Arthur Dimmesdale As A Tragic Hero Essay

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterful romance The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale alone stands out as a tragic hero, who struggles for freedom over his guilt for committing lechery. Throughout the novel, Dimmesdale’s stages leading to his public atonement aligns with Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. Arthur Dimmesdale was given three courses of action: to stay silent and suffer as urged by Chillingworth, to attempt to escape responsibility as pleaded by Hester, or to stand up and face his sin, as prodded by Pearl. He was put on the ultimate test of sin, and was able to find the strength to atone before his death, thus likening him to the depictions of a tragic hero. Therefore, it can be said that, through his hamartia of cowardice, inevitable …show more content…
Dimmesdale’s cowardice led him to consider escaping sin and judgement with Hester, displaying his tragic flaw.
“ Or, if this be the path to a better life, as Hester would persuade me, I surely give up no fair prospect by pursuing it! Neither can I any longer live without her companionship; so powerful is she to sustain ーso tender to soothe! O Thou to whom I dare not lift mine eyes, wilt Thou yet pardon me!” (Hawthorne, 192)
Dimmesdale’s eagerness to avoid atonement once the possibility was suggested by Hester displays his lack of strength to face his sins. Apon making arrangements to elope, Dimmesdale becomes a different person altogether, like a “prisoner just escaped from the dungeon of his own heart”(Hawthorn, 192). At this crucial moment, Dimmesdale’s tragic flaw allowed him to fall back into the temptation of sin.
“Why, know you not”, cried the shipmaster, “That this physician hereーChillingworth, he calls himselfーis minded to try my cabin-fare with you? Ay, ay, you must have known it; for he tells me he is of your party, and a close friend to the gentleman you spoke of” (Hawthorne,

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