Reverend Dimmesdale's Internal Struggle Through His Guilt example essay topic

The Struggle Within The Scarlet Letter offers extraordinary insight into the norms and behavior of 17th century puritan society. The basic characteristics and problems of its main characters, however, are familiar to readers in the present (Encarta 98). In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne develops Reverend Dimmesdale's internal struggle through his guilt, his indecision regarding confession, and his final decision to confess. At the beginning of the novel, the Reverend Dimmesdale has committed adultery with Hester Prynne, and he is constantly troubled by inescapable guilt. Dimmesdale knows he is a hypocrite and he hates himself for it. He tries many ways to pay penance, but nothing seems to relieve him of this terrible guilt.

He tries fasting and he tries whipping himself, but nothing can rid him of his guilt. This guilt causes Dimmesdale to become physically ill. He constantly is holding his hand over his heart. This is because Hester Prynne is forced to wear the scarlet letter A on her breast. He feels connected to her because she was his partner in sin, so he holds his hand over his heart to hide his A, or guilt. At the end of the novel when he does confess, he shows his chest, and reveals his own A. Many people thought that this was caused by guilt.

The Reverend Dimmesdale wants to confess, but he is always too cowardly to face the consequences of confession. In the first scaffold scene, Dimmesdale tries to confess, but is unable to do it. In the second scaffold scene, Dimmesdale's purpose is to stand on the scaffold until morning so everyone will see him. He is unable to stop thinking about what might happen to him if he is seen. While standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart... Without any power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud; an outcry that went pealing through the night, and was beaten back from one house to another, and reverberated from the hills in the background...

(Hawthorne 102) This quote shows the anguish felt by Dimmesdale that he had no way to relieve himself of his guilt. Later, when Dimmesdale is still on the scaffold Hester and Pearl walk by. Dimmesdale asks them to join him on the scaffold. Pearl asks Dimmesdale", 'Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide?' " (Hawthorne 106) Dimmesdale inevitably answers", 'Nay; not so my little Pearl!" for, with the new energy of the moment, all the dread of public exposure, that had so long been the anguish of his life, had returned upon him, and he was already trembling at the conjunction in which-with a strange joy, nevertheless-he now found himself" (Hawthorne 106). This shows that even though he so strongly wants to confess, he still wants to be thought of as pure even more.

Also, that same night on the scaffold a meteor crossed the sky. It appeared the letter A was formed from it, thus Dimmesdale thought it was a symbol against him. He thought the whole town would know the meaning of it, and immediately accuse him as the other adulterer. Even in one of his sermons Dimmesdale tries to confess, but he ends up making himself sound even better than before.

After Dimmesdale's final sermon on Election Day, Dimmesdale finally decides to confess. He is unable to be a hypocrite any longer. He is finally tired of living in a lie. After the big procession and the sermon Dimmesdale is driven to confess to the townspeople that he is the one guilty of adultery with Hester. He is thankful for Chillingworth's torture. He can no longer bear living under his enormous cloud of guilt from which he can never escape.

Dimmesdale, talking in third person about Hester's A, says, .".. it is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast, and that even this, his own red stigma, is no more than the type of what has seared his inmost heart! Stand any here that question God's judgment on a sinner? Behold! Behold a dreadful witness of it (Hawthorne 203)! Dimmesdale goes on to rip off his shirt and show everyone his own mark of adultery. The Scarlet Letter was a good book that depicted life in the colonies as it really was.

It follows the accounts of two partners in sin as they lead separate lives. It displays how the reverend Dimmesdale was too weak to confess his sins. The internal struggle was developed in Dimmesdale through his guilty conscience, his inability to be courageous and confess his sin and take the punishment he deserves, and his final decision to confess in front of the townspeople. In the end he did confess his sin, but it was too late for he and Hester to have future together.