Randall Stewart Scarlet Letter

A critic of the book The Scarlet Letter, Randall Stewart, states a point that the book is not about the character Hester Prynne, but yet her “partner in crime”, Arthur Dimmesdale and his tragedy. He argues that the story and misery that Arthur suffers is much more important to the plot than Hester’s life and how her actions shape the book. I agree with Randall’s statements about who the real protagonist is in the book, Arthur is much more involved in the theme and structure of the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
This book was not written in the traditional, straightforward manner. The writing style of Hawthorne is very different from most of the other novels people may be used to. The book may open up on Hester and her background, but this does not entail that she has to be the leading character. To fully understand the tragedy of Dimmesdale you must first understand his counterpart. Dimmesdale is first introduced as a man sitting in judgement of Hester while she is coming out of the prison. The readers, don’t know at this point, the ultimate irony, that Dimmesdale is the “partner in crime” of the very woman he is judging in front of the whole town. …show more content…
He has the internal battle of knowing he has wronged his whole society, and lives in guilt even before the reader is aware. "If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer!" (Hawthorne 102), even though Hester is being publicly punished, Dimmesdale does not feel like he is off the hook for the sin they have committed. He gets to be on the high horse of a reverend throughout the book while, the town outcast is as guilty as he is. Yes, Hester suffers for her sins, but that is the puritan way of life. Dimmesdale is the true focus of the suffering seeing as he punishes himself to