Dimmesdale, the personification of “human frailty and sorrow ,” is young, pale, and physically delicate. He has large, melancholy eyes and a tremulous mouth, suggesting great sensitivity. An ordained Puritan minister, he is well educated, and he has a philosophical turn of mind.
Is Dimmesdale Pearl’s father?
The first clue that Reverend Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father is revealed in Chapter III, The Recognition, when Hester is asked to name the father of her illegitimate child, Pearl. When Hester refuses to name the man, Reverend Dimmesdale clutches his chest and murmurs, “Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman’s heart!
Who was Dimmesdale in Scarlet Letter?
Arthur Dimmesdale, fictional character, a tormented Boston minister in The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Having fathered Hester Prynne’s illegitimate child, the bachelor Dimmesdale vacillates between the hunger for cleansing confession and the Puritan zeal fueled by his secret sin.
Is Dimmesdale a bad person?
In the book THE SCARLET LETTER , the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is punished by the consequences of his adulterous affair with Hester Prynne. Even though Dimmesdale can be defined as a hypocrite or a mysterious man, it doesn’t change the fact that he is a good man.
Is Dimmesdale Hester’s lover?
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale
Dimmesdale is a young man who achieved fame in England as a theologian and then emigrated to America. In a moment of weakness, he and Hester became lovers . Although he will not confess it publicly, he is the father of her child.
Is Dimmesdale selfish?
A well respected Boston reverend who has an affair with Hester Prynne and is the secret father of Pearl. Shy, retiring, and well loved and respected by his public, Dimmesdale is too frightened and selfish to reveal his sin and bear the burden of punishment with Hester.
How did Dimmesdale punish himself?
Dimmesdale begins to torture himself physically: he scourges himself with a whip, he fasts, and he holds extended vigils , during which he stays awake throughout the night meditating upon his sin.
Why does Hester name her daughter Pearl?
A beautiful flower growing out of sinful soil, Pearl is so named because she was “purchased with all [Hester] had—her mother’s only treasure! ” Because “in giving her existence a great law had been broken,” Pearl’s very being seems to be inherently at odds with the strict rules of Puritan society.
Why did Hester cheat on Chillingworth?
He married a wife a generation younger than he. Hester’s unhappiness, due to a mismatched matrimony, leads her to become an adulteress. Chillingworth makes Hester to be unhappy. Her initial sadness, along with the three year absence of her husband, resulted in adultery .
Why did Hester Prynne marry Chillingworth?
Why does Hester marry Chillingworth? In The Scarlet Letter, Chillingworth married Hester because he hoped to find some happiness in married life , and she was young and beautiful. He had lived a pretty lonely and solitary existence for most of his years, and he longed for the happiness that he saw so many others enjoy.
Who is worse Dimmesdale or Chillingworth?
Out of the two sinners, Chillingworth was the worst , because he never felt guilt for the terrible things he was doing. Dimmesdale spent his entire life in guilt and remorse for the sins he had committed (“Who”). Dimmesdale sinned with Hester Prynne by committing adultery.
Why is Dimmesdale bad?
Dimmesdale’s conscience was tortured tremendously when everyone believed he was a saint while he knew how sinful and horrible he was. It tortured him to see people love him. ... Dimmesdale suffered more than Hester because he had lost the will to live and had unbearable guilt. These types of situations are also seen today.
Does Dimmesdale confess his sin?
Dimmesdale confesses his sin in the only way that he knows to be true , in front of all the people he was dishonest to and through the influence of God. ... ‘ He was dishonest to the one soul he promised he never would be, and that was God.
Who is Hester Prynne’s lover?
Hester Prynne is also the object of a cruel and shadowy love triangle between herself, her minister lover, Arthur Dimmesdale , and her husband, now called Roger Chillingworth.
Who does Hester fall in love with?
Her husband was thought to be dead, since in his absence of two years, she had heard nothing from him. The marriage was not based on love. In his absence, Hester found a romantic love with Arthur .
What was Hester’s punishment?
The stranger tells him that Hester refuses to reveal her fellow sinner. As punishment, she has been sentenced to three hours on the scaffold and a lifetime of wearing the scarlet letter on her chest.
