Dimmesdale's Character in The Scarlet Letter Essay

In the book, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is greatly admired by his congregation, his fellow clergymen and by the townspeople of this small Puritan colony. Is Mr. Dimmesdale truly as great as everyone thinks he is? in the book it says, "Therefore, so far as his duties would permit, he trode in the shadowy by-paths, and thus kept himself simple and child-like; coming forth, when occasion was, with a freshness, and fragrance, and dewy purity of thought, which, as many people said, affected them like the speech of an angel" (Hawthorne 80, 277-278). This answers the question of how everyone thinks Mr. Dimmesdale is so distinguished. The Reverend Dimmesdale is a cowardly, hypocritical ignoramus; if the people of this Puritan twon knew what kind of a man he's become, they wouldn't want Mr. Dimmesdale for a reverend.

Mr. Dimmesdale is portrayed as a coward who is oblivious to what is going on. He leaves Hester standing on the scaffold and has her take the blame when he should be standing there with her (80). When talking to Hester, he says "Take heed how thou deniest to him-who perchance, hath not courage to grasp it for himself" (81). Right there he talks about himself. Mr. Dimmesdale is not being brave at all when he gets up on the platform at night when no one can see him (167-180). This young minister has the "A" on his chest where no one can see it, when Hester shows it all the time (158). He does not admit he is the father of Hester's child until the end of the book (281). This demonstrates Mr. Dimmesdale's cowardice.

Mr. Dimmesdale is a hypocritical man who does not practice what he preaches. To confirm this it says in the book, "People say that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her [Hester's] godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation" (63). Mr. Dimmesdale speaks about confessing sins but he does not confess his own (80-81). The pastor says he is going to confess his sin in the next sermon after the next, but he never does. Mr. Dimmesdale lets people admire and adore him yet he doesn't dispute it. The minister is deceitful and hypocritical to everyone, including himself.

Mr. Dimmesdale allows himself to be willfully ignorant. Here is a young clergyman that comes from a great English university, with eloquence and religious fervor, yet he seems nervous, apprehensive, and extremely reserved (80). He does not recognize Roger chillinworth as his enemy and just considers him as a doctor (149). When Hester tells him that Roger Chillingworth is her husband, he replies by saying, "I might have known it! I did know it! Was not the secret told me in the natural recoil of my heart, at the first sight of him, and as often as I have seen him since? Why did I not understand?" (219). This explains why Mr. Dimmesdale acts so ignorant because he doesn't realize who Chillingworth is until Hester has to tell him. He does not know that he's hurting other people like Hester. He also ends up hurting himself by not confessing, so keeping it in just makes him grow weaker and sicker. Thus we can see that Mr. Dimmesdale is a very ignorant man.

So is Mr. Arthur Dimmesdale as pure and honorable as everyone thinks he is? His cowardly and hypocritical behavior combined with his complete ignorance make him a weak and deceitful man. His final sermon is full of anguish, sorrow, and pain (272-273). Finally, when at death's door, he reveals that long-kept torturous secret he hides in his heart for seven years in Hester prynne's arms (287).