Arthur Dimmesdale Hypocrisy
Thesis:
Through the use of symbolism, Hawthorne portrays Arthur Dimmesdale as a hypocrite in order to show the contrast between a person’s life with society knowing their sins, like Hester’s, and a person’s life with concealed sins, like Dimmesdale’s, as well as exhibiting the negative effects that hypocrisy can have on someone’s conscience.
Body: Throughout the novel, Dimmesdale exhibits his life of hypocrisy more and more as he struggles to deal with its negative effects on his conscience. From the moment Dimmesdale had an intimate relationship with Hester Prynne, his life of hypocrisy began because he knew what he was doing was wrong, yet he did nothing about it. As a result, he began to feel guilt that remained with him throughout his …show more content…
Dimmesdale lived in secret with his guilt buried within him, while Hester lived out in the open with her sins and guilt displayed upon her chest. As a result, Dimmesdale underwent physical and emotional torment every day, allowing his conscience to suffer so much pain. Dimmesdale tried to find a way out of this life of guilt when he begged Hester to “be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him-yea, compel him, as it were- to add hypocrisy to sin?” (Hawthorne 65).Dimmesdale tried to convince Hester to help him reveal his sin. He so badly wanted to let his guilt free so that he was not internally tormented any longer. This shows that Dimmesdale is an internally fragile individual who needed help from Hester, an internally strong individual, furthering exhibiting the contrast between the two characters. Dimmesdale’s fragile inner state is shown further, and the contrast between he and Hester is developed even more when he asks, “‘Is not this better...than what we dreamed of in the forest?” Hester did not believe it was better for them to “both die, and little Pearl die with [them]” (Hawthorne 249). Dimmesdale was too afraid to live with his guilt, so he would rather die than do so. He was willing to let Hester and Pearl die for his hypocrisy, his sins, and his guilt. He was a good man at heart, but hypocrisy evidently had a very negative effect on his
Through the use of symbolism, Hawthorne portrays Arthur Dimmesdale as a hypocrite in order to show the contrast between a person’s life with society knowing their sins, like Hester’s, and a person’s life with concealed sins, like Dimmesdale’s, as well as exhibiting the negative effects that hypocrisy can have on someone’s conscience.
Body: Throughout the novel, Dimmesdale exhibits his life of hypocrisy more and more as he struggles to deal with its negative effects on his conscience. From the moment Dimmesdale had an intimate relationship with Hester Prynne, his life of hypocrisy began because he knew what he was doing was wrong, yet he did nothing about it. As a result, he began to feel guilt that remained with him throughout his …show more content…
Dimmesdale lived in secret with his guilt buried within him, while Hester lived out in the open with her sins and guilt displayed upon her chest. As a result, Dimmesdale underwent physical and emotional torment every day, allowing his conscience to suffer so much pain. Dimmesdale tried to find a way out of this life of guilt when he begged Hester to “be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him-yea, compel him, as it were- to add hypocrisy to sin?” (Hawthorne 65).Dimmesdale tried to convince Hester to help him reveal his sin. He so badly wanted to let his guilt free so that he was not internally tormented any longer. This shows that Dimmesdale is an internally fragile individual who needed help from Hester, an internally strong individual, furthering exhibiting the contrast between the two characters. Dimmesdale’s fragile inner state is shown further, and the contrast between he and Hester is developed even more when he asks, “‘Is not this better...than what we dreamed of in the forest?” Hester did not believe it was better for them to “both die, and little Pearl die with [them]” (Hawthorne 249). Dimmesdale was too afraid to live with his guilt, so he would rather die than do so. He was willing to let Hester and Pearl die for his hypocrisy, his sins, and his guilt. He was a good man at heart, but hypocrisy evidently had a very negative effect on his