Living in a world where people jump at the slightest opportunity to criticise one’s actions, it is no surprise when we often hear esteemed people in our society castigated for an error which can be considered inevitable to human nature. The same blood flow through all men including those whose duty is to set the order of human behavior in the society and those who are expected to follow them. Although much power is entrusted into the hands of those who are appointed to lead in the society, they are susceptible to making the same mistakes they often times punish other people for committing. In the book THE SCARLET LETTER , the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is punished by the consequences of his adulterous affair with Hester Prynne. Even though Dimmesdale can be defined as a hypocrite or a mysterious man, it doesn’t change the fact that he is a good man. Those can just be considered as imperfections which naturally occur in every man. Dimmesdale’s determination to confess his sin anytime he mounted the stage to preach, his self induced punishment for the inability to confess his sin, his excellent execution of his role as a minister and his final confession suggest that Dimmesdale although has some moral deficiencies is a good man.
Reverend Dimmesdale does not seek to make Hester suffer alone. It has always been his desire to confess his sin. After several attempts “ more than once , Dimmesdale had gone into the pulpit with a purpose never to come down its steps, until he should have spoken words of the above” (Hawthorne 130). Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale was a good man and couldn’t bear the burden cast on his own soul by no confessing his sins. He always wanted to confess his sin whenever he mounted the stage. Unlike Chillingworth who is marked by revenge and hatred, the Dimmesdale is has a soft kind heart which couldn’t bear his sin. It was also Dimmesdale’s kindness of heart and his thirst for righteousness which made it unbearable for him to see Hester suffer alone;hence, his determination to confess to vindicate himself.
Besides Dimmesdale’s determination to confess his sin, the torture he exerted on himself forces the reader to have pity for the poor Preacher. Dimmesdale punishes himself because of his secret sin as “He kept vigils, likewise, night after night, sometimes in utter darkness ; sometimes with a glimmering lamp; and sometimes,viewing his own face in a looking glass, by the most powerful light which he could throw upon it” (Hawthorne 131). Dimmesdale’s kindness couldn’t allow him rest in the dark while Hester suffered in the night. He was struggling with public confession, but because he was a good man and couldn’t stand it , he resorted to punishing himself. He deliberately kept late night vigils and sometimes even went as far as smiting himself with a rod.
Not only this but also, Dimmesdale is a good man because of his excellent execution of his role as a minister and his final confession.The principles of the Bible on which the foundations of the Puritan society was built points out clearly none is righteous but the Almighty God. Although dimmesdale had sinned, he still carried out his duties as a minister diligently and even touched more lives with his powerful sermons. Nonetheless, he was not satisfied with his powerful sermons but always yearned to confess his sin when finally mastered courage to say “ I stand upon the spot where,seven years since, i should have stood;here, with this woman, whose arm, more than the little strength wherewith I have crept hitherward, sustains me,at this dreadful moment, from grovelling down upon my face!Lo, the scarlet letter which Hester wears!”(Hawthorne 233). Some people might argue that Dimmesdale was evil because he allowed Hester to go through her ignominy for seven years before confessing. Even if Dimmesdale had confessed earlier, it still wouldn’t had saved Hester from public disgrace. He had taken too long, but his courage to do it on the most important day of his life as a minister and also on the Puritan calendar means he is a good man who can’t deal with sin.
As some might argue that dimmesdale is corrupt and evil because of his sin and the lengthy time it took for him to confess, the number of lives he touched with his powerful sermons after his sin, his self induced punishment as a way of suffering with Hester, and finally his confession on the election day means he is a good man who can’t stand evil. His goodness is also shown in his forgiveness of Chillingworth. Dimmesdale prays to God to forgive Chillingworth his sins ,and this shows that Dimmesdale is a really good person. Hester and Dimmesdale’s sin will serve as a lesson for the Puritan society. It has come to set so many sinners free. Due to Dimmesdale’s sin , human happiness is easier to obtain than in the rigid rules of the Puritan society. These were people who didn’t have a voice or anyone to talk to, but for the people to finally know that a man as honourable as Rev Dimmesdale is capable of sinning has given hope to the helpless and has changed the Puritan perception of Righteousness for good.