Chillingworth And Dimmesdale In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

In the book The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a woman named Hester Prynne commits adultery and has an affair with the the priest of the Boston community named, Arthur Dimmesdale. Roger Chillingworth, seems unaware of his wife’s undoing, until he arrived back from being a captive of the Indians and sees what others can’t in the community. Knowing that his wife cheated on him and had a child, he decides find the man involved and take matters into his own hands. Secrets are kept throughout the story between Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale , who decides to conceal his sinfulness in order to keep his Holy persona and priesthood alive in the community. Dimmesdale conforms to the community while questioning his moral values throughout the Scarlet Letter. Hester gets shamed due to her sinful lusts and projected for all to see her while wearing the letter A on her bosom. Dimmesdale, On the other hand, who is …show more content…
The community took notice and decided that Chillingworth should take care of Dimmesdale due to his background in medicine, and that they should move in together. This allowed Chillingworth to really see how Dimmesdale’s outwardly appearance contradicted his moral values, and how the community sees a man with answers when he sees a broken man searching for answers. While Chillingworth and Dimmesdale were talking Dimmesdale says “ So, to their own unspeakable torture, they walk among their fellow creatures looking as pure as the new-fallen snow. And all the while, their hearts are spotted and stained with a sin they can’t get rid of.” (Hawthorne 2). Although Dimmesdale referred to those around him, he acknowledges that he wears a facade when he really knows the true sinfulness of his own heart. Dimmesdale has an internal conflict between hiding his true identity or damaging his saintly character in front of the