Arthur Dimmesdale In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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In the Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a scandal occurs in the sacred Puritan community. Hester Prynne, whose husband has not been home for two years, is impregnated by the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, who will not come forth and admit he was also involved. Dimmesdale is a young, godly man who is admired and liked by almost all of the community’s members. In the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals the theme that sin can destroy a person through his characterization of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale Hawthorne uses Dimmesdale’s sin of committing the adultery and keeping it a secret to characterize Dimmesdale and show the theme of sin causes self-destruction. Dimmesdale’s affair with Hester Prynne results in her being impregnated,…show more content…
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 there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so than to hide a guilty heart through life’” (Pg. 40). Dimmesdale tries to get Hester to admit who the father is because the guilt has already started to take a toll on him, and he wants her to admit it for him that way he can get it off of his chest without having to actually confess. The fellow-sufferer Dimmesdale tells to step down from a high place is actually him. Since he is a well-known and profound reverend everyone loves who is never known to do anything, he would be the one taking a step down from his high status to suffer alongside with…show more content…
Dimmesdale constantly complains with chest pains throughout the novel. Hawthorne says, “But how could the minister sat so, when, with every successive Sabbath, his check was paler and thinner, his voice more tremulous than before-when it had become a constant habit, rather than a casual gesture, to press his hand over his heart?” (Pg. 68). Dimmesdale is dealing with chest pains for a while now and is growing weaker and slowly dying from the pains. Hawthorne says after Dimmesdale finally admits the truth about the adultery, “The final word came forth with the minster’s expiring breath” (Pg. 141). The sin literally kills Dimmesdale. His coping methods, such as keeping the secret to himself causing it to weigh on him, makes him weaker and weaker and eventually kills
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