Scarlett Letter - Dimmesdale
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most well known novels of the romantic writing era. It is a fascinating story about human frailty and its attempt to redeem itself. Set in Boston, the story involves a woman, Hester Prynne, who has a child by another man after Indians abduct her husband. She is made to stand on a scaffold with the entire town watching while she wears an "A" on her breast for her great sin of adultery. Hester's husband, Roger Chillingworth, torments the illegitimate child's father, Arthur Dimmesdale, during the course of the story as his need for vengeance increases. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale attempts to atone for his sin by making his own kind of confessions, but without a confession like Hester's, his guilt remains a debilitating factor in his life.Dimmesdale's guilt about his and Hester's sin causes him to try to redeem himself in many ways that do not involve an actual confession. For instance, he is too afraid in the beginning to tell of his sin, so he tries to put the burden onto Hester when he says: Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand
By the end of the novel, Dimmesdale's health is so bad that he knows he will die soon. He also knows that to be redeemed in heaven, he must confess before he dies. This finally happens on the annual Election Day after Dimmesdale gives the last and greatest sermon of his life: In Mr. Dimmesdale's' secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge. Oftentimes, this Protestant and Puritan divine had plied it on his own shoulders; laughing bitterly at himself the while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly, because of that bitter laugh. It was his custom, too, as it has been that of many other pious Puritans, to fast, - not, however, like them, in order to purify the body and render it the fitter medium of celestial illumination, - but rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance (99). To the town, it simply appears as if the minister wants to know the identity of Hester's fellow sinner so that he can be punished as well. However, from another point of view, Dimmesdale is speaking literally. He wants Hester to tell the people that he is the child's father so that his guilt will be gone. He uses a scourge, a whip with sharp particles on it, to beat his beat his back until he is satisfied with his pain. The quote also speaks about Dimmesdale fasting. This is another of his attempts to gain redemption. Neither of these methods works and he is left to find other ways at penance. there beside thee, on they pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him - yea, compel him, as it were - to add hypocrisy to sin (47)? After these words, Dimmesdale dies and the townspeople are left in a state of shock. Dimmesdale waits as long as he can before he confesses so that he will not face any type of punishment from the Puritan authorities. Many people do not even believe h
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Approximate Word count = 1294
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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