The Scarlet Letter
by
Nathaniel Hawthorne
(Character
of Arthur Dimmesdale)
Arthur
Dimmesdale is the most ambiguous character in the novel. We always remember him
as a pale, weak young man, trembling easily and holding his hand over his
heart. It is wonderful that the Puritans could not find out his secret early. He
lacks energy and will. He is the pastor and Hester is his spiritual ward. Yet
he commits adultery with her. He patiently listens to Hester’s sermon in the
forest. Though he is a man yet he does not have as much courage and initiative
as Hester has, though Hester is a woman. He wants to confess his guilt but words
never come out. When they do, people deliberately misunderstand him. That is
why there are conflicting views about the hour of his death and his
‘confession’. He is a humble man yet he wants to disappear from the village in
a blaze of glory. He must deliver his Election Sermon before he goes. In the blindness
of his suffering, he never understands Chillingworth as others do. He is a
hypocrite in the words of Mistress Hibbins. He can wear a mask and hide his
real feeling in public. People of instinctive sympathy discover him easily.
That is why he is uneasy in the presence of Pearl. After his return from the
forest, he is in a strange exhilaration. He wants to utter blasphemies and make
secret jokes with Chillingworth.
However,
he is also transformed at the end of the story. There is saintliness in his new
mood. After the success of his election sermon, he decides to bow out with a confession.
However, he never directly admits his guilt in his final confession. He speaks
a few conventional words about God and sin and pardon before he dies. Even his grave
is separated from Hester’s. As such we always remember him as a lonely, suffering
and incomprehensible man.
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