Scarlett Letter - Dimmesdale
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most well known novels of the romantic writing era. It is a fascinating story about human frailty and its attempt to redeem itself. Set in Boston, the story involves a woman, Hester Prynne, who has a child by another man after Indians abduct her husband. She is made to stand on a scaffold with the entire town watching while she wears an "A" on her breast for her great sin of adultery. Hester's husband, Roger Chillingworth, torments the illegitimate child's father, Arthur Dimmesdale, during the course of the story as his need for vengeance increases. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale attempts to atone for his sin by making his own kind of confessions, but without a confession like Hester's, his guilt remains a debilitating factor in his life.Dimmesdale's guilt about his and Hester's sin causes him to try to redeem himself in many ways that do not involve an actual confession. For instance, he is too afraid in the beginning to tell of his sin, so he tries to put the burden onto Hester when he says:Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand
In a broad view, all of Dimmesdale's confessions only serve to amplify his guilt more instead of alleviating it. He also knows that to be redeemed in heaven, he must confess before he dies. ] 'It is done!' muttered the minister, covering his face with his hands (102). He wants Hester to tell the people that he is the child's father so that his guilt will be gone. This is another of his attempts to gain redemption. As if the sickness he is undergoing is not enough, Dimmesdale even physically harms himself: In Mr. Without accomplishing anything by semi-confessing, Dimmesdale tries to come clean by going to the scaffold at night:Without any effort of his will, or power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud; an outcry that went pealing through the night, and was beaten back from one house to another [. Dimmesdale's' secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge. While Dimmesdale and Chillingworth are having a conversation and Chillingworth mentions Hester and the great burden of shame on her, Dimmesdale says "But still, methinks, it must needs be better for the sufferer to be free to show his pain, as this poor woman Hester is, than to cover it all up in his heart (93)". there beside thee, on they pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. However, from another point of view, Dimmesdale is speaking literally.
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