Dimmesdale Role Model

In the famous novel The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne writes a story which focuses on the sinful action of adultery and writes about how this sin affects several characters. One of these characters is known as Arthur Dimmesdale. In the novel, Arthur Dimmesdale is known to be a normal Puritan minister who preaches inspiring sermons to the little town of Boston in the 17th century. All the townspeople look up to Dimmesdale as a role model figure and show a great deal of respect towards him. However, what these townspeople are very unaware of is the fact that Dimmesdale is hiding the committed sin of adultery deep down inside him, and for seven years keeps his secret unconfessed with no one knowing his sin except for …show more content…
Dimmesdale keeps this awful sin hidden from everyone for seven years since he is scared of what others might think of him, and what his punishment might be. In one scene of the novel Dimmesdale walks to the public scaffold late at night and stands there, punishing himself for his sins, but hiding at night so that no one can see him and wonder why he is punishing himself. During his self punishment he is acquainted by Hester and Pearl and Pearl asks the minister a simple, yet wise question, “ ‘Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide?’ “Nay; not so, my little Pearl!’...’Not so, my child, I shall, indeed, stand with thy mother and thee one other day, but not to-morrow!’” (Hawthorne 134). Dimmesdale is flat out admitting to being a coward, that one day he will be with Pearl and Hester, but he is too cowardly to confess his sin now and presently stand with them. Also, during the novel Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, tries very hard to get Dimmesdale to confess his sin to him when he suspects that Dimmesdale is the man who slept with his wife. Chillingworth continuously presses Dimmesdale about his secrets when they are living together and as a result of Chillingworth trying to “heal” Dimmesdale of his illness. Chillingworth and Dimmesdale get into a conversation about confessing sins and Chillingworth is hoping that Dimmesdale …show more content…
Even though Dimmesdale is a minister who many people in Boston admire, and preaches strong and meaningful sermons, he is living a lie of deception. Often when people find out who a person truly is and the actions that they have taken, their viewpoint on that person tends to alter some. Whether they look at them differently because they admire that person 's honesty for who they truly are, or they are disgusted to discover who they truly are, their viewpoint changes. In Dimmesdale’s case, he is never fully honest with the people of Boston till his time of dying. He keeps his adulterous sin a secret from the people and continues to allow people to look up to him as a positively influencing minister. “While thus suffering under bodily disease, and gnawed and tortured by some black trouble of the soul, and given over to the machinations of his deadliest enemy, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale had achieved a brilliant popularity in his sacred office. He won it, indeed, in great part, by his sorrows” (Hawthorne 123). This passage is describing how Dimmesdale is becoming popular among the ministers despite his illness, and that was mainly because his sermons had gotten deeper and more meaningful. The main reason behind his excellent sermons was by reason of his guilt from his sin; his sin allowed him to preach to others how important repentance is and how awful sin is. Unfortunately, all who