Arthur: Tragic Hero or Merely Tragic? In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s torrid tale of The Scarlet Letter‚ Arthur Dimmesdale‚ a main character‚ is confronted with a number of circumstances‚ both in and out of his control‚ that lead to his ultimate demise. While it can be argued that Arthur is a tragic hero‚ he lacks the underlying goodness and strength essential for him to fulfill this role. Otherwise‚ it may be demonstrated that Arthur meets all the criteria as a tragic hero‚ though there are other discrepancies
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Every Hero Has a Downfall A look At Tragic Hero Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter I. Hawthorne presents Dimmesdale as a tragic hero through Dimmesdale’s fixation on his reputation‚ as well as his struggle with guilt throughout the novel. II. Hawthorne uses an evil register of diction and repetition to establish Chillingworth as the antagonist of Dimmesdale. A. “...It grew to be a widely diffused opinion that the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale‚ like many other
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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter considers Arthur Dimmesdale‚ reverend of the Puritanical town‚ a saint by the town‚ yet the readers know who he truly is‚ however that hypocritical view is not necessarily awful‚ it can actually do good because the town needs a leader who can lead them and take care of them‚ and Dimmesdale has done just that. In the novel‚ several characters had developed a public facade to make sure they were respected and hid their true personality‚ only to be shown
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English 5 AP 22 October‚ 2012 Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is one troubled (and multi-faceted) man. A brilliant speaker‚ a kind man‚ a wise reverend – everyone loves this guy. He’s pretty much a rock star in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (and that doesn’t seem like such an easy feat in Puritan society). With his education and religious standing it allows him to have a larger sense of humility and understanding. So with Dimmesdale also being Hester’s illicit lover and the father of her
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the whole novel. The first example is Arthur Dimmesdale. He has to keep the secret that he is Pearl’s father. To the whole town‚ Dimmesdale is known as being a great minister‚ but in this mind he was really a sinner. By having this battle going on in his head Dimmesdale became weak. Hawthorne explains this by saying "his spirit lacked the strength that could have borne up‚ as thine has been‚ beneath a burden like thy scarlet letter" (p.124). Because Dimmesdale was so confused by the two different
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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
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Vaughn Mrs. Henry English III Honors 26 January 2013 Heroism: The Tragic Features F. Scott Fitzgerald‚ author of novels and short stories‚ once said‚ “Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.” There is a fine line between a hero and a tragic hero. All heroes emerge from tragedies. A person who presents bravery and courage despite certain circumstances is considered a true hero. Many people have once called someone a hero sometime in their lifetime. Many heroes vary from comics to historic
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Tragic Hero From Wikipedia‚ the free encyclopedia A tragic hero is a protagonist with a tragic flaw‚ also known as fatal flaw‚ which eventually leads to his demise. The concept of the tragic hero was created in ancient Greek tragedy and defined by Aristotle. Usually‚ the realization of fatal flaw results in catharsis or epiphany. The tragic flaw is sometimes referred to as an Achilles ’ heel after the single fatal flaw of the Greek warrior Achilles. [citation needed] Aristotelian tragic
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In the novel The Scarlet Letter it was necessary to keep Hester Prynne’s adulteress lover Arthur Dimmesdale a secret because of their young daughter Pearl. Hester Prynne was married at the time Pearl was conceived‚ making the townspeople furious with her adultery. As her husband comes to town under an alias named physician Roger Chillingworth‚ he examines the Panic-stricken baby and bashes Hester for being deceitful. Moving to the outskirts of town and raising what many called a “devil baby” Pearl
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on literary theory. Through this‚ he created the tragic hero and states‚ “a man doesn’t become a hero until he can see the root of his downfall.” According to Aristotle‚ the hero must endure a reversal of fortune (peripeteia) due to his tragic flaw (hamartia). They must then discover their mistake (anagnorisis) and receive their harsh fate. Arthur Miller’s play‚ Death of a Salesman‚ mostly portrays Willy Loman‚ the main character‚ as a tragic hero. Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream
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