Sarah Miller
Nelson
AP Lang Per. 2
The Scarlet Letter Discussion Questions: Chapters 11-24
Chapter 11: “The Interior of a Heart”
1. The irony of Dimmesdale’s confession is that although he has sinned, the population still sees him as a saintly and godly person. Nobody even questions what the sin is or how they are going to go about punishing him. In contrast, when Hester stood on the scaffold, the public tried to pressure her into revealing her partner and they punished her throughout her life.
2. “The minister well knew—subtile, but remorseful hypocrite that he was! —the light in which his vague confession would be viewed.” (141) Although Dimmesdale thinks that the people will view him as a hypocrite who shames others for their sins but does the same thing himself, they don’t. The Puritans still view him as godly and pure, but Dimmesdale sees himself as dirty and sin-stained.
3. Dimmesdale is driven to the ancient roman practice of whipping yourself in order to make your…show more content… After the we found out about Dimmesdale's sin, we gained new insight on why he acted the way he did at the scaffold and at the Governor's house. On the day Hester stood on the scaffold, Dimmesdale tried to pressure her into revealing her partner so that he too, could expiate his sin. Although at the time it seemed like Dimmesdale was just doing his job, we can now see that he was begging Hester to give him a way out. He wasn’t strong enough to confess for himself, so he wanted her to do it for him, but she refused because she knew that it was something he had to do himself in order to really find relief. On the day Hester appealed to him in the governors hall, Dimmesdale fought for Hester to keep Pearl. At the time, it seemed like Dimmesdale was just doing his job as minister, but looking back, we can see that Dimmesdale wanted Hester to keep Pearl so that he could be connected to his daughter. He also loves Hester, so he wanted her to be happy, and he knew what a good mother she would