Who Is Dimmesdale's Confession In The Scarlet Letter

In Dimmesdale's first speech he uses accusatory appeals to further humiliate and set an example to the rest of the community. Dimmesdale publicly put Hester on the scaffold to make a example of her, to show the other citizens what would happen if they sin." If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation"( Hawthorne 57). This quote by Dimmesdale shows that Hester's earthily punishment, by Public humiliation, will be effective in her deliverance from sin. The whole reason for Hester's public punishment is to show her that she could not recover from the sin. The public punishment is more for Hester than for the community. Hester being put on blast at the scaffold insure that she believes she is forever going to be an outcast in society. In Dimmesdale's second speech his appeal changes from accusatory to remorseful. Dimmesdale's use of remorseful appeals in his second speech helps him say his confession. Dimmesdale's confession in the end has people feel bad for him because they saw how keeping the secret was hurting him. " ye, that have loved me!- ye, that have deemed me holy!- behold me here, the one sinner of the world!"( Hawthorne 208). This quote shows that the people of the community loved Dimmesdale and he knew that. So, for Dimmesdale to betray them the way he did, he felt bad. So he confessed publicly to help himself with the

Dimmesdale’s battle with sin and guilt got the best of him in the long run. He wanted to have others forgive him before he would forgive himself. Dimmesdale lived in fear of his sin being announced and thought that hiding it would make the problem go away. He lived a hypocritical lifestyle of preaching about path the Lord has paved for you while he himself strayed from his path after he committed adultery.

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”

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

Through this specific method, the readers, similar to the characters in the story, were only allowed to view this character in the way that Dimmesdale would have hoped to be seen; innocent and divine. Reverend Dimmesdale’s hidden wrongdoing led him to receive no punishment, however the individual who had committed the crime with him, Hester Prynne and their daughter, Pearl, had been penalized and shunned upon by the town’s community. Initially, the character had held a strong-willed attempt to throw away the past and avoid the mother and daughter together gracefully, yet his guilty conscience that had bitten down, would not let go. Hawthorne gradually unmasks to the readers what lies underneath Dimmesdale’s vibrant demeanor, and the first unusual sign of distress in this reverend comes to life. Readers begin to perceive that as his guilt continues to haunt him in endless cycles, the easier he is weakened by hallucination and sinful thoughts. We first see that Dimmesdale had begun to develop a strong desire to correct his fault by relentlessly having the compelling urge to see Hester and Pearl, hoping that this new method would cleanse him from feeling sinful. Despite switching from heavy avoidance to necessary sights, Hawthorne left Dimmesdale’s unphasable guilt with him, eventually turned his dimming mind inside out, enclosing him with darkness and insanitary occurrences such as hallucination, which continued to destroyed his mindset, and made him significantly

Dimmesdale portrays himself very ironically. He is a very well respected reverend and yet, has, for the last 7 years, worked on preaching the word of God, especially while he urges the congregation to confess openly to repent unto God. While, in reality, Dimmesdale is the one whoneeds a clean conscious. He feels like he needs to confess not only to the town but also too himself. Halfway through the novel

First, Dimmesdale is minister and is the one to preach weekly sermons to the people of Boston. In his sermons he ministers that sinners will wither and drown in the guilt of their sin not by the wrath of God, but by the self-acknowledged shame and guilt. “ He had striven to put a cheat upon himself by making the avowal of a guilty conscience, but had gained only one other sin, and a self-acknowledged shame, without the momentary relief of being self-deceived.” (149) Outwardly Dimmesdale teaches that guilt will drown you, while inwardly he is the one that is drowning. His physical appearance is constantly getting paler and he is developing an illness, an illness from bearing his

Dimmesdale as an individual and through his secret actions symbolize how self-centered and egotistical he is. Both Dimmesdale and Hester committed adultery, but Hester was the one who got all the hatred and disrespect from everyone in the Puritan town. She went through some awful situations with the scarlet letter, and it changed her so much. While she was going through all this pain, Dimmesdale was hiding his sins. This was a selfish act by Dimmesdale towards Hester and Pearl, but not admitting the sin bit him right in the butt. He was torturing himself and receiving physical pain in various ways; he whipped himself, stared at the mirror for periods of time, and starved himself. Even though he didn’t reveal his sin to the public, his heart was still “making itself guilty of such secrets” (127). He felt very guilty for the agony that Hester has been through. She has experienced hatred from herself mentally and from the Puritan people verbally. He didn’t want the people to treat him like they treated Hester; he loves how he gets respect from the townspeople. The only pain he has received was from himself mentally and physically, but not verbal and emotional pain like Hester. He doesn’t want to experience those dreadful moments that she had gone through. This action proves to the readers how Arthur Dimmesdale symbolizes self-centered

Reverend Dimmesdale was a renowned, prideful man stricken with sin and extreme guilt.  From the time Hester and Dimmesdale made love, he was grievous of his sin but he also felt a great love towards her.  Dimmesdale's stubborn pride troubled him greatly, and although he tried many times, he could not confess his sin to his religious followers.  Dimmesdale felt guilt so strongly that he scourged himself on his breast and patterned an “A” into his own flesh, yet he could not confess his sin until his grief grew so great it caused him to perish.  Reverend Dimmesdale's sin was greater than Hester's because he let his pride conflict with his repentance, and let his life be ruined by his anguish.

Another effect on Dimmesdale, seen as his guilt slowly wears him down, is how he compares his actions to those of Roger Chillingworth. This is clearly seen when Dimmesdale claims to Hester, "We are not, Hester, the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! That old man 's revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so!” (Hawthorne 185). Even in the privacy of the forest, he did not want to accept the full reality of his actions. This is a step forward for him, however, because he chooses to actually say aloud that what he did was wrong, just not as wrong as Chillingworth’s terrorizing of him. Eventually, Dimmesdale is able to confess to the public his sin, and this is due to his longing to escape the torture Chillingworth has been putting him through. Dimmesdale is no longer affected by the guilt that his actions brought about, so Chillingworth has no reason to aggravate him anymore. Sadly for the reverend, the shame

Dimmesdale is the minster of the town, which means that he has several responsibilities and he is surrounded by the idea that he should live without sin to be an exemplar of the town. This creates pressure for Dimmesdale because he understands the severity of the sin he has committed. He feels like a failure to his followers and that he is unfit to be the minster anymore and that his life has no more meaning since he betrayed God. The narrator states “…on a 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…”, which is exactly what Dimmesdale did. He refused to confess when Hester was on the scaffold which left him to hide is

Dimmesdale has a very symbolic name meaning dim or not very bright. He has this name because he is hiding his sins in the darkness and is also not very bright about handling this sin. Hawthorne says, “What can thy silence do for him, except to tempt him---yea, compel him, as it were---to add hypocrisy to sin?”(77-8). Because Dimmesdale is well versed in theology he realizes what will happen to him if he continues to hide under his sin but he is too weak to act upon it. Dimmesdale enjoys being viewed as a saint and an example for the people, although he is a true sinner. The tapestries that depict biblical adultery in Dimmesdale’s room are alone hypocritical. These are supposed to help him expiate for his sins but he feels no better. Dimmesdale continues to preach about sins every week although he is the biggest sinner of them

Since Dimmesdale did not confess during the trial of Hester Prynne, he was bound to a life of remorse. Hawthorne tells the reader that Dimmesdale had been “gnawed and tortured by some black trouble of the soul” (Hawthorne, 1850, p. 97). During one of his vigils, he was guided to the scaffold “by the impulse of that Remorse” (Hawthorne, 1850, p. 101). After his ascent to the platform, he “was overcome with a great horror of

While Dimmesdale is lost in reflection, Hawthorne writes, “He thus typified the constant introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself” (100). Dimmesdale’s job, in a sense, is to purify others, listening to their confessions, telling them how they can repent for their sins, and forgiving and helping them find a way back to morality. While he helps others find relief from guilt, he can’t permit himself that indulgence. Dimmesdale can’t find peace, because the only one who can give it to him is already himself. He desperately wants to confess, but fears the public humiliation that is to come with it.

Mr. Dimmesdale’s conscience constantly brought his negative aspects to mind, and caused him to spiral into self hatred and misery. The overwhelming presence of guilt for his offense caused Mr. Dimmesdale unbearable suffering and general unhappiness in knowing that he had not only wronged God, but Hester and the entire community as well.