Dimmesdale character analysis
Arthur Dimmesdale in the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn was a pastor, respected by all and distrusted by none. This Reverend guided his congregation along their spiritual walks; their pathways to heaven. However, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale was a mortal. No matter how much he tried to hide this fact, the sin of adultery blackened his heart and soiled his purity. Dimmesdale lead two lives: that of a saint and that of a sinner. Hawthorn reveals both the former and the latter through Reverend Dimmesdale's deteriorated physical appearance, his ever constant inward changes, relationships with other characters, and his struggles with his iniquity. Arthur Dimmesdale's physical appearance in this novel directly portrays the condition of his conscience. The Reverend's sin was eating him from the inside out. His saintliness was struggling with his sinfulness. As he watched Hester Prynne constantly be the object of humiliation, his inward judgment grew harsher. Even near the beginning of the novel, Dimmesdale's body was starting to deteriorate: "He [Dimmesdale] looked now more careworn and emaciated than as we described him at the scene of Hester's public ignominy" (83). Reverend Dimmesdale was
103) This was a sin in and of itself; the sin of deception. The novel, The Scarlet Letter, portrays the hypocrisy that occurred in early America, and is still occurring throughout the entire world today. Nothing could heal his heart and mend his soul, but an honest confession, a verbal outpouring of his sin. Dimmesdale's constant fight with his sin was the one thing that characterized his entire character. Dimmesdale's guilt grew so much that he actually physically beat himself as his own form of punishment and sacrifice. Dimmesdale was not a static character; on the contrary he was constantly transforming through the entire span of the novel. However, even though the outward appearance of his transgression was clear to the reader, the other characters in the book took this decline of his health, and constant anguish as humility and sacrifice: "They deemed the young man a miracle of holiness (pg. Dimmesdale was not fickle in his changing. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale changed from a sinner to a saint, guilty to innocent, from imprisoned to free. Reverend Dimmesdale was neither primarily bad, nor primarily good. However, after that incident, he felt spontaneous urges to commit transgressions and hurt other people. However, at the final confession, he was bold and shameless of Hester and Pearl. constantly griping at his breast as well (96). However, the main factor in his personality throughout the novel is Dimmesdale's struggle with his own iniquity.
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