Contrasting Dimmesdale and Hester in The Scarlet Letter Literary Essay Example

Throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter, the reader witnesses the effects and turmoil of adultery in Puritan society. The two adulterers, named Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne, continue to grow and recess throughout the course of the novel. Hester takes pride in what was once guilt/shame, and Dimmesdale becomes ill (mentally) from the weight of the guilt over the course of seven years. This is a stark contrast between the two, demonstrating how admittance of our fears will free us, but the longer we keep them, the more shame and guilt amounts. For the first sixteen chapters of The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale and Hester have minimal interaction, as they are considered different in the social hierarchy (Dimmesdale near the top, for he is praised, and Hester near the bottom, for she is shamed). However, once the reader reaches chapter seventeen, there is a turning point in the behaviors of Dimmesdale and Hester alike. In a relinquishing, temporarily, of their sin, the unburdening of Dimmesdale and Hester showcases how miserable secrets can be, and how expressing those secrets lets Dimmesdale and Hester grow as characters. Once their sin is relinquished , the reader witnesses the brief freedom Dimmesdale and Hester both experience. Therefore, in this essay, the main topic that will be discussed is how the hope and light of chapter seventeen is significantly different from the solemn and gray entirety of The Scarlet Letter.

As stated in the beginning paragraph, the entirety of chapter seventeen and eighteen occurs as a result of the characters’ experiences over the course of seven long years. In those seven years, the reader learns about the differing experiences of Dimmesdale and Hester. The comparison of the two’s lives demonstrates how Dimmesdale lived a tolling seven years, involving secrecy and haunting by “Satan himself, or Satan’s emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth” (97). Meanwhile, Hester has accepted her public shaming, and grew from it as a result. These events led the characters to become the characters present in chapter seventeen, with Dimmesdale in a miserable state and Hester in a colorless one. While starkly different in reactions, both of these characters were able to experience the misery both of them experienced, even with their situations being different. Without these events, it is likely that the meeting between Dimmesdale and Hester in the woods would have differed greatly from the experience it was. After all, the characters are elaborated as “each a ghost, and awe stricken at the other ghost… because the crisis [flings] back to them their consciousness, and [reveals] to each heart its history and experience, as life never does, except at such breathless epochs” (146). The prior quote exposes how vastly different the two have grown from each other, as if they were a ghost to one another. Thus, this feeling, created by the angst of having minimal interaction for seven dreary years, creates a tension between the two yet to be seen in The Scarlet Letter. Henceforth, this is why the character development and feelings that Hester and Dimmesdale both experience is so important for the interaction between the two in chapter seventeen.

In the chapter itself, Hester and Dimmesdale gather in the woods by chance (kind of, not precisely), and while the two exchange words, one of the most important interactions occurs. It involves Hester revealing Chillingworth’s true intentions for Dimmesdale. While this fact devastates Dimmesdale for a moment, he quickly relinquishes it due to his love and appreciation for Hester and Pearl alike. Chillingworth, unlike the others, became “... dark, it is true, if not guilty, but of force enough to engage the full strength of his faculties'' (90) as a result of Hester’s sin, against the man who slept with his wife (Dimmesdale). Chillingworth was determined to destroy Dimmesdale’s life, and still tries continually throughout the novel. The terror Chillingworth causes Dimmesdale is immense, but due to Dimmesdale’s love for Hester, he forgives her for her secret, and keeping this from him. At a point in chapter seventeen, Dimmesdale describes his experience with Chillingworth (towards Hester) as “... little knowest all the horror of this thing! And the shame! -- the indelicacy! -- the horrible ugliness of this exposure of a sick and guilty heart to the very eye that would gloat over it” (150). However, during this description, Hester apologizes repeatedly, consoling Dimmesdale in the process. This bond between the two characters demonstrates how keeping Chillingworth’s identity a secret was a burden to her, but is now released, and how Dimmesdale is capable of forgiveness for all but himself. Also, it (the bond) demonstrates how these two characters have developed as characters; they are separate, but are still bonded over all of these years, even though they have become different people. This idea is most evident when Dimmesdale wishes to be alone, but Hester replies with “thou shalt not go alone” (153), staying by his side until the very end.

When talking about chapter seventeen and eighteen, the main event that comes to mind is when Dimmesdale and Hester admit/relieve their sins in the forest. In this chapter, Hester admits that she has moved on, not out of town, but spiritually. She has forgone her status of “adulterer,” giving the scarlet letter little power over her. As for Dimmesdale, he has an epiphany, and also forgoes all of his sins as Hester tells him he “wilt go” (155). Upon this moment, Hester rips off the scarlet letter, temporarily. She is unburdened by her sin, as evident by the fact that Hester experiences “... the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit … exquisite relief … freedom” (156). In the case of grief and shame, there are five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Dimmesdale has experienced all of these over the course of chapters seventeen and the beginning of eighteen. He first experiences denial when he finds out Chillingworth is Hester’s husband. However, by the middle of chapter eighteen, after everything Dimmesdale faces acceptance. He has accepted what he has done, he embraces it like warmth on a cold winter’s day. The man who was miserable as a result of his shame (resulting from the original sin), that beat himself repeatedly, asked “do I feel joy again.” (156). If the sight of both Hester and Dimmesdale feeling satisfaction and joy by the end of chapter eighteen is not character development (from the burdened and miserable people present in the entirety of the chapters prior to seventeen and eighteen), what is? Both Hester and Dimmesdale experience anger, concern, fear, regret, shame, and everything in between during chapter seventeen, reflecting on their experiences. However, once chapter eighteen commences, and Hester tells Dimmesdale and herself to forgo their sin, they become totally different people. For once in their lives, they experience serenity, peace, joy, and happiness, which are starkly different feelings from the misery and torture they experience in the rest of The Scarlet Letter. For these reasons, this is why chapter eighteen plays an important role in demonstrating the complexity of Dimmesdale and Hester as characters.

In conclusion, in The Scarlet Letter, chapters seventeen and eighteen are crucial to the entirety of the novel because they show how complex Dimmesdale and Hester are as characters, how they are willing to change, and how they do change by the end of chapter eighteen. In chapter seventeen, the novel begins with sorrow in both of the characters. However, by the end of chapter eighteen, both characters are elated, having not a threat in the world to worry about. While this does change after chapter eighteen, it is a crucial moment that demonstrates the true personalities of two of the three main characters in the novel. Thus, the contrast in their lives before and after the encounter in the forest is evidence as to how releasing their secrets allowed Dimmesdale and Hester to grow as characters and allowed the characters to grow their personalities.