... text, pick out at least three places from the first half of the novel (through "The Leech") that lead the reader to believe what is ultimately true: that Arthur Dimmesdale has a very big secret. Hawthorne gives the reader subtle hints throughout the first half of the novel that may lead to the identification of Hester's lover and Pearl's father ... , Arthur Dimmesdale, before he publicly announces his true identity near the end of the novel. Evidence of such hints is found as early in the novel as the third chapter, "The Recognition." Reverend Dimmesdale opens conversation, pressing Hest...

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In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale commits adultery with Hester Prynne. The townspeople find out about Hester, but she doesn't tell anyone that Dimmesdale was involved. Since the townspeople knew Hester committed adultery she had to wear a scarlet "A" on her chest and went through public humiliation. The townspeople didn't even suspect Dimmesdale of committing any kind of sin. To the ... townspeople Reverend Dimmesdale is the holiest and most perfect person in the town. I believe that Dimmesdale was unwilling to take responsibility for his crime ...

• Word Count: 391
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

"Life is hard, but accepting that fact makes it easier." this common phrase has been proven true in many people's lives, but is also a harsh fact that Boston's Rev. Dimmesdale, a key character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's the Scarlet Letter, had to face. In this twisted story of deception and adultery set in the Puritan era, Hawthorne introduces Dimmesdale as a weak and cowardly man who refuses to take responsibility for his actions. Yet, he transitions to a person who accepts his sins and the consequences, before it is too late, ultimately finding happiness. At the beginning of the novel, Dimmesd...

• Word Count: 882
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... . He makes Hester promise that she won't reveal his identity to anyone. The book covers a seven year period during which the identity of the father becomes known. It is the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, who is renowned as an especially holy and pious man. Wracked by guilt he starts to show outward signs of serious illness. Hester's husband under the assumed name Roger Chillingworth ... John Wilson, the eldest clergyman of Boston and a great scholar of his contemporaries in the profession, as the person of Reverend Clergyman to persuade and exhort Hester Prune to repentance, and to confessi...

• Word Count: 2453
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are many characters that transform; one of them is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale committed a great sin of the puritan society, he slept with another mans wife and Hester Prynne became pregnant. Hester was punished for her sin but Arthur Dimmesdale had not admitted to it, so he lives with this guilt and it is much worst for him ... , perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself--the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips!" (Page 65) This is the first scaffold scene Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is n...

• Word Count: 1308
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... , however Randall Stewart has presented an argument that suggesur Dimmesdale as the Protagonist of the story. Hester Prynn is the character that the story focuses on, more then any other character. She is the mother of her only daughter, Pearl, who was conceived in sin with the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Arthur Dimmesdale is the reverend of the small puritan society, and Hester's partner in ... sin. This also makes him Pearls Father. It most certainly appears that Arthur Dimmesdale is not the protagonist, but Hester Prynn plays this role. These two leading-role characters may have some ...

• Word Count: 855
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... toiled over the same ground, only two days before." Throughout this story, the character of Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale possesses a weak and feeble personality, but in this passage, immediately following his conversation in the woods with Hester, Mr. Dimmesdale acts completely out of character, "leap[ing] across the plashy places," and using " ... much of my focus on this idea of the path and its difficulty. Reading about the joy of the Reverend in this passage hurts, in my opinion, because the reader knows what Arthur does not, that this will not work out. Whatever he does, whether he goes ...

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• Approx Pages: 5

... upon themselfs as punishment. The harsh rules are apt to bring on sins in the novel The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The sin of adultery affects Hester Prynne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, as well as the Physician Roger Chillingsworth. After Hester was convicted of adultery, she is forced to wear the scarlet letter "A" upon her breast for everyone to see. ... a stronger-willed person. After many years, she earned the respect of many Puritans through her craftsmen work and sincerity of her silence; unlike her partner, and Pearls father, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Addit...

• Word Count: 462
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... reveal their secrets, thus showing some similarities (as well as differences) between the good and evil portrayed in the story. Arthur Dimmesdale, by and large, was represented goodness and purity in the story. The entire town revered him and he was a highly respected Reverend.   Also, he was generally esteemed for the "holy and pious" life that he led, and the fact that he ... , they were slightly afraid of him, because of the devilish look about him, and surely he was shunned after it was discovered what he had been doing to the good Reverend Dimmesdale for all those years.   Secondl...

• Word Count: 1430
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... at home on her chest. The next character that helps show identity in society is Mr. Dimmesdale. However unlike Hester his identity in society helped him, due to the fact that he is a reverend and is seen by the townspeople as a very holy man and is never suspected to be ... on the platform questioning Hester when she was put on the platform for ridicule during which someone yelled out "People say, " said another, "that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation." (90) This shows the reade...

• Word Count: 1923
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography

... . Hester stubbornly refuses to let the people know who her child's father is. Unable to get a hint out of her, the magistrates call on the Reverend Dimmesdale, the most popular minister of the town, to decide Hester's fate. Reverend Dimmesdale pleads to Hester to reveal the father's identity, but still, she refuses. She is led back to the prison with her infant in a stony ... story; she is Hester's salvation, pride, and joy, and also acts as an eternal reminder of Hester's sin. Pearl and Hester are both avoided carefully by the community. Meanwhile, venerable Reverend Dimmesdale's body s...

• Word Count: 3653
• Approx Pages: 15
• Grade Level: High School

... , but he knows of his own sin. Even though he is not subject to the community's prejudice as Hester had for her involvement of adultery, Reverend Dimmesdale is the worst off of the main characters because of his declining mental state due to the guilt he has for partaking in a great sin. In ... fall from grace as Hester did, and kept his involvement a secret. What seems so mocking to the situation later in the book, Reverend Dimmesdale commanded Hester to speak the name of her fellow sinner: I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow ... does not. The social impli...

• Word Count: 1021
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Shame is a painful sense of having done something wrong, improper or immodest. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale struggles to overcome sin, guilt, and public shame in Puritan society. Arthur Dimmesdale reveals his guilt and shame towards the end of the novel when Hester and Pearl stand with him on the scaffold while he confesses his sin to the townspeople. To ... ;without any effort of his will, or power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud" (Hawthorne 153). With a guilty conscience, Dimmesdale's mental health suffers, along with his ability to restrain hi...

• Word Count: 939
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... or were deemed unfit for society. Two works of literature that display both aspects of this society very accurately are The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. The Scarlet Letter displays a society that treats two people very differently who commit the sin of adultery together. The woman, Hester Prynne, admits her sin, is forced to always ... wear a scarlet letter A on her bosom, and is ostracized from society. The man, Reverend Dimmesdale, hides his sin from the world, is almost worshipped by the townspeople, but is filled with the shame of his a...

• Word Count: 1327
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... to wear a scarlet letter as a symbol of her adultery. Hester's life is torn between two men, her husband, Roger Chillingworth, and Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister and father of her child. Chillingworth had sent Hester ahead of him to New England and did not follow or correspond with ... at the thought of his betrayal, the reverend Dimmesdale is crying out to Hester to reveal his name. The clergyman, Mr. Wilson tells Dimmesdale to speak out to Hester and urges him to, "Exhort her to confess the truth!" (Hawthorne, 48) Reverend Dimmesdale, looking deep into her eyes tells her, ... "Be not...

• Word Count: 1498
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, deals with crime, punishment, and guilt in Puritan society. The main characters include Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, and Reverend Dimmesdale. All of the characters undergo a certain degree of crime, guilt, and punishment. Each of the characters either share the same amount of ... the other character's guilt would have probably not taken place. Especially the guilt she brings forth upon Dimmesdale. Townspeople also look down upon Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, another main character in the story. Dimmesdale also commits the sin of adultery. Unlike Heste...

• Word Count: 757
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... novel follows the struggles of two sinners in the morally strict Massachusetts Bay Colony in the seventeenth century. A young woman named Hester Prynne and the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale commit adultery. Hester's sin becomes publicly acknowledged when she has a child; she is forced face humiliation by standing on a scaffold in the center ... is in the open, which works to her benefit. Guilt kept on the inside is the most dangerous. This hidden guilt is seen in Arthur Dimmesdale, whose own visit to the scaffold is covert and in darkness, as though he wants to hide it from God's eyes as we...

• Word Count: 891
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... the truth determines the quality of their lives. While Hester Prynne admits her sins and resolves them over time through her charity work, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale bottles up his sins and his guilty conscience destroys his life. The first character to choose a path is Hester Prynne. When she ... minutes before his death, a cowardly way out" (Johnson, 58). While Hester suffered those seven years with the townspeople united against her, Dimmesdale gained prestige and fame due to his great preaching. He led wondrously moving sermons on honesty and the fate of those who did not ... a blood...

• Word Count: 914
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , the woman who commits a sin that forces her into ignominious solitude, uses her crime as leverage for her own personal development. Arthur Dimmesdale, believed to be a pious reverend, is provided as an example of conformity. He rejects his sin and is constrained to what the puritanical society believes to be as ... orthodox. And Pearl, who is the offspring of Hester and Dimmesdale, is unlike either of the two. She does not face the dilemmas ... the status quo and become her own ideal individual.Throughout the novel, Arthur Dimmesdale is known as a venerable reverend. He is "considered...

• Word Count: 1053
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... is afraid of something on your bosom." (180) Hester is not only isolated from Pearl, she is also kept at a distance from Arthur Dimmesdale as well. First of all, she is emotionally separated from him because she can not show her love for him. Doing so would result ... would have entirely different attitudes if she had not been isolated in so many ways. The next most important character that experiences isolation is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester's secret lover. Throughout many sections of the novel, he feels isolated from the people (including family and community) and from God ... ...

• Word Count: 979
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Puritan times that describes what guilt and sin truly are. Two main characters that live with guilt and sin throughout the novel are Hester Prynne and the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester cheated on her husband (Roger Chillingsworth) with the Reverend Dimmesdale. This single event caused both Hester and Dimmesdale to live a life of guilt, thus setting the stage for the entire novel. However, Hester's guilt and ... Dimmesdale's guilt were expressed or shown in two very separate ways. Hester's guilt was open for all of the townspeople to see, while Dimmesdale's guilt was hidden from the...

• Word Count: 748
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... novel the concept of naturalness of humanity, or naturalism also occurs. In a strict society, such as the Puritans, Hester disobeys the laws. She, in her decision to have a relationship with Reverend Dimmesdale, goes against the Puritan laws and moral code. Her husband, Chillingworth who she loved in the beginning but didn't last, is overseas and Hester thinks that her husband is dead ... have to remain celibate to keep her bond to her early husband, whether he's alive or dead. Hester demonstrates human naturalness by obeying her instinctual urges and having a relationship with Reverend...

• Word Count: 1687
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... adulteress] destroyeth his own soul"(6.32 Bible). This quote plays an important role in this book because the main characters, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, are adulteress. Using this, Hawthorne can describe the way Puritans deal with sin. Hawthorne's universal belief that guilt endures until penance is made ... belief that guilt endures until penance is made. Hawthorne portrays the idea that guilt endures until penance is made with the use of Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale has a merciless attitude on himself and humiliates himself until the tip of death because he cannot overcome the guil...

• Word Count: 1253
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... husband who was captured by Indians for two years. While he was gone, his wife Hester, had an affair with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. When he returns, Hester sees Chillingworth in the crown while she is on the scaffold. He meets up with her ... later and tells her not to tell anyone who he is. The town thinks that he is a doctor. Dimmesdale is a young reverend who had an affair with Hester. He is an intelligent and emotional man. He preaches to a congregation about his feelings of sinfulness and ... need to confess. Hawthorne describes Chillingworth as twisted, stooped, with deformed s...

• Word Count: 438
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... Salem, Massachusetts. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, was said t be lost at sea, and Hester assumed he was dead. Upon this assumption, Hester committed a crime of adultery with her fellow minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. The result of this affair was the birth of a daughter named Pearl. When the townspeople became aware of what Hester has done, they forced her to wear a sign of punishment ... long lost husband but swears that he will find and seek revenge on the father of her baby. Roger Chillingworth, who is a physician, moves in with Reverend Dimmesdale because Dimmesdale is growing ill...

• Word Count: 512
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School