Dimmesdale Essay

The guilt is brought out from Chillingworth questioning him. Every time Dimmesdale puts his hand over his heart he is in pain form the guilt in his heart. At the end of the book, Dimmesdale brings Hester and Pearl on the scaffold to tell the whole town the truth. Dimmesdale explains, “He tells you, that, with all its mysterious horror, it is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast, and that even this, his own red stigma, is no more than the type of what has seared his inmost heart!” (Hawthorne 228).

Moreover, Dimmesdale`s suffering reflect on the outside when he was sick of not confessing his truth. For example, of this is that in the book the another has shown us that Dimmesdale suffering is reflecting him on the outside that why in the chapters Dimmesdale keeps on holding on his heart on where the letter “A” is carve on this chest. Another is that when Dimmesdale was leading the church to tell the town folks about how God will be like if you did not follow in the correct way he will sin you that why Dimmesdale did not what to tell everybody about it if he did he could get killed and thought out as a minister in the church and also the townsfolks always believe that Dimmesdale is the only one that can connect to God and he cannot do

Dimmesdale’s guilt was evident in his physical condition and how he often clutched his hand over his heart—a symbol that he felt same agony of the letter “A” because he was a partaker of the sin. Furthermore, the minister’s unease is shown in chapter twenty when he fears that he has made a bargain with the “black man.” When Dimmesdale returned to town from the forest, he began to get tempted in several incidences with people of all ages and genders. However, he did not fall into temptation. Once again, Dimmesdale felt the support and strength of God, and it was ultimately God’s grace that made him victorious over the temptations and his fear towards the devil. With God in his life, Dimmesdale did not feel confused instead he had a focus and a burst of energy rise in him. After the reconciliation between the minister and God, Dimmesdale showed a sign of strength as he confronted Chillingworth and confessed to the doctor that he will no longer be taking the medicine. Chapter twenty shows the importance of God in Dimmesdale’s life. When life was chaotic, God was there to remedy the problems and get Dimmesdale to focus. The minister shows his awe and gratitude to God by humbly saying how God could use a “…foul…organ-pipe as he [Dimmesdale].” In addition, Dimmesdale’s psychological strength is shown when he decides to rewrite the Election Sermon and he is so enthusiastic about the speech that time “fled away”

            The agony that Reverend Dimmesdale was feeling throughout the novel had many origins.  For example, his conscience had a great negative effect on him.  By keeping his sin a secret, he internalized the pain that is inevitably a consequence of sinning.  The anguished Dimmesdale struggles to pacify his conscience as it consumes his very being.  "With every successive Sabbath, his cheeks grew paler and thinner, and his voice more tremulous than before."  This shows that while Hester's pain was a mental anguish, the Reverend had to deal with both mental as well as physical pain.  Each time Dimmesdale stood in front of his congregation, he felt weaker and more ashamed.  Dimmesdale's pain could be seen not only in his demeanor but also by the clutching of his chest.  Throughout the novel, the Reverend could be seen placing his hand over his heart, as if the pain of seeing Pearl, or talking to Hester, or merely realizing what he has done, was too much for him to bear.  Pearl often times is quoted noticing the Reverend's strange habit- "A strange, sad man is he (Dimmesdale), with his hand always over his heart!"  An analogy can be made that the Reverend covers his heart from eyes that can see

When considering this further, the burden, which the scarlet letter and its separate culpabilities imply, reveals how the character Dimmesdale feels shame in his inability

masked mark in his heart. As a result of his concealed sin, Dimmesdale suffers from guilt and

Out of fear, Dimmesdale shrieks while contemplating the situation he has been placed in. At this point, Dimmesdale’s guilt grows rapidly, taking a toll on his physical health as he suffers from severe health problems. He is described to be looking as if he is slowing wasting away as he grabs his chest as if his heart aches: “He was often observed to put his hand over his heart, with a flush and then a paleness, indicative of pain” (Hawthorne 169). Dimmesdale becomes so upset and depressed, that he beings to whip and starve himself because he feels he deserves to suffer. The book says, “About this period, however, the health of Mr. Dimmesdale has evidently begun to fail… the paleness of the young minister’s cheek was accounted… in order to keep the grossness of this early state from clogging and obscuring his spiritual lamp” (Hawthorne 109). Hester and Pearl walk up to Dimmesdale on the scaffold where Pearl asks him if he will stand with them at noon. Dimmesdale responds saying that he will stand with them on the great judgement day, foreshadowing a significant scene. Holding the sin inside of him, makes him sick, and even with all his pain, there is a value of truth and irony. Dimmesdale is described as if “there came a glare of red light out of his eyes; as if the old man’s soul were on fire, and kept on smoldering duskily

Dimmesdale is constantly harming himself because of his sin. He whips himself on a regular basis feeling as if it is only right to punish himself for his sin. He starves himself as well. Every time that he whips or starves himself he grows weaker. Everyone sees him getting weak and they start to worry. He lives with the physician so he should start to feel better but he constantly gets worse. The author writes, “How feeble and pale he looked, amid all his triumph!” (Hawthorne page 238). Though Dimmesdale is successful in his job his heart and body are failing him. He has done so much harm to himself all because of his sin.

Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale appear very similar in how they act, how their actions influence them, and how they respond to these actions. They both untruthfully seem like honorable men to the townspeople, and act as if they truly do conduct themselves in this way. By behaving like this, they delve further into sin and suffering; however, instead of divulging who they really are, they both continue making these mistakes of dishonesty. For example, when Chillingworth comprehends that Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl, he decides to take revenge, but this choice causes “a terrible fascination, a kind of fierce, though still calm, necessity [to seize] the old man” (Hawthorne, 120). Dimmesdale, too, suffers from deteriorating health

Chillingworth made Dimmesdale suffer by exaggerating his illness, and humiliating him with guilt of his sin “a bodily disease which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may, after all, be but an ailment in the spiritual part”. the fragility and susceptibility of Dimmesdale states clearly his weakness, moreover.

               The fact that Dimmesdale is a hypocrite causes him to experience increased torment due to his guilt.  Dimmesdale beautifully illustrates Hawthorne’s point, because if he were not such a highly religious man, then he would not care about his crime.  However, he does care, and he inflicts torment on himself, including long periods of fasting. In addition to hours of staring at himself in the mirror, he could also be caught numerous times in his closet, whipping himself and burning the letter "A" on his chest.   Or he could be seen at the scaffold in the wee hours of the morning, practicing how he is going to confess the next day. Deluding himself by pretending that his

Dimmesdale in the story has the sin of being the father of purl but does not have the courage to tell the towns people because he is afraid of losing his reverence. Fore to seven years have passed and Rev. Dimmesdale continues to live his life but his sin eats away at his fiscal appearance and the towns people think that the reason why he has bad health is because he works to much. Dimmesdale’s health is becoming worse but it’s ironic because he is becoming more popular in the town whit people respecting him and women want him to propose marriage to them. In the story it is interesting when Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold but nobody sees him except the two people that already know his secret which is heister prin and her little purl, all

Though Reverend Dimmesdale is to cowardly to reveal his sin, of secretly fathering Pearl, this is not to say that he does not feel the remorse of it. On the contrary, Dimmesdale is ridden with guilt. He cannot bring himself to reveal his actions, so instead he tortures himself in secret. Dimmesdale fasts till he almost faints, and whips himself till he bleeds. He is also haunted by Hester’s former Husband, Roger Chillingworth. Chillingworth exacts revenge upon Dimmesdale, for impregnating his wife, by constantly trying to extract the truth from him. All of Dimmesdale’s pain, guilt, and shame are embodied in a brand on his chest that resembles the scarlet letter. The brand blazes causing Dimmesdale pain, and he believes it is an affliction sent by God. Throughout the book it is clear that Dimmesdale is feeling the retribution of his sin.

Mr. Dimmesdale’s strong ties to his Puritan faith cause him to commit endless acts of severe penance as retribution for his sin, only bringing him continuous physical suffering and the longing for absolution. Dimmesdale’s faithfulness leads him to beg for God’s forgiveness through his actions in the hopes of saving his soul and avoiding some of the punishment he will likely bear in the afterlife. His penitence and fear of public exposure cause Dimmesdale to whip himself harshly in the closet and to fast “…rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance” (136). Because of the lack of courage within his character, Mr. Dimmesdale turns to private suffering rather than public shame as a means for his atonement. These excessive acts of penance resulted in his suffering of intense physical and mental weakness, and causing him to become frail in overall spirit. In his most extreme act of repentance, Mr. Dimmesdale stooped to self-mutilation by carving the letter A into his own chest to match

    Dimmesdale on the other hand continues to suffer physically and mentally for the concealment of his sin.  Dimmesdale feels that he is safe from being condemned by Puritan society by concealing his sin, yet ironically, it eats away at his heart.  Ironically, a townsperson says to Dimmesdale, speaking of the searching out of sin, "methinks it