Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and lost of interest. It is also referred to as major depressive disorder or simply clinical depression. (“Depression (Major Depressive Disorder)”) In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, Arthur Dimmesdale, the baby-daddy and young priest, is described as a man whose “inward trouble drove him to practices [...] In Mr. Dimmesdale's secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge. Oftentimes, this Protestant and Puritan divine had plied it on his own shoulders, laughing bitterly at himself the while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh.” (Hawthorne 248) As disturbing as that behavior is, it is clear that Dimmesdale suffers from depression because he abuses himself, causes his own illness to worsen, and is consumed by guilt.
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He even lives with a doctor and he isn’t healing, this is because he does not eat and his own emotions may even be causing his illness. When a person makes himself ill, this is a sign of not wanting to live, and not wanting to live is a sign of depression: “Since Dimmesdale could not bring his sins out into the open, he punished himself in secret. He thrashed himself with a whip. He also refused food and sleep.” (Hawthorne 83) Dimmesdale definitely causes his own illness to worsen, and has lost the will to live. Both of these are symptoms of
He even lives with a doctor and he isn’t healing, this is because he does not eat and his own emotions may even be causing his illness. When a person makes himself ill, this is a sign of not wanting to live, and not wanting to live is a sign of depression: “Since Dimmesdale could not bring his sins out into the open, he punished himself in secret. He thrashed himself with a whip. He also refused food and sleep.” (Hawthorne 83) Dimmesdale definitely causes his own illness to worsen, and has lost the will to live. Both of these are symptoms of