Proctor versus Dimmesdale in Miller's The Crucible

Proctor vs Dimmesdale

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the characters John Proctor and Arthur Dimmesdale are victims of the puritan ethics of Moderation and Unvarying Faith. These ethics are reflected in the way that they are forced to act like everyone else, resulting in a feeling of being trapped, as well as internal and physical torture, which led to their eventual demise.

Hawthorne’s character Arthur Dimmesdale is the epitome of what a puritan should be. He is a minister—a man of God— yet despite his position, this perfect man has one dark secret: he is an adulterer and the father of an illegitimate child. This one sin is more than he can bear, for although he has many times repented, he feels he is not entirely forgiven. His sin is such that if it were to be found, his reputation would be torn apart. After many years of hiding his secret and being burdened by it he can no longer hold it inside. This is the reason he goes to the scaffold one night: in hopes to alleviate his guilt by “publicly” showing that he has committed a crime. His remorse is so deep and constant, that it has actually changed him. At nights he whips himself, hoping to gain salvation again, but in his mind he gains nothing.

“Crime is for the iron-nerved, who have their choice their choice either to endure it, or, if it press too hard, to exert their fierce and savage strength for a good purpose, and fling it off at once! This feeble and most sensitive of spirits could do neither, yet continually did one thing or another which intertwined, in the same inextricable knot, the agony of heaven-defying guilt and vain repentance.” (Hawthorne, 134.)

And although it seems his remorse cannot go deeper than it already is, Dimmesdale begins to realize how his parishioners must see him. He is supposed to be an honest man, but in hiding his sin, he begins to see himself as a hypocrite.

“What can a ruined soul, like mine, effect towards the redemption of other souls?—or a polluted soul towards their purification? And as for the peoples reverence, would that it were turned to scorn and hatred!” (Hawthorne, 172.)

Clearly Dimmesdale is worried about the reaction of the congregation if they were to discover his sin. This is a perfect example of Moderation, everyone has to act holy, without sins and mistakes, otherwise be condemned to the scaffold and public humiliation…or worse.