Guilt in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter Essay Example

"Sin is a transgression of a divine law"; as holy as one may be, they can still possess a corrupted mindset. Mr. Arthur Dimmesdale is a symbol of purity to the people of his colony; however his mind is filled with lust and sin whenever Hester Prynne gets there. In Natahniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the character of Reverend Dimmesdale is used to symbolize guilt, in order to show however Holy as one may be, one can still commit sins, unaddressed sins will in some form or fashion catch up to one's life.

Reverend Dimmesdale is the prime example of guilt, in the book The Scarlet Letter. Mr. Dimmesdale does not own up to the fact that he is the lover of the "outcast" Hester Prynne or is the father of the mischievous child Pearl. "Without any effort of his will, he shrieked aloud;...was beating back from one house to another and reverberated from the hills in the background as if a company of devils detecting so much misery and terror in it"... (Hawthorne 102). Reverend Dimmesdale is finally letting the guilt and sin intrude upon his heavy soul. He stands upon the scaffold, the same one whereas the mother of his child stood publicly humiliated and branded with the letter "A" for committing adultery. Little does Reverend Dimmesdale know that Hester and Pearl are watching as he privately punishes himself for the sin he has committed, whenever they stand with him he senses the love for Pearl yet when asked if he would stand with her mother and her on the scaffold he quickly denies and feels the remorse caused from it. “This feeble and most sensitive of spirits could do neither...in the same inextricable knot, the agony of heaven-defying guilt and vain repentance.” (Hawthorne 101). Reverend Dimmesdale punishes himself and is worsening himself due to the agony, which he is experiencing. The sin he committed is causing him to lose sleep, look paler than he already is, and begin to show signs of sleep deprivation and self-harm. After a while, however, signs of hope began showing " A great red letter in the sky, which we interpret to stand for Angel '' (Hawthorne 109). This quote would subsequently determine the path in which each character's fates would end, the situational irony gives the reader an idea that later on in the book tides will turn and sins will be paid for, but at a greater cost. 

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, the character of Reverend Dimmesdale is used to symbolize guilt in order to show that however Holy someone may seem or may be, one can still commit sins, in addition to that unaddressed sins will in some form or fashion catch up to one in the long run. Nathaniel Hawthrone's novel is not only a symbol of lust, guilt, and consequence but it is a great example of how at the end of everything there is still hope and forgiveness no matter the suffering and pain one endures throughout everything.

Work Cited 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter LSC Communications 2020. Print. 55-180.