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what were the sins of, dimmesdale in the scarlet letter
Puritanism In The Scarlet Letter
what were the sins of, dimmesdale in the scarlet letter
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Everyone has violated either moral or religious law at least once in his or her entire lifetime. On the outside, they might be "looking pure as new-fallen snow; while their hearts are all speckled and spotted with iniquity of which they cannot rid themselves."(p.116) Some walk secretly with this heavy sin in their heart, while others get shamed in public because their sin is displayed openly. Since these sins are all different, the consequences and the significance may also vary in importance. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth sins and all of the wrongdoings vary in significance.
The story develops when Hester Prynne commits the sin of adultery. Even though Hester's mistake was driven by innocent passion for Dimmesdale, the puritans took this seriously. By wearing the scarlet letter A on her chest, the village people look at her as an outcast. The puritans don't look at the sin as an act of love but instead as the work of the devil. However, Hawthorne makes it so that Hester's sin seems less serious than that of Chillingworth. Hester's sin seems more innocent because it was driven by her affection for Dimmesdale rather than of the intelligence. Her sin can also be considered less serious because Hester is willing to accept her sin and deal with the consequences publicly.
As for Chillingworth, his sin is the manipulation of a human being. His deathly sin is not committed because he needs to, but Chillingworth commits this sin because he wants to. " Never did mortal suffer what [Dimmesdale] has suffered"(p.150) and it's all because of Chillingworth. His only reason for why he is sinning is because Chillingworth wants revenge on Dimmesdale, which is more serious than Hester's sin. Chillingworth actually knows that his actions are hurting a human being and that's where the seriousness of his sin comes in. Unlike Hester Prynne, "He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. [ Dimmesdale] and Hester, never did so!"(p.105) Meaning that Chillingworth dark sin is actually killing a human being. Even though Chillingworth's only intention is to get revenge on Dimmesdale, he is hurting the towns people as well as Hester and Pearl. By making Dimmesdale weaker and weaker, the puritans are loosing a minister that has always been there for them. Chillingworth is also hurting Hester and Pearl because he is preventing Dimmesdale from being with them.
“Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred” (Hawthorne). As this sentence is read in the The Scarlet Letter, the reader will realize that the main theme of the book is the sentence above. Throughout the book, secret sin damages the lives, soul, and the integrity of the main characters. However, it could have easily been evaded through open confession of their sins. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s purpose in writing this novel is an attempt to influence the reader to openly confess their sins and never be ashamed of who they are. According to Levine, “even though we convey ourselves as saints, we are really sinners (Levine 64). The Scarlet Letter is a classic work of Hawthorne due to the themes it portrays and the relevancy to today’s society. By definition, “A classic is a work of art so universal that it has transcended the boundaries of time and place; it has survived the ‘test of time’” (Lazarus). In the highly symbolic novel, “The Scarlet Letter”, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the effects of hidden sin and his characters’ ultimate release from guilt when they learn to own their sin.
The Scarlet Letter starts off by throwing Hester Prynne into drama after being convicted for adultery in a Puritan area. Traveling from Europe to America causes complications in her travel which also then separates her from her husband, Roger Chillingworth for about three years. Due to the separation, Hester has an affair with an unknown lover resulting in having a child. Ironically, her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, is a Reverend belonging to their church who also is part of the superiors punishing the adulterer. No matter how many punishments are administered to Hester, her reactions are not changed. Through various punishments, Hester Prynne embraces her sin by embroidering a scarlet letter “A” onto her breast. However, she is also traumatized deep within from everything she’s been through. Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts this story of sin by using rhetorical devices such as allusion, alliteration and symbolism.
the height of a mans shoulders above the street . . . . The unhappy culprit
In essence, there were three main sins committed in The Scarlet Letter, the sins of Hester, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth committed the greatest sin because he let himself be ruled by hatred and the consuming desire for vengeance. The overpowering vengeance and hatred felt by Chillingworth caused his life to be centered on demeaning Dimmesdale and tormenting him until the end of time. Both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale committed sins for which they were deeply remorseful, Roger Chillingworth, however, committed the greater sin because he felt no guilt.
Chillingworth is also a sinner because he pretends to be a physician when he really isn?t and takes that role to torture Reverend Dimmesdale. Chillingworth tortures Dimmesdale slowly by hurting him both physically and mentally. During this time he pretends to take care of him in which he really isn?t. Hawthorne writes, ?Calm, gentle, passionless, as he appeared, there was ? a quiet depth of malice ? but active now, in this unfortunate old man ? imagine a more intimate revenge ? upon an enemy.
revengeand one of secrecy. He was not driven by an anger at his ownsin, but
guilty of adultery. Hester's punishment is to wear the scarlet letter “A” to inform the entire town that this woman is a sinner. Throughout the novel, the reader comes to know Hester, the sinner, Reverend Dimmesdale, the minister that Hester had an affair with; and Chillingworth, Hester’s estranged husband whose vengeful mission is to get back at Dimmesdale. The
...rth's crimes against the Lord are more malevolent than those committed by Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale. Chillingworth's quest for revenge and truth leads him down a path of sin, and in the Puritan perspective, down the path to Hell.
A sinful nature is an aspect in man that makes him rebellious against God. Everyone has a sinful nature and it affects every part of us. Sin corrupts the human mind and has consequences for doing wrong in the eyes of the Lord. Every individual on Earth sins, and this is represented in the novel The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale to portray how different people cope with their sin and the consequences of that sin.
Sin is defined as a transgression of a religious or moral law especially when deliberate. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne one of the main points in the book is relating to sin and how it can affect people. Hawthorne uses several methods to convey the nature of sin through his characters and symbolism in The Scarlet Letter. The scarlet A on the chest of Hester Prynne and Hester herself represent known sin. She commits adultery and is caught. The A is her punishment as well as a reminder to her about sinning. The child of sin and Hester is named Pearl. She symbolises the product of sin and sin itself. The third member of the sinning perty is Dimsdale. He is loved and treated with respect by the towns people. No one but him knows that he too has sinned. Hawthorne uses that character to represent hidden sin and guilt. Three different aspects of sin represented by three different characters in The Scarlet Letter.
“Even thus much of truth would save me! but now, it is all falsehood!- all emptiness!- all death!”(17.18) At this point Dimmesdale feels as if he should not be treated as an angel and more as the criminal that he is. Dimmesdale was guilty that he was not able to share his portion of the sun with society. “May God forgive thee! Thou, too, hast deeply sinned”. Chillingworth committed a sin that he can not forgive himself for and feels that God will now punish him for his actions. If you hide a sin for too long you will only commit more damage to yourself. The internal punishment of a sin can be more deadly than any other form.
Chillingworth continually lies and portrays himself as a doctor, when, in fact, he is just the opposite. Chillingworth comes to the town as a doctor and infiltrates Dimmesdale’s life through his sly use of lies and deceit. He is the spotlight of hypocrisy in this novel due to his direct use of his fake role as a healer to harm Dimmesdale. At one point Chillingworth realizes how evil he has become and “lift[s] his hands with a look of horror” (Hawthorne 155), but continues jis torture of Dimmesdale anyways. Chillingworth finally sees the atrocity in his actions, but ignores his own conscious and continues his evil-doings. He is a hypocrite to himself in that hr vhooses to be something he isn’t or shouldn’t be. This choice consumes him; this being a point the book is trying to make. When Dimmesdale reveals his secret, Chillingworth yells “there was no place… - Where thou couldst escaped me, -save on this very scaffold!” (Hawthorne 226). Chillingworth shows his hypocrisy again through his berating Dimmesdale for keeping his secret with Hester when he has his own dark secret that he wouldn’t dare tell. He wants Dimmesdale to have told him his secret, but he has absolutely no intention of revealing his
...aged to try and find Hester’s partner and torture this man’s emotions for revenge. Their sin becomes the only thing these men think about, consuming them to the point that nothing else is important, and eventually takes their lives. For Dimmesdale, his guilty conscience and self-abuse are the causes of his untimely death. For Chillingworth, his obsessive revenge becomes permanently engraved into his being and when the cause for his vengeance dies he dies soon afterward. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth are both wretched sinners with transgressions that have different effects - physically, emotionally, and mentally. It is obvious that both men are affected drastically by their wrongdoings and in the end pay with their lives.
One of the main themes in The Scarlet Letter is that of the secret. The plot of the book is centered on Hester Prynne’s secret sin of adultery. Nathaniel Hawthorne draws striking parallelism between secrets held and the physical and mental states of those who hold them. The Scarlet Letter demonstrates that a secret or feeling kept within slowly engulfs and destroys the soul such as Dimmesdale’s sin of hypocrisy and Chillingworth’s sin of vengeance, while a secret made public, such as Prynne’s adultery, can allow a soul to recover and even strengthen.
The Scarlet Letter is a novel that deals with the theme of sin. Throughout history, people have committed all types of sins, and whether they are major or minor, people have been punished. However, the severity of a punishment is very difficult to agree on. Some people feel that sinners should be deeply punished no matter how little the wrongdoing was. Others feel that a person's punishment should be based upon the severity of their crime. However, what many people overlook is the fact that in time, we all have committed sins.