The Similarities Between The Scarlet Letter And The Crucible

Living under a strict society where the system and all of its components were based on God, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and Judge Danforth from Arthur Miller's The Crucible were bound to suffer from the Puritan values which they believed in during the Puritan era. After thoroughly analyzing both Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and Arthur Miller's The Crucible, it is evident that Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Judge Danforth were notably victimized by the Puritan ethics of body politic and the statute of God as the law. Even though Dimmesdale and Danforth held different powers in their society, their positions were threatened or destroyed by the ethic of body politic, and they were ultimately
The pain Dimmesdale went through was clearly depicted in the book and it was obvious that he was getting weaker gradually. Danforth, however, suffered mostly mentally because he had to bear with the decisions he made. Dimmesdale, a God's man and the minister of the town committed a sin. Because he could not confess his wrongdoings, he was forced to punish himself. "In Mr. Dimmesdale's secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge." (Hawthorne 141) From this quote it is clear that Dimmesdale tortured himself. He felt guilty for breaking God's law therefore he punished himself causing deterioration in his physical and spiritual condition. As the book progressed, Dimmesdale became weaker. If he did not feel so strongly about God, he would not feel guilty for what he did with Hester and would definitely not harm himself physically. Similar to Dimmesdale, Danforth was also eaten away by his guilt. During the witch-hunt, most of those that were accused were condemned by Danforth. He interpreted laws strictly based on the Bible, however when he realized that those who were condemned were actually innocent, it was too late for him to take back his