Dimmesdale: The Scarlet Letter Essay

Richard Perle, a political advisor of the 1940s, iodin time said, Sometimes the things we do look offensive in the eyes of another(prenominal)s ( brainy Quote 7). This is line up of people and situations we run in our everyday lives, and all of us are just ab emerge same(p)ly deemed objection open more frequently than we realize. Our behaviors keep turn out undesirable, offensive, or scornful to others, spell we may non conceive it ourselves. This is certainly true of the way subscribers perceive Dimmesdales actions to be in The scarlet Letter, an acclaimed novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne.The story is a toy involving characters that withstand been embroidered so intricately that their natures can be equated to the needlework created by Hester, a recall dose in the story. The complexity of the ro human beingce weave into the tale soon consumed the lives of all collar of the main characters, to the point where both Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth, the devi l male characters in the plot, underwent drastic changes. Uncharacteristically, the romance brought out the worst in the characters, allowing the reader to question which of these two men can be strikeed to stick the least admirable of qualities.Arthur Dimmesdale, because of his lack of moral fiber, his inability to aliveness up to the values of both the puritan and Christian beliefs of his ministry, his cowardice, and his hypocrisy, is by far the most offensive character of the two. Unable to deem his lustful impulses, Arthur Dimmesdale committed adultery with Hester, and sired their whoreson child, Pearl. Dimmesdales immorality defied all that he preached as a subgenus Pastor, as puff up as the commandments of his Christian faith. Dimmesdale made an extremely unforesightful decision.To make matters worse, while Hester act to be in public scorned for her ugliness of adultery, Dimmesdales chose to conceal his part in this infract from the public. He left the replete( p) burden of this sin on Hesters slim shoulders. Because of his unwillingness to confess dormancy with a nonher mans wife, Dimmesdale lived a life of guilt and adopted vigils involving self-harm In Mr. Dimmesdales dark closet, under absorb and key, there was a bloody scourge. frequently times he had plied it on his experience shoulders it was his custom, too, as it has been that of m both other pious Puritans, to fasting (Hawthorne 289-291).He both fasted and whipped himself, emulating devout Catholics. Dimmesdale failed to grant himself to help and choose other forms of repentance, making his choices provideitional bad stitches in the tapis of his life. Dimmesdales failure to realize that his poor decisions were leading him into a downward loop and that there were ways to dig himself out of his grave, confirm in the reader his disreputable character. As menti aced before, Dimmesdales sin of adultery was unplowed quiet, as he never publicly confessed his actions, nor took res ponsibility for them.As the minister of the Boston, he was revered and admired by the perfect town. The godly youth said they among themselves. The saint on earth (289), did the congregation bawl regularly. It is because of this acclaim and Dimmesdale wish to keep his amply place in the social power structure that he refrained from publicly revealing his true character. The narration comments on Dimmesdales practices facial expression, And he himself, in so far as he shows himself in a specious light the only truth that keep to give Mr.Dimmesdale a real existence on this earth was the anguish in his inmost soul, (293). The only truth was his anguish. The minister continued to struggle with himself, and subsequently genius night of his dangerous vigils, staggered to the hold up on which Hester had stood years earlier, in an attempt at confession. Pearl and Hester, coming back from an errand, coupled him and Pearl asked if he would stand with her and her give at noontide. Dimmesdales reply overtakeed her as he said, Nay not so, my little pearl for, with the new competency of the moment, all the dread of public exposure, that had so long been the anguish of his life, had returned upon him Not so I shall, indeed, stand with thy mother and thee one other day, plainly not to-morrow (307). In this instance, Dimmesdale disregarded his wishes to liberate his soul and once again refused to own his sin. For some time, Dimmesdale was uncomplaining and carried on with his life, alone his patience late metamorphosed into cowardice, a despicable trait in a man.Further supporting the melodic phrase that Dimmesdale was a hypocrite, is the fact that he preached portentous sermons on the topic of morality and confession, simply was unable to live up to their messages. Roger Chillingworth express this to Hester, his spirit lacks the strength that could contain borne up, as thine has, beneath a burden like thy scarlet garner (343). Dimmesdale could preach the consequences of sin, barely could neither keep himself from sinning nor own up to his sin.When Hester was put onto the scaffold, Dimmesdale spoke to her directly, as he was directed to do by the magistrates, in an effort to force her to give tongue to of her sinner, and said, Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him though he were to footfall down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to cut across a guilty heart through with(predicate) life Thy silence compel him to add hypocrisy to sin? (133). Dimmesdale argued that if her screwr were to step down from his high status onto the scaffold beside Hester, it would be better than for him to hide his sin for eternity.Yet, Dimmesdale, the sinner, did not do this. Lastly, Dimmesdale stated when concourse with Hester, I should long ago have thrown off these garments of mock holiness, and have shown myself to mankind as they will tally me at the judgment-seat. Happy are you, Hester, that clothing the scarlet letter openly upon your twitch Mine burns in secret (383-385) and ultimately expressed to her his jealousy towards her. He envied how public her sin was and stated that he was in agony because his scarlet letter burned in secret.Yet, he, coward and hypocrite that he was, refused to state his sin to the entirety of Boston. sacred Arthur Dimmesdale cannot have his cake and eat it too. His impotence was contemptible. As a minister and attracter of the town, he should have been able to sojourn strong and reinvent himself. Some readers may argue that Roger Chillingworth, Hesters husband, was the more woeful of the two, claiming that he wed Hester knowing she did not love him and that he did not love her, tormented both Hester and Dimmesdale, and turned into a devil.In order to fully study and empathize with Chillingworth, the reader must consider things from his point of view, climb into his skin and paseo around i n it. It was common in Puritan times for couples to wed for gold and security rather than for love. Many of these loveless marriages were successful. In addition, Chillingworths torments towards Hester and Dimmesdale were out of exasperation towards his wife. He, like any other man, mat up it necessary to remain close to his wife, disregarding of the lack of love felt amongst them.Yes, Chillingworth did turn into a bit of a devil in the end, lusting after revenge towards Dimmesdale. But Dimmesdale turned into a floppy, soggy, pigswill of fabric, unable to support himself. Chillingworth was still able to support himself, and properly chase after and acquire his goal. Dimmesdale was not. In summation, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale was an objectionable character not only because of his cowardice, but because of his hypocrisy, lack of moral fiber, and poor choices.Ambrose Bierce, a journalist in the 1940s caveats to his readers, saying note the particulars in which one someone or t hing is, if possible, more objectionable than another. (Think Exist, 9). And as readers of The Scarlet Letter, we do just that the audience realizes the all told disgraceful character of Dimmesdale, a man whose life came apart at the seams because of love, but who, because of his poor choices, was unable to stitch his woolly-headed tapestry back together. In numerous ways, The Scarlet Letter is actually Dimmesdales story, as the central struggle is his.The other characters employ nearly fixed positions while the minister must in one sensational decision dismantle his actions of heptad years time. And it is that reversal that marks his defeat over himself and marks the apex of the novel. whole shebang Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter A Kaplan sit down Score-raising Classic. New York Kaplan Pub. , 2006. Print. Objectionable Quotes and Quotations. Think Exist. N. p. , n. d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. Objectionable Quotes. BrainyQuote. Xplore, n. d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.