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Critical summary of scarlet letter
Passages in the scarlet letter talking about authur dimmesdales guilt
Passages in the scarlet letter talking about authur dimmesdales guilt
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Recommended: Critical summary of scarlet letter
Hester Prynne, such a lady bound to a man named Roger Chillingworth, has been left alone as if in mid day vulnerable to commit an action that she or any other person would consider a sin. The affair begins with Chillingworth being taken away by Indians and left there for a long time. Hester, not knowing what became of her husband Chillingworth, was overcome with a darkened feeling to dishonor her marriage with Chillingworth and have an affair with the striking young minister Dimmesdale. This terrible sin that Hester has committed puts innocent people, such as Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, in the position of being accused or discriminated from these actions of being involved with Hester. Hester was then seen with an infant at her arms and a
Although seen as a holy magistrate, Reverend Dimmesdale committed the sin of adultery. Not only did he violate his reverence for Hester Prynne’s soul (Hawthorne 234), but he also wronged her husband, Roger Chillingworth. In addition to this, Dimmesdale hid his sin while Hester suffered public humiliation and degradation. His cowardice acts invited the war over his soul, which attacked him mercilessly throughout the story.
He had previously been Hester Prynne’s husband. He had changed his name for the purpose of living in peace, without being associated with this woman and her crimes and wrongdoings. This man also planned to find revenge on her lover. The scene that portrays this is when Hester and baby Pearl are in jail. Hester is acting insane and the baby is feeling pain. The jailer does not know what to do in order to put this to an end. Roger Chillingworth is the best doctor around, so he tries to help, despite Hester’s betrayal of him. To Hester’s surprise, Chillingworth apologizes for marrying her. He expected her to fall in love with him even though he was much older than her and she was so beautiful. Afterwards, Chillingworth made a vow that he would find the father of the baby. Hester promises to not tell anyone that Chillingworth is the man that was once her husband and the man that she deceived. Chillingworth asked this of her because he did not want to be shamed. If nobody knew who Chillingworth actually was, he could get better revenge on her adulterer. This is a crucial scene because it demonstrates how strongly Chillingworth feels towards Pearl’s father and vividly displays Chillingworth’s yearning to seek revenge on her
n the novel, The Scarlet Letter, there are four main characters, Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and Pearl. Hester is married to Chillingworth, a physician that has not shown his face in roughly two years. During his period of absence, Hester has committed adultery with the reverend of Boston, Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester gets impregnated by this horrible sin, resulting in Pearl. Hester refuses to reveal who the father of her child is. She also takes her punishment, and while doing so, Chillingworth appears back in town as she stands on the scaffold with a scarlet letter A and her child in her hand. Chillingworth was determined to find the father and seek revenge after Hester told him she was not telling him who he was.
In the excerpt, the reason being for Dimmesdale action of exclaiming to Chillingworth that he can not save him, in addition revealing his sin with Hester to the public, is as a result of being no longer able to hold the burden of the hidden sin he shares with Hester. Not to mention, by revealing himself publicly as the one who committed adultery and sharing the punishment of sin with Hester seems to relieve him as his agony and is a reason for his action. Furthermore, the reason for his action of revealing his sin publicly and to Chillingsworth, is as a result of being tired of living miserably, due to the heavy sin he carried, and as a result of his confession he now feels saved. Even more, the reason being of his action of exclaiming to
Roger Chillingworth is Hester’s husband, and an eminent scholar. After seeing Hester in disgrace and refusal to identify her fellow sinner, Chillingworth vows to find out who Hester’s fellow sinner is and punish him, which he eventually does. As indicated by his name, Roger Chillingworth brings a “chill” to Dimmesdale’s life, freezing Dimmesdale’s soul and endlessly tormenting him. Chillingworth represents Unpardonable Sin, because he sets himself up as God, punishing Dimmesdale for sinning with his wife. Just as the others physically change to mirror their internal transformation, so too does Chillingworth. He becomes more demonic as the novel progresses, morphing from a curious scholar to a caricature of the devil. Even Hester pondered “whether
By helping Dimmesdale, Hester realizes that she is not truly alone, and that realization saved her from becoming some prideless woman that she was not. As Hester regained her natural dignity, she claimed "The scarlet letter had not done its office" (Hawthorne 184) because it never destroyed her pride (Hawthorne 184). Hester became "determined to redeem her error" (Hawthorne 185) she was too prideful to let her past defy her future. Hester knew that in order to help Dimmesdale, she must first face Chillingworth and end his evil ways. When Hester confronts Chillingworth, he refuses to forgive Dimmesdale (Swisher 48), so Hester boldly decides to break her vow to Chillingworth and tell Dimmesdale who the physician really is. By deciding to do
The Scarlet Letter takes place in the mid 17th century, in a puritan community of present day Boston, but back then known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The story is centered around protagonist, Hester Prynne, and her ventures through her penance for committing adultery and the revenge that her husband Roger Chillingworth takes against the other member of Hester’s affair: Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale, for committing such a sin he feels an overwhelming amount of guilt. He deals with his guilt by tormenting himself physically and psychologically, developing a heart condition as a result. Roger Chillingworth, once discovering that Dimmesdale is the father of Hester’s illegitimate child, adds to the poor man's suffering by psychologically tormenting the reverend for many years, until Dimmesdale dies as a result of the crushing guilt. Roger Chillingworth, on his deathbed, leaves his large fortune to Pearl, Hester and Arthur's daughter. This action may
Throughout the novel both Hester and Chillingworth go to extreme lengths to protect Dimmesdale and his reputation. Hester endures years of discrimination and ostracization, just so that Dimmesdale will not be hung as a result of the adultery. Chillingworth goes seven years knowing who Hester committed adultery with, and does not say one word, again just to protect Dimmesdale’s reputation. While Hester and Dimmesdale’s sin is a valuable lesson, it is more important to examine the ridiculous lengths that characters go to, in order to protect Dimmesdale and his
She is open to the town and the people in it, which allows for her soul to be free and purified of all guilt even though she must bear the mental burden of wearing the letter, her conscience can be clean. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, ultimately dies from the spiritual hardship placed on his soul by his inability to repent and publically admit to his crime. He is able to resume his false identity as a righteous minister after Hester’s condiment, but he truly longs for her to expose him because he is aware that he does not have the will to reveal himself to so many who look to him for guidance and counsel in his positon of power. He looks to Hester and cryptically begs and pleads to her to uncover his true identity as her secret lover but she will not out of her love for him. Hester feels a deep spiritual connection to Dimmesdale, one that she has never experienced before and feels that the mutual offense between them binds them together and binds her to the
Both committed adultery but have suffered in different ways. Hester’s punishment composed of public shaming on the scaffold for all to behold, but afterwards she did not suffer from guilt because she confessed her sin, unlike Dimmesdale, who did not confess, but rather let his sin become the “black secret of his soul” (170), as he hid his vile secret and became described as the “worst of sinners” (170). He leads everyone to believe of his holiness as a minister and conceals the, “Remorseful hypocrite that he was [is]” (171). Hester, a sinner too, however, does not lie about how she lives and therefore, does not suffer a great torment in her soul. While she stays healthy, people begin to see Hester’s Scarlet Letter turn into a different meaning, of able or angel, and they view her in a new light, of how she really lives. Dimmesdale however, becomes sickly and weak after “suffering under bodily disease, and gnawed and tortured by some black trouble of the soul” (167). He hides behind a false mask as he is described as possessing, “Brilliant particles of a halo in the air about his head” (300), and perceived as the most honorable man in New England. People do not see him as truly himself, but rather who he hides
Hester is the only person who knows that Chillingworth is evil, taking into account of the things he is doing to her. Chillingworth is old when he marries Hester. He thinks she makes a good home for him and doesn’t think about how this will affect her. He doesn’t think that Hester will have an affair when he isn’t there. .Hester is alone in the new world and thinks Chillingworth is dead. Shortly after their marriage, Hester has an affair; however, he tells her it is his fault. Chillingworth says “ ‘I [betray] thy budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay.’ ” (66) He realizes that he wrongs her when marries her because she is young, but they are even because she had an affair. He unknowingly gives her the opportunity to find out that he is evil.
On top of this, there is also context of how Hester had felt so sad for the physician, that she felt like crying for him. This is shown where Hester responds to Chillingworth’s questioning of why she looks with such intensity with, “‘Something that would make me weep, if there were any tears bitter enough for it’ answered she. ‘But let it pass! It is of yonder miserable man that I would speak’” (164). This statement shows how while Hester can cry for Chillingworth because of how much she pities him, but this eventually changes, where after their conversation, Hester grows this sudden hatred toward Chillingworth, when Hester literally states, “‘Be it sin or no’ said Hester Prynne, bitterly, as she still gazed after him, ‘I hate the man!’...’Yes, I hate him!’ repeated Hester, more bitterly than before. ‘He betrayed me! He has done me worse wrong than I did him!’” (169). This can emphasize Hester’s transition from pity to sudden hatred towards this man whom she once had happy, positive times with. Lastly, Hester states how she even blamed herself for doing this “crime” to even marry the man, seeing herself at fault for having such a relationship with the man she repented being with the
The character of Roger Chillingworth in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter is one of many different faces. Hawthorne changes the character of Chillingworth during different periods of the novel. As Chillingworth's actions and his motives change, so in turn does the reader's opinion of him, which ranges from compassion to antipathy. Hawthorne keeps the character of Chillingworth an enigma, and Hawthorne uses his narrative to shed light on the true feelings of Chillingworth, as well through the good doctor's interaction with other characters, especially Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale. As we watch the plot evolve, and the reader observes Chillingworth's actions, Chillingworth's character continues to confuse the reader. This is because Chillingworth is empty. Roger Chillingworth is a vacant vessel in search of a captain. Chillingworth looks to validate his existence through his crusade. Chillingworth attempts to present himself as an upstanding, righteous, religious man only in search of justice. This righteousness is only one layer, underneath his façade is hatred, and underneath that is a deep sense of self loathing. Chillingworth hates who he is, so in an attempt to appease his own sense of self, Chillingworth attacks others in order to transfer his loathing from himself to Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale.
(Elbert, 258). One may refer back to the scene at the beginning when Reverend Wilson is trying to get the name of the other sinner. As Hester refuses, one may see this as a foreshadowing of other events. Hester is a strong woman who would not tell a soul the secrets that interconnect Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. The secrets however begin to take a toll on Hester especially as Chillingworth comes to town and is dying to know who the father of Pearl is.
One of the first characters introduced in this story is Hester Prynne, a beautiful young woman that is later disowned by her Puritan town due to her sin of adultery. Hester’s beauty is described as the weakness that leads to this particular sin. Hester married a man from Europe, Roger Prynne, but was told to go onto the colony without him. While waiting for her husband to return, she had an affair with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, but this is not revealed until the end of the book when he confesses his sin to the townspeople.