Roger Chillingsworth suspects guilt in Dimmesdale and he takes a grave with weeds growing out of it to compare it to everyday life with sins. Prior to this quote, Dimmesdale said it is a person’s very nature to be silent about sin even if they worship God. Dimmesdale notes how no one wants to confess to sin so if their semblance proves innocent, maybe their sinful inside would continue to do good to outweigh the guilt. Chillingsworth thus replies that any man not being honest is cheating himself and is unable to own up to the shame he possesses. He says even though man’s heart is pious to God, if a he does not confess, evil things will insert themselves into his heart. He says how no man should lift his unsanitary hands to Heaven which signifies how everyone should live a life with a clean slate of guilt (especially for Judgement Day). This statement deeply affects Dimmesdale as he struggles to divulge his sins for seven years. At the end of the novel, Dimmesdale confesses and the narrator inputs that it is always better to be honest rather than living a life of lie. This quote connects to the moral of the story. …show more content…
Dimmesdale fulminates his disinclination to divulge his sins. The message derived is it is better to have secrets exposed rather than keeping them confidential and buried in the heart of a remorseful person. Dimmesdale envies Hester for living with a open heart rather than an intricate black heart of private sin. In like manner, Dimmesdale admits he feels consolation while glaring into the eyes of another, perhaps even an enemy. Correspondingly, this illustrative example with Hester shows how Dimmesdale feels liberated from his tantalizing sins after confessing. His candor saved him but then he realized his hypocritical ways, seeing a world overcome by fiction and
Consequently enough, Dimmesdale is trying to convince Hester to reveal the man who has sinned along with her, so the man can be relieved of his guilt, somewhat ironic because he is the man who has sinned along side with her. "What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him--yea, compel him, as it were--to add hypocrisy to sin? Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, that thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over the evil within thee and the sorrow without.
Arthur Dimmesdale's inability to confess is strictly due to his fear of confrontation, thus characterizing him as a coward. The fact that Dimmesdale does not publicly acknowledge or reveal his sin only contributes in denouncing himself as well as his courage. His lack of a confession solely results in the loss of power, self-esteem, and dignity. His great lack of inner strength is easily grasped due to the lies he preaches every week for seven painful years about truth and in the manner in which he avoids confrontation. He spreads the word of holiness and goodness, yet he himself does not abide these simple laws of the Puritan lifestyle. The minister can only extol Hester when she refuses to reveal him as the father by expressing "the wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart!"(69), rather than confess his own half of the sin. He can only praise a woman who has more strength and pow...
Dimmesdale tells Hester “What can thy silence do for him, as it were—to add hypocrisy to sin?” (Hawthorne 63). Dimmesdale pushes Hester to reveal her lover (Himself) because he is too weak to do it himself. He “loves” Hester, but doesn’t have the guts to share her burden with her. He understands the turmoil of keeping his secret, but is too attached to his position as minister to admit it. Dimmesdale’s description of his “confessions” in chapter 11 also serve to further exemplify his hypocritical character. He continually calls himself “vile” and a sinner, but he knows that he will only receive more adoration from the crowd. Instead of outright saying that he committed adultery with Hester, he knowingly feeds the audience, boosting his popularity. Again at the scaffold scene his hypocrisy is obvious. He cowers both when he sees a man and when Pearl asks him “wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide?” (Hawthorne 139). His inability to release in any form his transgression shows whilst playing the preacher role shows is cowardice and
To his belief, “Herein is the sinful mother happier than the sinful father.” (p. 102) By this he means that Hester’s scarlet letter allows her more public freedom than him. Although condemned by society as a sinner and treated as a pariah incapable of raising her own child, she does not have the constant pressure of wearing a mask of a person that she is not, unlike Dimmesdale. His sentence of justice was one enacted not by law as his lover’s, but by societal pressure and internalized guilt. Dimmesdale reveals the depth of the indoctrination of his facade to Hester in their sole moment of private tenderness, “I have laughed, in bitterness and agony of heart, at the contrast between what I seem and what I am!” (p. 167) He says, furthermore, in that same instance, “But, now, it is all falsehood!—all emptiness!—all death!” Together, the suggestion of these two lines is that the suppression of his identity and the resulting soul sickness has cost him his life. It is clear with the progression of the story that Dimmesdale, at least physically, indeed does suffer more than Hester. As his body decays, so too does his spirit and his vitality is only reignited upon returning from their encounter in the forest when, “…there appeared a glimpse of human affection and sympathy, a new life…” (p. 175) And finally when he exclaims, “Do I feel joy again?” (p.
The image of Roger Chillingworth is much like the image of pastor Dimmesdale: both characters sharpen one leading trait. But if in Arthur Dimmesdale we found some contradictions and changes in the nature which allowed us to judge him not as a single line diagram, then Roger is an absolute and complete embodiment of revenge and nothing more. We do not know what kind of person Chillingworth was before he returned to Boston, we didn’t know anything about his pastimes and position in life. All that we know is his fierce vindictive character. From the first page ,he speaks only of vengeance
He realizes that he must look within himself for the strength to overcome his staggering guilt when Chillingworth catches on to his plans to go to Europe with Hester and Pearl. With this knowledge, he preaches his last sermon. He comes forth with such confidence and swagger that Pearl and Hester do not recognize this man. Dimmesdale’s speech was very powerful in the way that he connected directly with Hester when speaking. For example, Hawthorne wrote, “Hester Prynne listened with such intenseness, and sympathized so intimately, that the sermon had throughout a meaning for her, entirely apart from its indistinguishable words.” Hester felt Dimmesdale good when subtly addressing her during the speech. In this sermon, Dimmesdale is somewhat redeeming himself. He knows of his bad nature all too well, and he feels when he is speaking that he can alleviate his guilt by helping others. At the end of the sermon, Dimmesdale reveals his sins on the platform for all of the Puritan society to know whilst holding Pearls hand. In the end, he reveals although there may be some evil in him, he is good at heart. Now, after a tragic demise Dimmesdale lies with his heavenly god knowing the full knowledge of what it is to live a “half-life” in the Puritan
The source of Dimmesdale's sudden shame is Hester coming up with ideas for them to flee from the town and leave
Fast forward to chapter twelve and Dimmesdale is up on the scaffold again, this time by his own accord. This instance is the only time in the marketplace, before the final chapters, that he expresses his guilt and repentance. The marketplace setting, in general, is very dark and full of gloom with no real shed of light or happiness. However, Dimmesdale’s demeanor in the forest is quite different. For the first time in the novel, Dimmesdale is able to express how he truly feels about his sin with another human being. He has a meaningful encounter with Hester as he openly elaborates on his inner guilt and shame. This is also the first time in the novel in which he feels some form of relief by being able to look into the eyes of someone who knows his sin. “Had I one friend, —or were it my worst enemy! —to whom, when sickened with the praises of all other men, I could daily betake myself, and be known as the vilest of all sinners, methinks my soul might keep itself alive thereby. Even thus much of truth would save me!” (Hawthorne
Hester and Dimmesdale have taken different approaches on how to deal with their sin. Hester was forced to bear the “A” but in many ways this has helped her become the person she is. Hester owns up to her sin and changes the meaning of the “A”. She does not let the townspeople control her life to the end. For many this may be hard, to be open with a fault or a sin they have committed. Yet in the end being honest makes a stronger person. Hester is able to live her life because she has
Dimmesdale understands the consequences of remaining silent, but continues to stay silent. He refers to himself in third person, and says, “Be not silent from and mistaken pity...to add hypocrisy to sin?” [ch.3, 134]. Hester already confessed, and now he stays in silence, suffering with physical and mental pain. He chose not to confess, and is now in a figurative “jail” where he is trapped with his pain in a community that greatly frowns upon adultery.
He should be ashamed that he would not stand up beside Hester and admit his crime. Ever since Hester had been committed of the crime and had to wear the A Dimmesdale's health began to decline. The author states “ ...the young minister, whose health had severely suffered, of late, by his too unreserved self sacrifice to the labors and duties of the pastoral relation” (Hawthorn 91). Dimmesdale was to the point in his life where he couldn’t live alone anymore. Also, to add to his stress and misery, Robert Chillingworth came to live with him, and the only thing that Chillingorth cared about was making Dimmsdale pay for his sin that he committed. Dimmsdale knew inside of his heart that he needed to go and be with Hester and Pearl instead of being a coward. At one point Dimmsdale even goes to the scaffold ready to profess his sin. He called out to Father Wilson saying “A good evening to you Father Wilson! Come up hither, I pray you, and pass a pleasant hour with me!” (Hawthorne 124). Dimmsdale deserved to die and he knew it or he wouldn’t of gone and told the whole town what he
Dimmesdale also struggles throughout the book with guilt. Hester dealt with more of a mental struggle, while Dimmesdale’s guilt physically gets the best of him. In Dimmesdale’s secret closet was a bloody scourge, which he would whip himself “rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance. He kept vigils, likewise, night after night” (127). Dimmesdale’s way of trying to free himself of his guilt is to physically abuse himself. He whips and makes himself stay awake throughout the nights for punishment. He doesn’t know what else to do with himself but to make himself feel worse. He tells “Hester, I am most miserable” (166). As a reader this can be very sad. It is hard to read about others people’s struggles that they can’t help. Dimmesdale thought he was doing the right thing by keeping his secret, but the guilt is overpowering him now. Setting yourself up for guilt will not work out for you in the end because it will just make you go
(E) A standout amongst the most defective things about Dimmesdale 's identity, is the way that he is so apprehensive of what other individuals will consider him. He is continually living in fear; not able to face his congregation in light of the blame he is feeling. He spills out his blame through the sermons on transgression, and his sermons are an impression of the state of his heart. Dimmesdale won 't have the capacity to conquer these emotions until he confesses the reality to everybody.
Arthur Dimmesdale was involved in the adulterous act along with Hester Prynne. One fact that makes this event more criminal for him is that Dimmesdale is a minister. Another reason for Dimmesdale's acts to be more shameful than Hester's is that she confessed and served the punishment for her crime. While Hester was on the scaffold, Dimmesdale expresses that he does not have the courage to admit his sin and sacrifice his good name. However, when Dimmesdale says "who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself--the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips" he is inviting Hester to confess Dimmesdale's involvement with her to the townspeople with the explanation that it will be a bitter but wholesome relief to the both of them. Although Dimmesdale was tortured by his conscience for his wrongdoings, he did not publicly admit his guilt until seven years later on.
...e ownership of his sin, gradually reducing his stance as the virtuous minister to a pathetic man desperate pleading that Hester reveal his sin for him instead. Whilst Hester dealt with her punishment with grace and dignity, Dimmesdale struggled very obviously to no avail with his guilt. Thus, the contrast created between the two characters exhibits the unwavering strength of female valor, in the face of Dimmesdale's "unmanly" actions. Even more so, Hester's admission of her sin "made her strong[er]"and gained communal respect for her, whilst Dimmesdale was "broken down by long and exquisite suffering", a mere shell of the man he had used to be. The respect that Hester garnered from this highly Puritan and patriarchal society attests to the innate strength of women regardless of preconception of their inferiority.