Dimmesdale character analysis. The Scarlet Letter Essay 2019-01-24
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Roger Chillingworth Character Analysis in The Scarlet Letter
Of these characters, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is the character portrayed as the most weak and unnoble. Roger Chillingworth, unlike Hester and Dimmesdale, is a flat character. A kind woman at heart, she helps people who are in need, as is shown by the end. As readers, we rarely slow down and really scrutinize the works of novels. . Hester's relationship with Chillingworth, her actual husband, contrasts sharply with her relationship with Dimmesdale, her lover. This contributes to the theme that the innate goodness of humans can outweigh injustices in a corrupt society.
Essay about Character Analysis of Dimmesdale in the Scarlet Letter
Even though she is publicly humiliated and forced to wear a scarlet letter 'A' on her chest, Hester does not reveal the name of her lover. Note what happens to Dimmesdale here when he stands on the symbol of Puritan oppression, the scaffold. Initially, children regard her with curiosity, and Pearl responds with anger and violence. In the end, by tormenting Dimmesdale, Chillingworth transforms himself into a sick and twisted man, a kind of fiend. When dying, he finally reveals the A that is marked on his chest. The Chippewa, or Objiwe, is an indigenous tribe in North America. Dimmesdale hopes to maintain his good reputation and hide his lie, and so he dwindles at a young age into a tortured and sick man who hates himself.
Despite his role as governor of a fledgling American society, he very much resembles a traditional English aristocrat. Instead, she instructs her daughter not to call out to him. Hester refuses to leave Boston because she seems to believe that severe punishment will cleanse her soul. A bestselling story and a popular read even today, The Scarlet Letter is a marvelous story that comes from the mind of Nathaniel Hawthorne, a brilliant and legendary writer. The narrator is a rather high-strung man, whose Puritan ancestry makes him feel guilty about his writing career.
Arthur Dimmesdale in the Scarlet Letter: Character Analysis & Overview
This can be seen as foreshadowing that Dimmesdale cannot survive under that same oppression that Hester endures. He has large, melancholy eyes and a tremulous mouth, suggesting great sensitivity. Eventually when Hester talks with him about whether Dimmesdale's debt has been paid, Chillingworth says that it would have been better had he died than endure seven years of vengeance. She even takes it off when she asks Dimmesdale to run off with her to Europe. He writes because he is interested in American history and because he believes that America needs to better understand its religious and moral heritage.
Dimmesdale struggles throughout the novel dealing with his private and public life. The reader feels a bit sorry for Roger Chillingworth during the first scaffold scene when he arrives in Massachusetts Bay Colony and finds his wife suffering public shame for an adulterous act. This is what makes Chillingworth diabolical and, in Hawthorne's eyes, the greatest sinner. For Dimmesdale, however, his effectiveness betrays his desire to confess. It is their fate to be together.
So brief a journey would bring thee from a world where thou hast been most wretched, to one where thou mayest still be happy! He is pressured to please his people and obey the rules of his society, but he knows that they will not accept who he really is. Dimmesdale is especially noted for his dark nature of concealing his association with Hester's scarlet letter. Their plan was to move to Boston together, Hester would go first and Roger would follow. Thus, Dimmesdale leads a hypocritical life. While the novel never explicitly says so, his self-destructive acts, such as whipping himself, suggest this may be the case.
Once he comes to Boston, we see him only in situations that involve his obsession with vengeance, where we learn a great deal about him. He remains blind to the misbehaviors taking place in his own house: his sister, Mistress Hibbins, is a witch. A great deal of attention is given to the description of Reverend Dimmesdale when he is introduced to the story, much more so than the other town leaders. He continues to lie to himself and his followers by keeping his secret hidden, so his is a concealed sin. We know very little about Hester prior to her affair with Dimmesdale and her resultant public shaming.
She has endured the abuse from the community and they are now content to leave her alone. When she dies years later, the town buries her next to Dimmesdale, with an 'A' over their shared grave. Like the 'A' that Hester wears and the 'A' that appears on Dimmesdale's chest at the moment of his death, the 'A' that links their graves is a symbol of their shared sin. When they arrive, Pearl makes a comment about her origin that makes the governor think twice about leaving the child with Hester. He wants to confess, but knowing the consequences, is not brave enough to do it. Hester realizes that her perception of what is right or wrong differs from that of society as a whole. The Goodwives have little but nasty things to say about her, even going to far as to suggest that she be executed for the crime of adultery 68.
