...Dimmesdale vs. John Proctor Heroes are often thought as the superior and perfect people in society. However, The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible illustrates that everyone, including sinners, can be a hero in certain situations. The Scarlet Letter, a book about the consequence and change of identity after committing adultery between the main characters, Hester and Dimmesdale, has many similarities with The Crucible, a story about an unfair witch-hunt in Salem, Massachusetts. In the two books, Dimmesdale and John Proctor are depicted as heroes despite their critical flaws in their lives. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller, the authors of The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible, portray contrasting symbolism such as hypocrisy and justice through similar but different characters: Reverend Dimmesdale and John Proctor. Identified as an adulterer in the story, Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy is clearly shown through the context. The story starts off with the punishment of Hester for her sin, adultery that she had committed with Dimmesdale. As Hester does not blurt the name of the child’s father when questioned about the crime, Dimmesdale as a Reverend, the holy man, speaks up. He states, “though [the man that has sinned] 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.” (Hawthorne 58). He continues that the “silence” of Hester is just “[adding] hypocrisy to sin.” (Hawthorne 58). Ironically, his statements...
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