Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale Essay

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Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is a common good man who is looked after by all. He is described as inspirational and a man of good faith. He's the last person to be deemed a sinner. Despite his reputation as a minister, Dimmesdale is secretly tormented by the shame and guilt of the affair with Hester. Instead of confessing and acknowledging that Pearl is his daughter, he chooses to stay quiet and let Hester get harassed by the people in Puritan society. For this purpose, he feels he owes himself a sense of responsibility for his actions and takes it out by punishing himself. Hawthorne illustrates Dimmesdale's looks by describing him as "his voice, though still as rich and sweet, had a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it; he was often observed... to put his hand over his heart, with first a flush and then a paleness, indicative of pain" (113). …show more content…

However, he becomes a victim of his hypocrisy by motivating people to do the right thing and confess, while he is doing the opposite. Throughout the novel, he fails to live up to his "saintly" standards, which then stabs him in the heart, leading to his tragic end. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne believes that those who are meant to help guide others are usually the ones going against what they preach. It's supported as Dimmesdale states this to Hester: "What can thy silence do for him, as if it were to add hypocrisy to sin? ...Take heed how thou deniest to him—who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself—the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips” (64)! Deep down, Dimmesdale is aware of what he's done but denies it to Hester's face. He's still in disbelief that he could do such a thing, and he's too afraid to tell the truth about what he's done. According to literary critic Alexander Evanoff, he goes into account why Dimmesdale is considered the most hypocritical and

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