The Scarlet Letter: Dimmesdale’s Guilt

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale grows weaker, whilst dealing with the insufferable guilt brought on by his adulterous temptations. Dimmesdale’s sinful counterpart, Hester Prynne, faces her shame externally, while the reverend suffers from the inside. Dimmesdale, hypocritically, would rather be highly regarded by his peers than being truthful to himself, and in turn, God who would easily be able to see the transparent acts of hypocrisy that Dimmesdale tries to fool himself with by subconsciously convincing himself of its purity. Dimmesdale's guilt eats him from the inside out and eventually leads to his demise. Hawthorne sets the stage for Dimmesdale’s character in the first scaffold scene, where the reverend’s uncomfortable attitude condones suspicion. Dimmesdale anxiously watches Hester and Pearl on the scaffold from his balcony and is eventually asked to try to pry out the father’s name from Hester, which he hesitantly attempts and uses it as a coded message for Hester. Dimmesdale says to her

I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer...believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of …show more content…
The reverend tells Hester that, once named, the father would “step down from a high place” to stand beside her. This remark literally refers to Dimmesdale’s position on the balcony, above the scaffold. Hester does not give up his name because she unknowingly believes that she can bear all the shame. Then, for the first time, Dimmesdale places his hand over his heart in a cowardly attempt to try to hide the “A” he fears will present itself over his adulterous