Scarlet Letter Romanticism

Although both Hester and Dimmesdale committed the same crime, which was adultery, their scarlet letters are different from one another in many ways. One way they’re different is because Hester’s scarlet letter was an article of clothing. Dimmesdale’s scarlet letter, however is carved into his chest. Since Hester’s is out and into the open for others to see, she is looked down upon. At the time, adultery was a huge sin. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, had to live his life as a coward hiding the truth. He did not tell people of his crime; he kept it to himself. This is another way their scarlet letters are different. The two handled the situations very differently. Hester took the consequences fairly, while Dimmesdale showed no sign of giving in to the townspeople. Since Hester lived a harsh life due to all the attention and hatred she received from others, she grew up to become quite a strong woman. Dimmesdale becomes weaker, even paler, over time. Although the two have their differences, they also had some similarities. Both of them were, in a way, cowards. Yes, Hester took all of the blame while Dimmesdale took none of it, but the two still didn’t want to have the town see the whole situation they were in. hester did not want them to find out about her husband, Chillingworth, or about her true love, Dimmesdale. Of course she took the penalties of committing adultery, however, she does not want the people to know exactly who she committed the crimes with/against. Both

Instead of confessing to the community, Dimmesdale, to try and seek forgiveness in another way than confessing, tortures himself to the brink of death. Whilst talking to Hester in the forest, Dimmesdale says: “Had I one friend, —or were it my worst enemy! —to whom, when sickened with the praises of all other men, I could daily betake myself, and be known as the vilest of all sinners, methinks my soul might keep itself alive thereby. Even thus much of truth would save me! But now, it is all falsehood! —all emptiness! —all death!” (288-289). Dimmesdale is depressed in the way that the only thing keeping him alive is his sin. Hester after seven years, is seen as a sort of hero in the community, which is shown when the town calls her “our Hester” (244). Dimmesdale is not able to confess and be forgiven, in relation to Hester already being forgiven and living a relatively decent life. Dimmesdale also must look to other methods for forgiveness while Hester lives with a static punishment. Dimmesdale physically whips himself to attempt to achieve forgiveness, he also does not have anyone to counsel about his feelings, which leads to much depression. Dimmesdale also must deal with physical and mental pain, while Hester deals with

His words to Hester during her public punishment reveal his internal guilt and hypocrisy, and show that he realizes that it will weigh down upon his soul forever. His guilt only increases from that point onwards, and he becomes ill and ever-increasingly guilty despite harsh self inflicted penances and indirect confessions to the community. Finally, when his death his near, Dimmesdale makes decision he should have made years ago, to confess the sin hidden in his heart to the entire town. Due to his health he collapses, and is finally released from his guilt and hypocrisy moments before he dies. Free from his suffering, Dimmesdale dies with hope for God’s mercy and with peace in his

Dimmesdale is reminding Hester of the gravity of breaking God's commandment. Through committing adultery they risked eternal damnation and the impossibility of living eternally with God. "When we forgot our God, when we violated our reverence for each for the other's soul, it was thenceforth vain to hope that we could meet hereafter." (Page number). Dimmesdale had almost been lost forever but now praises God's name and his last words are "Praised be his name!

Dimmesdale instead keeps his scarlet letter close to his heart. “‘But why does he not wear it outside his bosom, as thou dost, mother?’” (Hawthorne, 150) Pearls asks Hester in the forest. He doesn’t wear it outside his bosom because he has not revealed his sin to the members of the community. Dimmesdale’s health deteriorates since the moment he does not reveal his sin. Roger Chillingworth says “In such case, it could only be the symptom of a highly disordered mental state, when a man, rendered morbidly self-contemplative by long, intense, and secret pain, had extended his egotism over the whole expanse of nature” (Hawthorne, 126). Dimmesdale wishes that he could show his sin like Hester “‘Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly on your bosom! Mine burns in secret!’” (Hawthorne, 154) It is indeed his “secret pain” that kills him in the

Another aspect of the quotes is that Hester is facing her punishment as she stands before the society and is forced to be condemned the rest of her life while Dimmesdale is viewed positively by the society. The view society had on Hester and Dimmesdale shaped the outcome of their consequences and how they dealt with it. However, society view at some point were rather positive. When Hester decides to help the same society that condamns her, the people starts to realize there is more to Hester. It is stated that they “...had quite forgiven Hester Prynne for her frailty; nay, more, they had began to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that once sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of many good deeds since”(159).

The theme is revealed through Dimmesdale’s ailment, Hester’s exposed sin, and Hester’s oath to Chillingworth. The most discussed portrayal of guilt in The Scarlet Letter is Dimmesdale’s remorse for the affair he had with Hester. He is not only ashamed of the affair in itself, but he is also too cowardly to come forward and take the blame alongside Hester. This shame and self-loathing is what causes his

For Dimmesdale however, his sin is easier hidden. Perhaps the best evidence of this contrast is in an exchange between the two characters; Hawthorne writes, ‘“The judgment of God is on me," answered the conscience-stricken priest. "It is too mighty for me to struggle with!" "Heaven would show mercy," rejoined Hester, "hadst thou but the strength to take advantage of it" (Hawthorne 43). The reader can see here that Hester and Dimmesdale have a totally different mindset when it comes to their shared adversity.

In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dimmesdale announces many ideas throughout the chapters. He involves his regret, remorse, and other feeling he obtains throughout the story in a various amounts of quotations. Hawthorne illustrates Dimmesdale as a a very independant person who tries to accomplish many things but comes across many obstacles like Hester’s disobedience, the persona perceived of him by the townspeople, and the guilt he carries with him all throughout the story. In chapter 17 of the novel Hester and Dimmesdale encounter each other after seven years of of separation. Dimmesdale implies “What can a ruined soul, like mine, effect towards the redemption of other souls- or a polluted soul, towards their purification?”

     In Hawthorne's revered novel The Scarlet Letter, the use of Romanticism plays an important role in the development of his characters. He effectively demonstrates individualism in Hester to further our understanding of the difficulties of living in the stern, joyless world of Puritan New England.  It is all gloom and doom.  If the sun ever shines, one could hardly notice.  The entire place seems to be shrouded in black.  The people of this society were stern, and repressed natural human impulses and emotions than any society before or since.  But for this reason specifically, emotions began bubbling and eventually boiled over, passions a novelist

Dimmesdale’s love and agony towards Hester was shown in his physical and mental degeneration, furthermore, his love to Pearl, his daughter, was shown when he was trying to kiss her, but he always got her refusal, and this was the climax of his weakness and deterioration of character. yet, at the end of the novel, Dimmesdale’s health was in it’s worst stages, therefore he had nothing to lose, so he confronts his society and tells them about is adultery crime that he committed with Hester, and after he did that he gives up life, but as a matter of fact his death was not a sad one, for he was relieved from the pain in his heart and also got to kiss his daughter Pearl whom he never got to kiss, hence, at the end of the novel, the latter character musters courage and loses his weakness which was replaced with the powerful character that confronted without fear.

By revealing this small, hidden regret, he exposes Hester’s tortured state of mind. Unable to reach salvation in the town she desired to live in, she regretfully decided to leave and abandon her sorrows. The burden society placed on her with the scarlet letter was too demanding for her to handle any longer. Similarly, Arthur Dimmesdale was distressed from his ignominy. Afraid of societal repercussions, Dimmesdale had been “overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast” (102). Society’s extensive honor toward him exacerbated his pain, thus causing society to trap Dimmesdale; this prevented him from revealing his dark secret and reaching salvation. Additionally, he began to picture his surroundings as an obstacle designed to hinder his path to redemption. His shortcoming to reach salvation agonized Dimmesdale to the point where he was incapable of recalling “[any] text of Scripture, nor aught else, except a brief, pithy, and, as it then appeared to him, unanswerable argument against the immorality of

Nathaniel Hawthorne, a well-know Dark Romantic, employs the issues prevalent in Dark Romanticism in his novel The Scarlet Letter. These include the concepts of: guilt and sin, good and evil, and madness in the human psyche. Guilt and sin are heavily addressed in the novel, focusing on Hester’s outward versus Dimmesdale’s hidden guilt, and the sins committed by the adulterous couple and the revenge-driven Roger Chillingworth. The idea of what good and evil are is questioned in the novel. For example, the reader is led to question if Hester was right in not revealing Dimmesdale, and in turn if both Dimmesdale and Chillingworth were

The narrator reveals that Hester is still “so passionately,” (Hawthorne 190) in love with Dimmesdale in chapter seventeen when she makes the decision to reveal Chillingworth’s identity. It is proven that Dimmesdale shares these feelings later on in the same passage when he forgives her for not revealing Chillingworth’s identity sooner and they reminisce on their sin. Dimmesdale tells Hester, “I have not forgotten!” (Hawthorne 191) This is in reference to their love for one another when they committed their sin seven years ago. Hester’s willingness to abandon New England and take off with Dimmesdale and their daughter towards the end of the novel shows that Dimmesdale was the one who truly held her back from leaving, not her sin. While the sin played a part in her own guilt, Dimmesdale was the one she truly stayed for. Their emotions towards one another are extremely complex, but had Chillingworth not ruined their potential escape plan, I believe that they would have lived out the last of Dimmesdale’s sickly days as a

In terms of the book, The Scarlet Letter, the theme of morality plays a large role in the sequence of events. The question is, who has stronger morals, Hester or Dimmesdale? Hester was the one to reveal the sin, even though it was not her choice. This means that she has stronger morals because she admits to her sin and deals with the outcome of it. In Dimmesdale’s case, he does not reveal his sin, so his morals are weaker than Hester’s. In her article, “A Critique of Puritan Society”, Alison Easton shares that “These people’s response is both involuntary and at one level based on a misapprehension of the true state of affairs” (119). The only reason that Dimmesdale was seen as morally stronger was because of his position as a priest. They were manipulated to believe that he was not a sinner at all. At the end of the book, Dimmesdale’s morality increased because of his guilty heart, and because of this, he admits to his sin and dies on the scaffold.