Corruption of the Inner Self Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is an American masterpiece that delves into the lifestyle and ideologies of Puritan society and exposes its fundamental atrocities through the internal struggles of two of its central characters: Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. Ultimately, Hawthorne shows that the suppression of human instinct necessary to conform to the foundations of the restrictive Puritan society leads only to corruption, perpetual sorrow, and inner turmoil. Those who defied the unnatural laws of Puritanism, such as Hester and Dimmesdale, are actually given the opportunity to understand how flawed the foundations of Puritanism are. By being outcast because of her sin, Hester is able to see society from the …show more content…
As Kenneth D. Pimple discusses in his evaluation of Dimmesdale, Dimmesdale has a gift of double talk, a strategy which, “plays literal meaning of his words off against the context in which he speaks them” (257). What makes this gift so effective is the emotional manner in which he speaks which conveys a product that appeals more to the power of his voice than its literal interpretation. Dimmesdale knows the power that he wields and actually it uses on his congregation. Pimple points out that all his seemingly blatant confessions are just façades, “But he knows full well that his people, in ignorance of his adultery, will interpret this not as a confession, but as an example, even a proof, of the minister's humility and piety” (260). While he uses his ability on his congregation, he is also tacitly using on it on himself. What would be the reason to give a confession sermon if he knows that it will end in his congregation misinterpreting it? The reason is that Dimmesdale wants to trick himself into believing that he is doing his best to confess his sins, but the people would never believe him. By using double talk to manipulate the crowd’s thoughts, Dimmesdale is trying to prove to himself that revealing himself was not meant to happen and perhaps it is better off if he were to keep his position as a minister where he could live his life in comfort. Dimmesdale …show more content…
Soon, because of his insecurities and weakness to commit a noble life, Dimmesdale becomes so corrupt that while repressing himself he also resorts to suppressing others. This suppression is only in the interests of himself and only serves to further hide his true self. As Hester pleads for her daughter’s custody at Bellingham’s estate, Dimmesdale watches stagnantly while listening to Hester’s plea to save the life of his own daughter, and only decides to help her when she appeals to Dimmesdale, “Thou wast my pastor, and hadst charge of my soul, and knowest me better than these men can. I will not lose the child! Speak for me!” (Hawthorne 100) Once the possible threat of the exposure of his sin is sensed by Dimmesdale, only then does he look to aid the woman who he once shared his most intimate feeling. He only looks to quiet Hester by helping her, not actually try and save his daughter through the goodness of his heart. Due to his fear of his sin, Dimmesdale is becomes cold and only sensitive to himself and those who can impact
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.
In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the strong values of the puritans in the 17th century through the townsmen and women. Religion was a way of life for the puritans. Their values interjected in their emotions, attitudes, actions, and speech. Hester Prynne committed adultery, which defies the puritan’s beliefs. By examining the punishments that were given to Hester, Hawthorne is able to continue to emphasize the puritan beliefs and values. Community was to follow the beliefs of God and to do their duties the best they could; yet they were there to criticize and punish all who disobeyed the religion or laws. Through narrating the tail that is to follow, Hawthorne can better display the puritan beliefs of plainness, aversion to festivities, and the importance of the puritan’s beliefs.
To the town, Dimmesdale appears to be perfectly righteous and is respected highly; while in reality, he is just as guilty as Hester. The hypocrisy of his character first begins to develop as he denies his own sinfulness
...e afflicted"(111). The scarlet letter, or society's punishment, has made her a better servant of God than she has ever been. Hester's life has been redirected, and she was able to select the path of righteousness and appears able to eventually reach salvation, thanks to her abiding by society's punishment. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, avoids society, and hence avoids God. Dimmesdale never confesses and takes punishment into his own hands. Hawthorne portrays that had Dimmesdale gone to society, or God's representative on earth, he would have received an appropriate punishment and not suffered. Instead, Dimmesdale struggles to his death, and while he does eventually confess, it is too late, and Dimmesdale dooms himself. We are not sure what happens to Dimmesdale, but had he chosen society's punishment over his own, he would have surely been headed towards salvation.
It is evident to the reader that Hester Prynne is no ordinary women because of her clear defiance of what the Puritan society expects. “A community that embodies the qualities of aging public males must necessarily repress those of the young and female,” which has become an unspoken yet understood way of life in Salem, Massachusetts (Baym, “Defiance” 90). All women are required to be submissive and completely abiding of their husbands’ word. They are not to have any self-expression as it is thought to jeopardize the community as a whole. The manifestation of individuality and personal beliefs is seen as both a threat and a sign of insolence, which are responded to with very sev...
Through Dimmesdale's entire life, his life has been dedicated to God. He is perfect in performing his duties as the Puritan minister, but his sin affects him in this regard. He feels that he is a fraud and a hypocrite and is not fit to lead the people of the town to salvation which is a sign he is not of the elect. Later, he begins to believe it would be better to lose his place of power in the church than to continue hiding the truth. He tells Hester, "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. What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him--yea, compel him, as it were--to add hypocrisy to sin?"
“ ‘Nay; not so, my little Pearl,’ answered the minister; for, with the new energy of the moment, all the dread of public exposure that had so long been the anguish of his life had returned upon him; and he was already trembling at the conjunction in which-with a strange joy, nevertheless -he now found himself.’ Not so, my child. I shall, indeed, stand with thy mother and thee one day, but not tomorrow’ “(Hawthorne 149-150). Pearl now has a connection with Dimmesdale. She wants to be with him, but he still wants to believe he isn’t the father and he can’t be seen with her or people will know what really is. Hester’s life to Dimmesdale is free and open, while he, on the other hand, has a life of misery. His life of misery is causing him to break down and it makes people suspect something is wrong. “ ‘No, Hester, no!’ replied the clergyman. ‘There is no substance in it! It is cold and dead, and can do nothing for me! Of penance, I have had enough! Of penance, there has been none’ “(Hawthorne 188)! This secret is eating at Dimmesdale’s heart and he cannot control
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.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel, based in the Puritan era, about Hester Prynne who commits an act of adultery and has a baby, but the father is unknown. The father is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Both Hester and Dimmesdale face their sin daily. They are differences in how they go about their sin but there are also similarities. The Puritans also want sin expelled from their community. There are also many different ways they deal with their sin, but the sin can lead to personal growth, sympathy, and understanding of others. Throughout the book, Hester and Dimmesdale face their sin in different ways that lead to personal growth and an increase in good qualities.
He can preach the consequences of sin very well, but when it comes to facing his own sins, he cannot deal with them. Chillingworth notices this and articulates to Hester that “His spirit lacked the strength that he could have borne up, as thine has been, beneath a burden like thy scarlet letter,” (135). At the conclusion of the novel, when Dimmesdale finally recognizes that death is upon him, he admits the truth. He proclaims, “In the name of him, so terrible and so merciful, who gives me grace at this last moment, to do what – for my own heavy sin and miserable agony – I have withheld myself from doing seven years ago, come hither now, and twine thy strength about me! Thy strength, Hester; but let it be guided by the will which God has granted me! This wretched in wronged old man is opposing it with all his might! – With all his own might, and the fiend’s! Come, Hester, come! Support me up yonder scaffold!"(226). At just about the last possible second, in the third scaffold scene, Dimmesdale admits upon the scaffold that he is the father of
The world we live in today allows us to speak, think and do freely. People can do what they want without the result of the type of punishment the Puritans did. Any unsatisfactory decisions would be looked down upon in the strict Puritan Society. During the 1600s, any rebellious actions led to severe punishments. One major conflict, that continuously dominates the events of the novel, is the constant struggle between “socially-constructed identity” and an “inherent-individual identity.” Throughout the novel, Pearl, Hester, and Dimmesdale show great conflicts within themselves and the judgmental people of the town.
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
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter - a story about relationships, love, and sin - takes place in 1640, Puritan Boston. During that time, laws were considerably stricter and punishments were more severe. Two of the principal characters, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, have committed adultery with each other, but face the punishments in different ways. Their mutual sin is the main focus of the novel. Society knows about Hester’s act of adultery from the beginning; however, Dimmesdale tries to mask his sin from society, and the internal guilt he faces becomes unbearable. Through the suffering and struggles both these characters face, readers are able to understand the multiple themes of the novel. The themes of individual versus society,
The author of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, expressed ideas of love, passion, shame, and punishment throughout his 1800s based novel. Due to the fact that this novel was based in a Puritan time period, it brought many mental and sometimes physical difficulties for the main character, Hester Prynne. The Puritans solely believed in God and all of his rules. With that said, the author decided to illustrate the drama of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s adultery in order to describe the change in Hester’s attitude. Because of the many events, adversities and struggles, Hester had a complete change in attitude from shame and embarrassment to love, proudness and satisfaction.
The Scarlet Letter is a fictional novel that begins with an introductory passage titled ‘The Custom-House’. This passage gives a historical background of the novel and conveys the narrator’s purpose for writing about the legend of Hester Prynne even though the narrator envisions his ancestors criticizing him and calling him a “degenerate” because his career was not “glorifying God”, which is very typical of the strict, moralistic Puritans. Also, although Hawthorne is a Romantic writer, he incorporates properties of Realism into his novel by not idealizing the characters and by representing them in a more authentic manner. He does this by using very formal dialogue common to the harsh Puritan society of the seventeenth century and reflecting their ideals through this dialogue. The Puritans held somewhat similar views as the Transcendentalists in that they believed in the unity of God and the world and saw signs and symbols in human events, such as when the citizens related the meteo...