An "a" on His Breast (an Analysis of the Reverend Arthur Dimmsdale)

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a thought-provoking character with a secret buried deep within his heart. He commits a sin with his lover Hester Prynne, but disowns her when their sin is exposed. He is afraid to admit his share in Hester’s shame to the townspeople, so he tortures himself in repentance. What is his purpose in the novel, and how does he overcome his fear of the truth?

Reverend Dimmesdale commits adultery with his lover Hester. After Hester gives birth to their daughter, Pearl, the sin is exposed and Hester is arrested and forced into public humiliation. While Hester is exposed to the public, Dimmesdale preaches against her. While Hester has to wear a scarlet “A” upon her breast, Dimmesdale walks away with nothing to show for his actions except for the guilt he feels inside himself.

Even though Dimmesdale has not admitted his part in Hester and his sin to the public, he is constantly torturing himself. Dimmesdale endures multiple fasts and other gruesome tortures upon himself, and he eventually kills himself after admitting his sin to the townspeople. Years before his death he makes friends with a doctor named Chillingworth who is supposedly helping him get better. In actuality Chillingworth is Hester’s husband who is trying to get his revenge on Dimmesdale by digging slowly at the reverend’s heart. Soon the tortures drive the minister crazy and he begins to think of other ways to repent. He “admits” to being a sinner in his church sermons, and one night he stands on the scaffold that Hester had stood upon on once their sin was exposed. Even after all of this, he still does not admit his sin to the public and accept his share in Hester’s punishment.

Why does Dimmesdale not want to admit to his sinful actions to the public? One reason is that the people look to him as their hero, and he feels he needs to be a good role model to them. He is their minister; he needs to be righteous so they can feel like he is leading them towards their salvation. Dimmesdale feels like it is his duty to guide the town to heaven, and he would be failing both them and God if he does not succeed.

Since Dimmesdale feels like he cannot admit his sin the townspeople, he keeps himself far apart from Hester and Pearl for years, even though he desperately wants to be with them. Dimmesdale shuns his daughter and clutches his breast whenever she comes near him because he does not want the townspeople to see them together and assume that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father, especially if a side by side comparison could be made. For these reasons he shuns their company except for a few unexpected meetings here and there.

One day in the forest Dimmesdale meets Hester and starts talking with her about their love they still have for each other. Dimmesdale knows he cannot be together with Hester in New England, so he decides that they should live somewhere where they could start a new life together. Dimmesdale is a minister and feels that they should live somewhere more populated to make a living, so he decides that they should take a ship to England in three days and forget about their old life and past sins. Even though it is a happy idea, it is an unrealistic one. Hester is still married, and it would not be right for her to run off with Dimmesdale. That is why Hawthorne writes Dimmesdale’s untimely end.

After leaving the woods Dimmesdale is still insane and racked with guilt because he knows that running off with Hester would be a sin, but he wants to go through with their plan anyway. Deep down inside he knows it is wrong to run off with Hester and soon finds himself confronted with other temptations he would not have had before his trip