Arthur Dimmesdale: The Sinful Pastor
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter features a plethora of diverse characters. Each character presents his or her own set of attributes, such as values, motivations and characteristics. In addition, very few of those characters contribute to the main theme of the entire story, but what they do, say and value depicts the central idea of the story to some degree.Arthur Dimmesdale, a major character within Hawthorne’s novel, clearly portrays this ideal. Arthur, a well respected pastor with whom Hester has committed adultery in the novel, suffers recurring emotional and mental pain due to his acts of hypocrisy, secrecy and cowardice. His sin, suffering and understanding represents the main theme …show more content…
A sin is an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. In those days, nobody could admit to being a sinner without being scrutinized or punished by his fellow people. Arthur Dimmesdale committed a terrible sin, adultery, with the protagonist Hester Prynne, who happens to be married to the antogonist, Roger Chillingworth. Hester becomes known as an adulterer; however, Dimmesdale does not get pinned as one because the townspeople do not know that he is the one with whom Hester has committed adultery. Dimmesdale can not afford having his secret to be revealed, for he is a pastor. If people were to find out about it, he would be heavily judged since he is a public role model to society. He does not want for either the townspeople to be tempted to follow his sinful act, or deem him an evil man. This secrecy and knowledge leads him to live a life of …show more content…
That is true to a certain extent. Too much knowledge can prove to be a misfortune amongst some folk and can hurt most people terribly. Stephen R. Lawhead once said, “Knowledge is a burden-once taken up, it can never be discarded.” This quote is proven true in The Scarlet Letter with Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale committed adultery and now the memory is forever stuck with him. The human brain tends to remember the things it should forget and for Arthur, that was one memory that was better left forgotten. Now that this terrible deed was committed, Dimmesdale can no longer live his life without assuming the worst. The townspeople only know that Hester committed adultery. They have no clue of who it was that Hester committed adultery with. Dimmesdale comprehends that if he were to come out as an adulterer, the crowd would be all over him with judgemental comments and with physical punishment. His knowledge comes from the way the folk treat Hester when she’s exposed as an adulterer. She gets judged and is forced to wear the scarlet letter to be permanently defined as an adulterer. Dimmesdale’s knowledge of how Hester gets treated also adds to his burden. Dimmesdale now has to live with himself knowing that Hester is being publicly shamed while he tries to find peace in his own punishment. This knowledge has a genuinely negative effect on him for the
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter features a plethora of diverse characters. Each character presents his or her own set of attributes, such as values, motivations and characteristics. In addition, very few of those characters contribute to the main theme of the entire story, but what they do, say and value depicts the central idea of the story to some degree.Arthur Dimmesdale, a major character within Hawthorne’s novel, clearly portrays this ideal. Arthur, a well respected pastor with whom Hester has committed adultery in the novel, suffers recurring emotional and mental pain due to his acts of hypocrisy, secrecy and cowardice. His sin, suffering and understanding represents the main theme …show more content…
A sin is an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. In those days, nobody could admit to being a sinner without being scrutinized or punished by his fellow people. Arthur Dimmesdale committed a terrible sin, adultery, with the protagonist Hester Prynne, who happens to be married to the antogonist, Roger Chillingworth. Hester becomes known as an adulterer; however, Dimmesdale does not get pinned as one because the townspeople do not know that he is the one with whom Hester has committed adultery. Dimmesdale can not afford having his secret to be revealed, for he is a pastor. If people were to find out about it, he would be heavily judged since he is a public role model to society. He does not want for either the townspeople to be tempted to follow his sinful act, or deem him an evil man. This secrecy and knowledge leads him to live a life of …show more content…
That is true to a certain extent. Too much knowledge can prove to be a misfortune amongst some folk and can hurt most people terribly. Stephen R. Lawhead once said, “Knowledge is a burden-once taken up, it can never be discarded.” This quote is proven true in The Scarlet Letter with Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale committed adultery and now the memory is forever stuck with him. The human brain tends to remember the things it should forget and for Arthur, that was one memory that was better left forgotten. Now that this terrible deed was committed, Dimmesdale can no longer live his life without assuming the worst. The townspeople only know that Hester committed adultery. They have no clue of who it was that Hester committed adultery with. Dimmesdale comprehends that if he were to come out as an adulterer, the crowd would be all over him with judgemental comments and with physical punishment. His knowledge comes from the way the folk treat Hester when she’s exposed as an adulterer. She gets judged and is forced to wear the scarlet letter to be permanently defined as an adulterer. Dimmesdale’s knowledge of how Hester gets treated also adds to his burden. Dimmesdale now has to live with himself knowing that Hester is being publicly shamed while he tries to find peace in his own punishment. This knowledge has a genuinely negative effect on him for the