... (90). In culmination, the letter "A" greatly changed Hesters" lifestyle from a flaming beauty to the waste of society. Aside of Hesters" rejection from the public, Arthur Dimmesdale has committed the sin of infidelity as well, but it is unknown to the people. According to Puritan beliefs, a minister is credited of having a high rank in ... render it the fitter medium of celestial illumination, but rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance" (113). Dimmesdale believes that lashing himself will alleviate the guilt he has felt for so many years. He is alone b...

• Word Count: 970
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... look. At the end, Hester shows that she is a willful woman and can carry herself in any situation. Although Arthur Dimmesdale reflects the image of a perfect person, he held a secret that changed his personality and appearance. In the beginning of the book Dimmesdale seems very serious. Over time he become more or less insecure and shy with the secret of Hester and his ... adultery eating away at him. For example when Chillingworth starts questioning Dimmesdale about his secrets Arthur freaks out and says, "No!-not to thee!-not to an earthly physician!" [pg. 94] And stumbles off to anot...

• Word Count: 601
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... , and make his covenant with God. Yet, throughout the story his confession remains an impediment, constraining him from then onward to a life of atonement. Dimmesdale's story is one of a lonely man who has given into temptation and lascivious desire. Hester's marriage and his unwillingness to tarnish his reputation as the ... . As forms of penance he engages in late night vigils, starvation, and very severe self-mutilations. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale has many opportunities to acknowledge his wrongdoing. He could have confessed during the first scaffold scene as Hes...

• Word Count: 898
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... human symbol of the sin of adultery in the fact that she leads her mother, Hester Prynne, and Arthur Dimmesdale to accept and admit to their sin. Pearl is the beautiful daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale. She is the living symbol of the scarlet letter and has unique traits that make her sometimes appear as ... comments reveal her distinct personality. Pearl senses and knows things she should not, making her a symbol. Pearl is also the living symbol of Hester and Dimmesdale's connection, as displayed in the following passage. "In her was visible the tie that united them. She had been offe...

• Word Count: 1030
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... human symbol of the sin of adultery in the fact that she leads her mother, Hester Prynne, and Arthur Dimmesdale to accept and admit to their sin. Pearl is the beautiful daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale. She is the living symbol of the scarlet letter and has unique traits that make her sometimes appear as ... comments reveal her distinct personality. Pearl senses and knows things she should not, making her a symbol. Pearl is also the living symbol of Hester and Dimmesdale's connection, as displayed in the following passage. "In her was visible the tie that united them. She had been offe...

• Word Count: 1029
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... in forbidden places. The Scarlet letter places essential characters in representation of certain things that would be considered forbidden relationships. Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale create and portray an adulteress relationship between them and yet conceal their love. Hester in which, whom has ventured into another community alone ... seeks the love of another while still being married. Her intimate lover is Arthur Dimmesdale, an ordained minister in the Puritan community. The two shares what is to be known as a forbidden interaction and yet deny it ... be made more effectual to...

• Word Count: 1026
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... shame associated with their actions. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter," he shows the lasting effect that adultery has on Chillingworth Dimmesdale, and Hester. Roger Chillingworth's first reaction to the crime of adultery committed by Hester is one of shock, but he quickly suppresses it ... . This suppression makes Chillingworth become obsessed with vengeance. He destroyed Rev. Dimmesdale's life by torturing him with his analogies and indirect stories. He also destroyed his own life because these vengeful actions soon turned him ... . As a physician, he was well respec...

• Word Count: 681
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... independence, they do share the goal. The two of them are also troubled with love and relationships, Edna with Robert and Hester with Arthur. Moreover both women are flooded with emotions and instead of keeping it inside and controlling them they allow their emotions to control them. On ... unable love, but gradually as she became more independent of the culture and her emotions overran her she realized that she must be with Arthur. Edna was being forced by society to become a monotonous Creole woman thus limiting her true independence and individuality. Edna starved for true ... physical...

• Word Count: 998
• Approx Pages: 4

... was any relationship between Hester and himself at all; harming her would have raised suspicions. This was vital to his plan of revenge on Mr. Dimmesdale. At first I thought that Chillingworth might have tried to seek revenge against Hester, but then came to the conclusion that he viewed her public disgrace ... but it accomplished his goal of torturing him while he should have taken his rightful punishment for the crime he committed from the beginning. My opinion of Arthur Dimmesdale changed quite a bit from when I was first introduced to him until the end of the book. At first I thought...

• Word Count: 1043
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... would rule. The greatest proof of Hester's strength and Hawthorne's idea that women were stronger than anyone believed was the difference he made between the two lovers Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. They were two people, drawn to each other like a moth to the flame, yet they were worlds apart. From the beginning, Hester revealed her sin and shame publicly. Even while ... ordained a "Sister of Mercy" by some. Many people refused to interpret the meaning of the scarlet letter as adultery but instead as "Able." Where Hester had honesty, Dimmesdale had deceit. Where Hester had streng...

• Word Count: 1087
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... that in placing it upon Hester's breast, the magistrates had blasphemously usurped the function of God, as Chillingworth later usurps it in his plot against Dimmesdale. Yet it serves her well in freeing her from all danger of trying to live such a lie as consumes her lover. She presents what ... to take Pearl away from Hester because Pearl states that she was plucked from a bush of wild roses instead of being created by God. Reverend Dimmesdale later persuades Bellingham that it was God's will to keep Pearl with her mother. Bellingham's ultimate decision to carry out God's will was the ....

• Word Count: 942
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... sentence. She accepted her sin and accepted herself. She learned to love who she was. In total contrast to Hester, Pearl's secret father, Arthur Dimmesdale, the town minister, does not confess his sin until after it completely destroys him. He hides his adultery and fails to claim Pearl as ... is guilt and self-condemnation, increased by the torture by Roger Chillingsworth; Hester's undisclosed husband and the town's physician. "Happy are you, Hester," says Dimmesdale, "that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!" (188). As his shame and inner guilt increase...

• Word Count: 1175
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... moral character in the Scarlet Letter. For that she follows her own morals, she cares for others more than herself. She rather suffers than reveal Dimmesdale, saving him from disgrace in his name. She was even able to hold on to the scarlet letter so well; the original purpose had reversed itself ... the actual husband of Hester Prynne, is the antagonist of the Scarlet Letter. He represents evil; as he his purpose to life soon changes to torturing Dimmesdale. He does admit he was wrong marrying Hester without expressions of love. But never wrong that he would seek revenge. "-what had I ...

• Word Count: 833
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... novel filled with antagonism. Main conflicts include man versus man, man versus self, and man versus society. The initial man versus man conflict was between Arthur Chillingworth and Reverend Dimmesdale. It had turned out that Chillingworth was Hester's former husband. He was a prominent figure in the society and had told Hester, in essence, ... the whole town and tell them that he was an adulterer also. The next, man versus self, conflict arose inside of the Revered Dimmesdale. He was torn between the option of keeping quiet and keeping his position and taking care of his family. He hel...

• Word Count: 1115
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Letter was the guilt that Hester Prynne felt and repented for and the guilt that Arthur Dimmesdale felt and tortured himself with. Hester and Dimmesdale handled their guilt in different ways, Hester's way obviously be the better of the two. While Hester repented for and publicly showed her sin, Dimmesdale sought to keep his hidden and reveal it at the same time. When Hester ... many people of the town refused to interpret the letter as it's original meaning, instead saying that it meant Able. Even at the end of the book when Chillingworth and Dimmesdale die, she still wears the letter t...

• Word Count: 445
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School