is now more than willing to help when he hears about Kino’s pearl. The pearl merchants try to take advantage of Kino’s lack of pearl selling knowledge to try and buy his pearl for a low price. Kino himself allows his greed to take control of himself and only regrets it when he realizes his son is worth more than the money he should receive. By the end of the story, the pearl no longer symbolizes hope, but now symbolizes evil and anguish. It’s great value became the primary motivation factor for greed, prompting evil and injustice wherever it went.
Initially, Kino wanted to find and sell a pearl so he can save his son. When the doctor refused to help Kino, he, “he struck the gate a crushing blow with his fist.” This shows how badly Kino wanted the doctor to cure his son from dying. This was a true and honest goal. However, as he found the pearl and kept it for a while, his dreams became more materialistic. In the text it states, “ And in the incandescence of the pearl the pictures formed of the things Kino’s minds had considered in the past and had given up as impossible.” Some of his new dreams were to get married in a church, get a rifle, buy new clothes, and he wanted his son to go to school. All of these were considered out of his social class. However, with the value of the pearl, not only can he save his son he can complete all of his other