The Transformation Of The Rev. Dimmesdal Essay, Research Paper
The Transformation of the Reverend Master Dimmesdale
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a classic novel that
tells the story of two adulterers, except in this account, only one is
punished publicly. The other, although just as guilty, is not exposed and
therefore remains held in high esteem by the public eye. As the
unknown guilty party, the Reverend Dimmesdale not only becomes a
hypocrite, but on the inside, he is torn apart. As Dimmesdale becomes
more and more distraught over his position as the story progresses, his
health and mental stability begin to decline. A study of the character of
the Reverend Master Dimmesdale throughout The Scarlet Letter will
reveal the transformation of his physical being and mental state of mind
from an honorable, reputable, and nice looking young preacher to a
decrepit, deteriorated, and opprobrious clergyman who had fallen from
righteousness but returned to righteousness in the end.
When Dimmesdale is first introduced, he is shown as a model of
virtue. The responsibility of the adulteress’ soul “lies greatly within”
Dimmesdale and Governor Bellingham appeals to him “to exhort her
repentance, and to confession, as a proof and consequence thereof”(67).
This is ironic in that Dimmesdale’s responsibility to Hester Prynne is
twofold: as “her godly pastor”(53) and as the unknown partner and
father to the child. The minister pleads with the adulteress to disclose
the adulterer, lest her partner “add hypocrisy to sin”(68), which is
another irony because he is adding the sin unto himself. That the
parson is condemning himself remains unseen by the people, thus his
status as a godly minister remains intact.
Dimmesdale does not appear again until Chapter 8. Here, Hester
has come to the mansion to appeal to the Governor, that he not take the
child, Pearl. Dimmesdale is with Governor Bellingham as well as
Reverend Wilson and Roger Chillingworth at the house. The author says
that Dimmesdale is “in close companionship with Chillingworth, a person
of great skill in physic…[and his] physician as well as friend of the young
minister.”(108) The writer tells us that Dimmesdale’s health “had
suffered severely, of late, by his too unreserved self-sacrifice to the labors
and duties of the pastoral relation.”(108) Chance or necessity functions
to make Arthur Dimmesdale Chillingworth’s patient, since the young
minister is decreasing in health, and since Chillingworth’s scientific
aspirations make him a qualified physician. Chillingworth’s ambiguous
standing, in comparison with the clergyman’s pious reputation, inspires
the congregation to believe that their godly champion is struggling
against a fiendish agent. There are two ironic facts here. One is that
Dimmesdale has in fact wronged Chillingworth and the other is that the
people’s “brave minister” is in fact warring his own conscience judging
“from the gloom and terror in the depths of the poor minister’s eyes, the
battle was a sore one, and the victory was any thing but secure!”(127)
But, in the eyes of the beholders, the congregation, Dimmesdale is still a
very righteous man.
As a doctor, Chillingworth senses that the source of Dimmesdale’s
illness is not physical but rather “a strange sympathy betwixt soul and
body.”(136) This results in Chillingworth pursuing his patient as the
adulterer, for earlier in the story, Chillingworth had met Hester, his
former wife, in the prison. Here he told her that he would seek out her
partner and that “he shall be mine.” As Chillingworth continues his
investigation, he remarks to Dimmesdale that some ugly weeds he found
growing on a gravesight might be because of “some hideous secret that
was buried with [the deceased], [that] he had done better to confess
during his lifetime,”(130) the leech was attempting to make Dimmesdale
break and confess. The minister does, for awhile, hold and Chillingworth
does not find anything but good in the heart of his patient. However,
Dimmesdale was “trusting no man as his friend…[and] could not
recognize his enemy when the latter actually appeared.”(129) Thus, at
the end of Chapter 10, the “leech” discovers Dimmesdale’s secret (”leech”
has a double meaning: (1). physicians were sometimes referred to as
leeches, and (2). leeches are creatures that suck blood from animals as
Chillingworth was “sucking” the truth from Dimmesdale). Today, one
might refer to Dimmesdale’s illness as psychosomatic, and see his
appointments with Chillingworth as sessions with a psychoanalyst. It is
in the these sessions that the leech probes through his patient’s mind
and eventually determines the truth: Dimmesdale is not the pious
clergyman as everyone thinks, but in fact
has come to embody hypocrisy.
Still, Dimmesdale continues to hide his sin from his congregation.
He makes attempts to expose himself, but cannot ever bring himself to
confess directly. He tells the people that he is “the vilest of sinners,”(142)
but that only increases their reverence for him. Moreover, they explain
that the cause for his impending death is that the world is no longer
worthy of him; Dimmesdale says that it is because he is simply no longer
able to perform even the simplest missions that God gives him, once
again avoiding telling the truth. Because of these things, ” above all
things else, he loathed his miserable self!”(143)
Many nights, the minister stays awake and is haunted by visions
of Hester and Pearl. He keeps vigils into the early hours of the morning.
On one of these such nights, Dimmesdale makes his way outside to the
scaffold where, seven years before, Hester had stood “through her first
hour of public ignominy.”(147) Thus “The Minister’s Vigil” begins; in a
“vain show of expiation,”(147) Dimmesdale goes through the actions of
Hester’s exposure. Alone in the dark, he ascends the scaffold. Upon the
scaffold ,he sees Reverend Wilson, who is returning from the deathbed of
Governor Winthrop, but Wilson doesn’t stop. Eventually, he his joined
by his partner and little Pearl, and some time later, Chillingworth, but
only at a distance. In the middle of the night, the letter A appears in the
sky and Dimmesdale takes it to represent adultery. However, the next
morning, a Sunday, the minister denies hearing of it, thus avoiding the
issue of his sin once again and continuing the congregation’s love for
him.
Dimmesdale meets Hester in private one last time in the forest. By
this chapter, the clergyman had undergone penance, but he has not yet
achieved penitence; he has suffered, he has not been absolved. “Of
penance I have had enough! Of penitence there has been none! Else, I
should long ago have thrown off these garments of mock holiness, and
shown myself to mankind as they will see at the judgment-seat.”(190)
While the rejected woman is becoming a lay saint, he is being
overwhelmed by his unacknowledged sinfulness. While she has liberated
herself, he is still trapped between his desires and his vows. This
encounter in the woods between “the pastor and his parishioner”
threatens to reawaken their veiled passion. “What we did had a
consecration of its own,”(190) Hester tells Dimmesdale. Their meeting
would shock and outrage, if it was known, his loyal following. The two
make plans to elope back to the Old World, but first the minister must
complete his duty of preaching the annual Election Sermon. In the
Election Sermon, Hawthorne brilliantly sets the stage for a closing scene
which releases the pent-up dramatic suspense.
At the end, just as in the beginning, the townspeople are present.
The parson gathers the crowd together for what will be his confession as
well as his farewell address. The clergyman calls Hester and Pearl to the
scaffold with him. He re-ascends the scaffold, bares his breast, and
exposes his own scarlet letter; Dimmesdale’s speech is not so much a
precept as an example. He at last publicly acknowledges the sin that he
has been hiding for so long. At this, Roger Chillingworth cried, “Thou
hast escaped me!”(253), for since Dimmesdale has finally repented, the
leech cannot have the minister’s soul as he had so desired. Pearl kisses
Dimmesdale and a spell that has caused him internal misery for so long
is broken. Pearl’s “errand as a messenger of anguish was all
fulfilled.”(254) Dimmesdale’s sin was finally released in the moment he
confessed publicly the wrong he had done. Dimmesdale had already
suffered his punishment, and he willingly yields up the life with its guilty
burden and his character is restored. By playing the hypocrite, he has
degraded his virtues into vices, and must pay heavily for his atonement.
As a result, a man that had fallen from uprightness, who had despised
himself while living a lie, becomes right with God and man. His parting
words are:
“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 bringing me hither, to die this death of
triumphant ignominy before the people! Had either of these
agonies been wanting, I had been lost for ever! Praised be His
name! His will be done! Farewell!”(254)
At this, the once deteriorated man is renewed in his trust in God. He
proclaims that God is merciful and he does so with a passion that had
long since been missing since the sin. Thus, Dimmesdale finally
achieves penitence and is reconciled before God and man.