The Cowardly Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Dimmesdale allowed his life to become consumed with guilt and the quest to complete a suitable penance, which brought him sorrow, self-hatred, and the demise of his body and spirit. The outward influence of society played a key role in Arthur’s unvarying anguish by providing him with a constant reminder of his sin and hypocrisy and adding to the growing guilt and shame he kept bottled within him. Combinations of his mental, physical, and emotional struggles ultimately lead Mr. Dimmesdale to his untimely death. In the end, the suffering became too great to bear and Mr. Dimmesdale’s was forced him to succumb to it.

Instead of telling the people of his vile sin, the Reverend allows it to eat away at his rotting soul. The shame of what he has done slowly kills him. The last sinner in this guilty trio is Rodger Chillingworth. This evil man not only hides his true identity as Hester’s husband, but also mentally torments Arthur Dimmesdale. The vile physician offers his ‘help’ to the sickly Reverend, but he gives the exact opposite.

With a private guilt that Dimmesdale has, it is like torture to himself because every day he knows he has committed an unlawful act that he should be punished for. Yet, he cannot confess because he is one of the town’s ministers, which makes him someone that people look up to. In the story, not only were Dimmesdale and Hester emotionally broken, but Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, as well. It emotionally changes Roger as person, because he turns into a real evil person who is fill with hate and revenge, after he realize that his wife, Hester, had an affair and a baby with someone else. With this private guilt that Dimmesdale has within him, it starts to take a toll on his health, because his guilt builds up to a point where he psychologically and physically tortures himself.

From the congregation’s point of view, Dimmesdale is seen as “the saint on Earth” and that no sin is present within his pure and “white soul”; however, the truth is that he’s “vile,” he’s “the worst of the sinners” (149). In the Puritan community, lying and adultery are both viewed as a sin. Dimmesdale’s fear to confess his sin only makes the sin worse, making him a “viler companion of the vilest,” or, in other words, viler than Hester (149). Dimmesdale has a tremendous amount of guilt that he hides from the community, making him physically ill and for him to submit himself to torture. Though, his weak frame and sickly appearance only make his congregation think he is even more holy.

The character of John Procter in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible was a great example of a truly tragic hero. He measured up to every one of Aristotle’s requirements. He was not a perfect person because he had many faults and was not completely good or bad. Best of all, he knew that he was not perfect and he recognized and regretted the errors that he made throughout his life. Then, after the reader stays with Procter while he confessed all of his horrible sins for the whole town to hear, he had was a massive downfall as the result.

He cannot take the guilt which is gnawing at him inside and he is desperate to seek release. However, the shriek was only a figment of his imaginat... ... middle of paper ... .... The community sees Dimmesdale as a saint, while Hawthorne portrays him as a morally weak person who cannot confess his sin. Everyone sees Chillingworth as a betrayed husband who is betrayed by his wife. However, Hawthorne shows him to be an evil-minded person who is so consumed with vengeance and hatred that he cannot live when his victim dies.

Chillingsworth was also hurt by Hester's act of adultery and because of her, his life was destroyed and the only thing he could do was seek revenge against the man who had been with her. Hester's child Pearl had to be raised by only one parent and that caused the child to be less disciplined and more outrageous making the townspeople more suspicious of who the child's father was. It also caused the religious leaders to wonder about the religious stability of the child, and if there might be witchcraft involved, "The little baggage have witchcraft in her"(p112). Hester also caused numerous a sleepless night for Dimmesdale. If Hester had just announced that Dimmesdale was the father he would have never have lived through all the guilt that she forced him into.

Suicides along with murder are against Hamlets religious beliefs and are the wor... ... middle of paper ... ...ed her horribly and degraded her by saying she was unfit and promiscuous. The confusing relationship she had with Hamlet and death of her father led to Ophelia’s madness and soon after suicide. He was the cause of the murder this is the deterioration of his character and see it when he confesses his love for Ophelia at her funeral that its too late. Hamlet starts of what may be considered a tragic hero but his fear and overthinking led to being influenced by the corruption around him he was neither strong nor had characteristics that position him above the average person. In every situation he got into he reacted like a normal person rather then a hero.

His life's work has been dedicated to God, and now his sin has tainted it. He feels that he is a fraud and is not fit to lead the people of the town to salvation. His secret guilt a much heavier burden than Hester's since he must hold it all within himself. This also reveals Dimmesdale weakness. Arthur wanted desperately to admit his sin to the world, which is shown throughout the book.

He lies because he does not want anyone to know his real identity. The effect of him lying is that he turns into an avenger who tries to destroy Dimmesdale. Finally, Hester is well-known in the community as the woman wearing the scarlet letter A because she commits adultery and became pregnant with a baby girl named Pearl. She lies because she does not want anyone to know about the affair between her and Dimmesdale. The effect of her lying is that her and Dimmesdale can not see each other publicly, Pearl does not have a real father to look up to each day, and Dimmesdale’s character begins to deteriorate.