Dimmesdale as Tragic Hero
One may ask how The Scarlet Letter would fit the structure of a classical tragedy. The answer to this question is quite simple if you know how to identify a tragedy. A tragedy is a story that depicts serious incidents in which protagonists undergo a change from happiness to suffering, and often involves the death of others as well as the main characters. In The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale follows this structure perfectly. He is happy in the beginning, and then declines into suffering and finally, death. Many people believe that despite his less than noble actions, Dimmesdale can be considered the tragic hero. In order for us to give him that identity, we must investigate how Dimmesdale fits the characteristics of a tragic hero. In my opinion, if Dimmesdale is the hero, he must be in a high social state, have a tragic flaw, and fall to his ultimate fate. Being the minister of the town qualifies Dimmesdale as a person of high social status. He is loved by many people for giving his intelligent and persuasive sermons. Almost every hero that has ever existed had this quality of high social status. If you look back into time, Beowulf, Superman, King Arthur: these heroes were all looked up to by many. In ord
In my opinion, a person cannot be a hero if they are not popular to the public, therefore I do agree Dimmesdale could be the tragic hero of The Scarlet Letter. Also, a hero must have some kind of flaw that eventually ruins him. Dimmesdale eventually dies from his flaw. These are the characteristics that I think all heroes should have, and Dimmesdale succeeds in all of them. When it comes to completing some sort of task, Dimmesdale does succeed in doing so because he lets the world know that even though he is a minister, he is human and sins just like everyone else. He may not have accepted it very well, but he finally comes to terms with it in the end. Dimmesdale can speak for everyone else out there that cannot accept themselves for he they are and not care what other people think. No person can be perfect. Even heroes have to have some kind of flaw. Dimmesdale’s tragic flaw is his overpowering emotions. When Dimmesdale would preach to the people, he would preach with such strong emotions that began to take him over. Soon enough, his emotions are what led to his tragic downfall. When Hester had a child and was accused of adultery, Dimmesdale would not confess that he was Hester’s lover and the father of her child. In turn, he suffered even more by hiding his secret sin. He felt so guilty of the sin that he had committed that he began to tor
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Approximate Word count = 914
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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