![]() The timing of the voyage enables him to give the Election Sermon, an opportunity he can use to terminate his career "honorably." Furthermore, a vessel currently in the harbor is soon sailing for England, and Hester will discreetly secure their passage for a departure in four days. He is not healthy enough to endure a life in the forest converting natives, and Europe offers more civilization and refinement. Turning over their plan in his mind, he believes that going to Europe is the better choice. When he looks back, he sees Hester weighed down with sadness and Pearl dancing because he is gone. The Reverend's condition worsened until his final confession scene.Dimmesdale leaves the forest first, almost believing what has transpired has been a dream. Nothing could heal his heart and mend his soul, but an honest confession, a verbal outpouring of his sin. 103) This was a sin in and of itself the sin of deception. However, even though the outward appearance of his transgression was clear to the reader, the other characters in the book took this decline of his health, and constant anguish as humility and sacrifice: "They deemed the young man a miracle of holiness (pg. Reverend Dimmesdale was constantly griping at his breast as well (96). Even near the beginning of the novel, Dimmesdale's body was starting to deteriorate: "He looked now more careworn and emaciated than as we described him at the scene of Hester's public ignominy" (83). As he watched Hester Prynne constantly be the object of humiliation, his inward judgment grew harsher. His saintliness was struggling with his sinfulness. The Reverend's sin was eating him from the inside out. Hawthorn reveals both the former and the latter through Reverend Dimmesdale's deteriorated physical appearance, his ever constant inward changes, relationships with other characters, and his struggles with his iniquity.Īrthur Dimmesdale's physical appearance in this novel directly portrays the condition of his conscience. Dimmesdale lead two lives: that of a saint and that of a sinner. No matter how much he tried to hide this fact, the sin of adultery blackened his heart and soiled his purity. ![]() However, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale was a mortal. This Reverend guided his congregation along their spiritual walks their pathways to heaven. Arthur Dimmesdale in the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn was a pastor, respected by all and distrusted by none. ![]()
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