Arthur Dimmesdale: How Living a Lie Leaves One
In The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale begins as the perfect image of a Puritan, a saint in the eyes off all the townspeople. However, Arthur Dimmesdale is nothing but a human, a mere representative of all who are capable of sin, a human who makes mistakes, just like all of the characters in this novel. However, out of all the characters that the reader becomes familiar with in the novel, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale alone completely changes. Nathaniel Hawthorne firsts conveys how the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale wants and strives to be perceived as perfect, and then slowly reveals to the reader his true nature, hiding it throughout most of the novel from his fellow Puritans. Ultimately, through …show more content…
In the Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale will consistently clutch his hand over his heart, almost as if it pains him. Dimmesdale is evidently driven mad by this guilt. He starves himself and disallows himself sleep, however, nothing makes him feel improved because these punishments are done in the privacy of his home and not out in public with Hester Prynne and Pearl where they should be. Roger Chillingworth, a physician who is Hester's husband, begins to take care of Arthur Dimmesdale but in reality, Roger Chillingworth’s real motive is to spy on Dimmesdale, because he believes the minister to be Hester's lover. As Chillingworth examines Dimmesdale's deteriorating health, he grows more and more persuaded that the minister is secretly Hester's unknown lover. Drained by the burden of bearing his unknown sin, Arthur Dimmesdale is drawn to temptation. As demonstrated later in The Scarlet Letter, his weakened condition makes it effortless for him to relate himself with the Black Man of the forest. The congregation presumes Dimmesdale to be above all other Puritans, and his thoughts and life to be on a higher spiritual level than the townspeople. Subsequently, his phenomenal sermons are commended by all for a reason his admirers don't understand: Agony and sin have empowered the scholarly minister to acknowledge and sympathize with other
In The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale begins as the perfect image of a Puritan, a saint in the eyes off all the townspeople. However, Arthur Dimmesdale is nothing but a human, a mere representative of all who are capable of sin, a human who makes mistakes, just like all of the characters in this novel. However, out of all the characters that the reader becomes familiar with in the novel, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale alone completely changes. Nathaniel Hawthorne firsts conveys how the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale wants and strives to be perceived as perfect, and then slowly reveals to the reader his true nature, hiding it throughout most of the novel from his fellow Puritans. Ultimately, through …show more content…
In the Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale will consistently clutch his hand over his heart, almost as if it pains him. Dimmesdale is evidently driven mad by this guilt. He starves himself and disallows himself sleep, however, nothing makes him feel improved because these punishments are done in the privacy of his home and not out in public with Hester Prynne and Pearl where they should be. Roger Chillingworth, a physician who is Hester's husband, begins to take care of Arthur Dimmesdale but in reality, Roger Chillingworth’s real motive is to spy on Dimmesdale, because he believes the minister to be Hester's lover. As Chillingworth examines Dimmesdale's deteriorating health, he grows more and more persuaded that the minister is secretly Hester's unknown lover. Drained by the burden of bearing his unknown sin, Arthur Dimmesdale is drawn to temptation. As demonstrated later in The Scarlet Letter, his weakened condition makes it effortless for him to relate himself with the Black Man of the forest. The congregation presumes Dimmesdale to be above all other Puritans, and his thoughts and life to be on a higher spiritual level than the townspeople. Subsequently, his phenomenal sermons are commended by all for a reason his admirers don't understand: Agony and sin have empowered the scholarly minister to acknowledge and sympathize with other