After the death of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s character Dimmesdale from the book the Scarlet Letter, there have been many theories about the cause of his death. Some literary analyzers claim that his guilt was the cause of his death. Others say that Roger Chillingworth, a physician, poisoned him with Atropine and Scopolamine. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale’s guilt appears to be the cause of his death, but his symptoms point towards Atropine and Scopolamine poisoning. In The Scarlet Letter, all the symptoms Dimmesdale experiences provide evidence that he is poisoned with Atropine and Scopolamine. The action of gripping hard at the breast leads readers to believe that Dimmesdale is poisoned with Scopolamine and …show more content…
Because Chillingworth knows Dimmesdale causes Hester to be an adulterer, he has the intention to torture Dimmesdale for his action. Not only does Chillingworth have the intention to torment Dimmesdale, he also has the objective of getting revenge against him. This vengeance is mainly because of how Dimmesdale makes Hester shunned upon in society for being an adulterer. Chillingworth’s intense desire for revenge is pointed out by Shafer as “a new purpose… dark enough to engage the full strength of his [Chillingworth’s] faculties” (qtd. in Hawthorne 87). Chillingworth acquires information on Dimmesdale by using Scopolamine and Atropine poisoning through the process of hypnosis. Chillingworth performs this action because Dimmesdale refuses to answer any of his questions. Chillingworth finds out how Dimmesdale and Hester want to flee Boston by ship together through the process of hypnosis. This is proved in The Scarlet Letter because there is no evidence of Hester or Dimmesdale telling Chillingworth about their plans yet he finds out about …show more content…
The drugs for sedation that contain atropine most likely contain Scopolamine as well. Atropine is the most vital drug in treating nerve agent poisoning due to its ability to fight the effect of the nerve agent in airways. Atropine relieves the narrowness of the airways caused by nerve agent poisoning lowering the risk of choking to death.
There are many symptoms and signs associated with the intoxication of Atropine. Some of the signs and symptoms are hallucinations, dryness of the mouth, hot flushed dry skin, dilated nonreactive pupils, depression, circulatory collapse, blood pressure decline, muscular incoordination, blurry vision, and restlessness. Another symptom is the defective respiratory system, which is the most devastating symptom. When a person experiences respiratory failure, it can lead into a coma or becoming paralyzed. After paralysis or a coma, death can occur.
If overdosed, Atropine can cause very serious consequences but fatalities from Atropine poisoning are very rare but can occur in adults and children. Atropine is the safest alkaloid of all the potential alkaloids. Since death caused by Atropine alone is very rare, the fatal dose has not medically been discovered. If ever overdosed, the side effects of dry mouth, blurred vision, photophobia, anhidrosis, and constipation are
The first theme expressed in The Scarlet Letter is that even well meaning deceptions and secrets can lead to destruction. Dimmesdale is a prime example of this; he meant well by concealing his secret relationship with Hester, however, keeping it bound up was deteriorating his health. Over the course of the book this fact is made to stand out by Dimmesdale’s changing appearance. Over the course of the novel Dimmesdale becomes more pale, and emaciated. Hester prevents herself from suffer the same fate. She is open about her sin but stays loyal to her lover by not telling who is the father of Pearl. Hester matures in the book; becomes a stronger character.
Danforth and Dimmesdale contrast in the way of their sins of commission and omission. Although Dimmesdale does not openly admit his sins until the end of the story, they feed on his conscience, causing him to engage in self-torturing practices. He confuses the destruction and weakening of himself for penance for his sin. Aided by Hester?s angered husband, Dimmesdale weakens himself so much, that he uses the last of his strength in his confession and he dies in Hester?s arms. Danforth suspects he is sending innocent people to their deaths, but through the love of his office, he does not stop his corrupt practices nor attempt to right his wrongs.
Dimmesdale’s punishments, while effective and warranted, were not performed by one appointed to do so in view of the public and God. Proctor and Dimmesdale were ultimately punished with death, but not even death was a proper punishment for their heinous crimes. Before Dimmesdale’s untimely death in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale committed the sins of adultery and lying. In order to keep his sins a secret, Dimmesdale spoke nothing of his involvement in the affair until it tore him apart from the inside out.
In the story of the Scarlet Letter, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale possesses more guilt and fear than any other character portrayed in this fascinating book by Nathaniel Hawthorne. There are many examples that make this theory evident: by him putting off his confession about his act of passion, it results in a woman being punished and set apart from the rest of civilization, all while dealing with his moral obligations as a pastor and finally comparing him to the other major male character within the story. Even with his abundant knowledge of what is right and wrong, Dimmesdale attempts to rationalize his mistakes and reason to himself throughout the story that what he is doing is best for everyone. Is this only a sign of fear or hypocrisy due to a lack of integrity?
Years ago, Hester promised Chillingworth to keep his identity a secret, thus allowing him to do evil to Dimmesdale. Chillingworth believes that it was his fate to change from a kind man to a vengeful fiend. He believes that it’s his destiny to take revenge and thus would not stop until he does so.
On September 1st, I have been given the assignment to assess the death of Arthur Dimmesdale, one of the main characters in Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, taking place in Boston, Massachusetts around the mid-1700s. Dimmesdale, an eloquent and young minister, has committed adultery with a young married woman named Hester. While Hester undergoes punishment and humiliation as she conceives Dimmesdale’s daughter, Pearl, Dimmesdale keeps his relationship to them a secret and constantly feels guilty about doing so. For penance and to relieve his sorrow, Dimmesdale tortures himself physically and mentally. Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, figures out Dimmesdale’s secret and vengefully torments him after becoming his physician as a disguise. Towards the end of the story, Dimmesdale suddenly collapses and dies on a scaffold after publicly revealing a letter “A” etched into his chest and confessing the adultery he had committed seven years prior. As an expert forensic analyst in American
Here it seems that the letter “A” on Dimmesdale’s chest may have different meanings to the people of Boston, because some saw it as a result of Chillingworth’s own anger towards Dimmesdale. The readers do not know if the letter is truly on Dimmesdale’s chest, and there are many accounts that report different explanations for its appearance there. While some people believe it represents Chillingworth’s revenge, there is also another theory in which Dimmesdale’s guilt is so strong that it eats away at him, and Heaven itself displayed the letter on his chest: “the awful symbol was the effect of the ever active tooth of remorse, gnawing from the inmost heart outwardly, and at last manifesting Heaven’s dreadful judgment by the visible presence of the letter” (211). In this theory, the letter represents Dimmesdale’s guilt once again, but readers never get a clear answer on what exactly the “A”
... the story. Dimmesdale is torn apart by the guilt of his concealed sin and his concealed letter A and ends up dying as a consequence. The leech, Chillingworth, is partly responsible for Dimmesdale’s agony and he himself suffers from his sinful leech-like actions of sucking another man's life force away. Pearl is born of sin and is a reminder of sin to her mother. She is airy and wild while the sin still traps her, but after Dimmesdale confesses and frees her from the sin, she represents hope because she can lead a normal life. While sin means something different to everyone, belief that one has sinned often has emotional consequences that are difficult to get past. Although our own experiences may not be as dramatic as those of the characters in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reminds us that sin and its consequences are significant in shaping our lives and ourselves.
Dimmesdale, the novel’s hero, was described as an esteemed minister in Puritan era Boston. The next two steps are the call to adventure and refusal of the call. Dimmesdale’s call came from Hester Prynne on the scaffold in the first scene, but he would not join her there, thus refusing the call. The final step in the ordinary world is meeting the mentor. This is the first point where The Scarlet Letter diverges from Campbell’s outline. Whereas Campbell calls the mentor an aide and guide to the hero, Dimmesdale’s mentor was Roger Chillingworth, an evil doctor who had no intent to aide or guide
However, Dimmesdale is negatively affected by not facing any consequences. Dimmesdale becomes incredibly diseased and is not in a correct state of mind as he was “suffering under [a] bodily disease”(Hawthorne 66) and “looked now more careworn and emaciated” (Hawthorne 103) than ever before. These descriptions prove that Dimmesdale’s health is deteriorating at a very fast rate and that he is a very depressed man at this point because of all the guilt piling up inside of him. In addition to his disease, Dimmesdale is adversely affected by the punishments that he puts on himself. He begins to flog himself and deprive himself of sleep and food as a way to get rid of his guilt.
Extreme gasping and muscle spasms can occur. While losing consciousness, a person can vomit and then inhale the vomit. Panic, feelings of terror and assaultive behavior take place from the drug-induced confusion. Other problems can include difficulty in taking the drugs, failure of the drugs to induce unconsciousness and a number of days elapsing before death occurs. (NEJM)
In “The Scarlet Letter,” the main character Hester get punished for adultery. In the beginning, she thought that her husband has died so she fell in love with Dimmesdale. However, her husband did not die and came back. Her husband, Chillingworth, later finds out that Hester has a secret lover. Therefore tried to find out who he is. At first Chillingworth does not reveal himself as Hester’s husband because she was being punished for adultery and he did not want to be ashamed. Later he tries to find out Hester’s secret lover by asking her but she will not tell him which makes him for desperate and angry. When he finds out that the secret lover is Dimmesdale, he finds out a secret about Dimmesdale.
That man who Hester loves so deeply, Mr. Dimmesdale also undergoes major changes due the sin he bears. In the beginning of the book we see this man’s weakness and unwillingness to confess sin even as he begs Hester the person he committed his sin with to come forth with her other parties name (p56). As The Scarlet Letter progresses we see Dimmesdale become weaker physically and his religious speeches become even stronger so that his congregation begins to revere him. For a large part of the novel Dimmesdale has been on a downward spiral in terms of mental and physical health thanks to a so-called friend who was issued to take care of Mr. Dimmesdale, then because of a talk with Hester he is revitalized and given the power to do something, which he could not for seven long years. At the end of the novel Dimmesdale is finally able to recognize his family in public and confess his sin before all releasing the sin he held so long hidden in his heart (p218, 219).
Since he possesses the title of “reverend,” he is expected to act as some sort of a saint. Dimmesdale was responsible for the act of adultery done with Prynne. Even though he is a reverend, he is also a man. Although Dimmesdale was aware of Hester’s marriage but not who her husband was, he understood the predicament in which she was in; he recognized her solitude. In Chapter 17, Hester made the revelation to Dimmesdale that Roger Chillingworth was her husband. Dimmesdale did not respond in a positive manner as stated, “Never was there a blacker or a fiercer frown than Hester now encountered.” (Hawthorne 149). Dimmesdale is the most innocent from the trio since he was constantly repented his sin, but was also a single man. He lived with this guilt inside of him day-by-day and physically hurt himself, intending to lose the
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, a main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, proves to be a sinner against man, against God and most importantly against himself because he has committed adultery with Hester Prynne, resulting in an illegitimate child, Pearl. His sinning against himself, for which he ultimately paid the