Scarlet Letter Essay

Ryan Thomas Amer. Lit. Hon., Per ¾ 10/10/07 Scarlet Letter Character Analysis A Seven-Year Fuse What truly concerns society? From watching or reading the daily news, one might conclude that the average person frets more over which celebrity has most recently and scandalously fallen from public grace, than about maintaining their own integrity. Though many can claim virtue, the majority of the country prefers to ignore personal responsibility, instead opting to thrive on the faults of others. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale does not follow this foolish trend; rather, he focuses only on his own flaws, to the point of self-destruction. Indeed, if one trait of Dimmesdale’s stands out beyond all others, it must be his repentant, anguished soul. From his first appearance, Dimmesdale proves uncommonly accepting of his neighbors’ faults. Though his actions cannot negate his sin, he approaches Hester not with the contempt he reserves for other sinners (especially himself); instead, he gently and compassionately attempts to elicit from her a confession (which, ironically, would be to reveal his crime). “If thou feelest it to be for thy soul’s peace…speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner (63)!” He never criticizes her, never once degrades her, though even being himself as guilty as Hester, the minister could easily do so; he would not be the first. When President Clinton faced a similar situation, concerning his sexual relations with an intern, he criticized the intern and lied when questioned about the topic. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, gently and considerately urges Hester to forgo his reputation and prestige to help her situation: “though he were to step down from a high

(2 place…better it were so (63).” Dimmesdale would rather sacrifice himself than allow others to suffer. The Reverend’s mercy and empathy again surface during his conference with the Governor, Rev. Wilson, and Chillingworth concerning Pearl’s fate. As Hester pleads to keep her daughter in her care, Dimmesdale decides, not to allow he to suffer the one true sorrow left to her, but to intervene, and secure for Hester her right to raise Pearl, and in doing so, to possibly repent for her shameful deed. “For Hester Prynne’s sake…let us leave them [together] (106)!” His merciful deed reflects his kind nature; his reasoning reflects his brilliant mind; but most of all, his warmth towards the woman who, by his own reckoning, has allowed his burden to grow each day, as hers lessens, borders on saintly. Any other man so restrained from his daughter and estranged from his partner would just as soon take any excuse to inflict pain upon his former lover; instead, Dimmesdale yet again saves Hester from a cruel fate. Later, he repeats his pattern of blessing his persecutors: