Dimmesdale Character Analysis in The Scarlet Letter Essay Example

Repent! Your sins will haunt you and torture you if you do not repent. God will cast you into the bottomless pit of fire. Although Hester suffers the ignominy of the scaffold and the shame of the scarlet letter, she is not the one who is most terribly affected by the sin of adultery. Instead, Dimmesdale is. Even though Dimmesdale never wears the scarlet letter or is forced on the scaffold like Hester but suffers physical punishment, he’s preyed upon by Pearl’s behavior, poisoned health, and finally death! 

 To begin with, Dimmesdale does multiple things to himself as the guilt burdens him, which punishes him. One of the things Dimmesdale does is he whips himself as he is tortured with guilt.  ---No eye could see him, save that ever-wakeful one which had seen him in his closet, wielding the bloody scourge. Why, then, had he come hither? Was but the mockery of penitence? A mockery, indeed, but in which his soul trifled with itself! A mockery at which angels blushed and wept, while fiends rejoiced with jeering laughter! He had been driven hither by the impulse of that Remorse which dogged him everywhere, and whose own sister and closely linked companion was that Cowardice which invariably drew him back, with her tremulous gripe, just when the other impulse had hurried him to the verge of a disclosure. Poor, miserable man! ---P.G. 80-81 Being that Dimmesdale was the other end of the string he goes on the scaffold in the night because he feels the weight of the guilt. “He felt his limbs growing stiff with the unaccustomed chilliness of the night and doubted whether he should descend the steps of the scaffold.” P.G. 83

The second terrible punishment Dimmesdale suffered for his secret sin is through the too-knowing behavior of Pearl. The thought of the sin would wear Dimmesdale out and as he saw Pearl, he would be reminded of it many times and would also be concerned about her behavior. ----“Thou canst not think,’ said the minister, glancing aside at Hester Prynne, ‘how my heart dreads this interview, and yearns for it!” --- P.G. 130

Finally, the weight of the guilt poisoned Dimmesdale's health as he lived with it for seven years. He could not take the guilt for much longer. Dimmesdale died because of the guilt that was taking over him for so long.  ---“Hester” said the clergyman, “farewell!” “Shall we not meet again?” whispered she, bending her face down close to his. “Shall we not spend our immortal life together? Surly, Surly, we have ransomed one another, with all this woe! Thou lookest far into eternity, with those bright dying eyes! Then tell me what thou seest!’

‘Hush, Hester—hush!’ said he, with tremulous solemnity. ‘The law we broke I—the sin here awfully revealed! —let these alone be in thy thoughts! I fear! I fear! It may be, that, when we forgot our God—when we violated our reverence each for the other’s soul—it was thenceforth vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in

an everlasting and pure reunion. God knows; and He is merciful! He hath proved his mercy, most of all, in my afflictions. By giving me this burning torture to bear upon my breast! By sending yonder dark and terrible old man, to keep the torture always at red-heat! By bringing me hither, to die this death of triumphant ignominy before the people! Had either of these agonies been wanting, I had been lost forever! Praised be His name! His will be done! Farewell!’ That final word came forth with the minister’s expiring breath. The multitude, silent till then, broke out in a strange, deep voice of awe and wonder, which could not. ---P.G. 167-168

What does an executed punishment have on a guilty conscience? In conclusion, Dimmesdale is the one who suffers the punishment more than Hester. Hester’s punishment made Dimmesdale feel more guilty. So guilty that the weight of the guilt caused Dimmesdale to punish himself as he whips himself.  Pearl is another punishment. Dimmesdale would constantly see the outcome of his sin. Dimmesdale's health went downhill, and he then died because the guilt overtook him for so long all his energy was used up and he died merely because he was worn out. Dimmesdale’s punishment in the end was that he would have been hanged but instead died before that.