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. That pattern continues until Dimmesdale dies in an act of defiance, his public demonstration of guilt, which essentially leaves Chillingworth stripped bare of his power to punish or forgive.Arthur Dimmesdale in the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn was a pastor, respected by all and distrusted by none. And as the novel continues, Chillingworth seems to grow stronger while Dimmesdale seems to weaken. Like a leech, he's out to suck Dimmesdale of his life force, not just to punish the minister for the crime of fornicating with his wife, but also to symbolically appropriate Dimmesdale's virility. In Dimmesdale, he sees the vigor and passion which Hester desires and which he himself does not possess. Indeed, we get the feeling that Chillingworth's self-loathing allows him to forgive Hester, but this attribute also increases the relentlessness and rage with which he goes after Dimmesdale. After all, he is deformed, he is older, he has not been nearby, while she is beautiful and passionate. We sense that he understands why she would forsake him.

Chillingworth is surprisingly forgiving of Hester's crime.

One of the more compelling themes of the novel is embodied by Chillingworth, who seems the arbiter of moral judgment in the story, since Dimmesdale-the minister and the supposed purveyor of righteousness-is himself tainted as a party to the crime.

Dimmesdale's internal conflict quotes