The Frailty of Dimmesdale Nathaniel Hawthorne displays a deep understanding of the complexity of human frailty in his novel The Scarlet Letter. In The Scarlet Letter he depicts a small Puritan town where law and religion are intertwined. This strict form of government places an immense amount of pressure on the community, and creates an environment of shame and secrecy. This environment almost forces people to hold on to their mistakes or risk being publicly shamed or possibly killed. A minister in the novel, Arthur Dimmesdale, finds himself drowning in self hate and shame after a sin because he is afraid of how society will punish him. Arthur Dimmesdale is one of the elect, the chosen people of God, in his town. He is revered by his community and is an excellent preacher whose very name carries honor and respect. Even with all his honor and respect, the minister was still vulnerable to temptations of sin and committed adultery with a beautiful, married woman named Hester. This is not only the start of Hester’s suffering, but Dimmesdale’s as well. The author …show more content…
He tried a variety of different methods to excuse his dishonesty. Arthur told himself that he was to be judged by God as a means to convince himself not to tell the people of his sin. This is made especially apparent when Pearl asks him, “Wilt thou stand with mother and me, to-morrow noontide” and he replies with, “At the great judgment day”. In a way his dishonesty with himself was partially to blame for him withholding the truth from the community. Dimmesdale found many ways to avoid confessing his sin. He convinced himself that his internal anguish was his temporary punishment, and that God would be his real judgement. Dimmesdale truly thought he believed this and even went so far as to say, “None-nothing but despair!’ he answered. ‘What else could I look for, being what I am, and leading such a life as