The Power of Falling

How do we justifiably define good and evil? Is a soldier following orders to defend his country a hero, or a murderous foreigner? This theme of right and wrong, light and dark, is played out by Nathaniel Hawthorne throughout The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne makes us question whether the characters were victims of circumstance or truly corrupt by their sins. The novel consistently makes the readers go back and forth between praising the characters and routing for their happy ending, only to be pushed in the other direction believing that they are underdeveloped and in need of punishment for their sins. Out of the four main dynamic characters, Arthur Dimmesdale is the most sympathized of them because of the agony and torment he experiences caused by never admitting to his sin. He is argued to be a good man who did wrong and deserves redemption by some, bit in truth he is the representation of how any man or woman can be corrupted by evil.

There are readers who believe he is just a victim who was blinded by his love for Hester and his yearning to know his daughter. He knows he and Hester would have been hanged had the colony found out about him being the father, one could assume he keeps quiet so that Pearl and her mother are safe. During the first scaffolding scene when the men are trying to get Hester to reveal the father’s name Arthur says:

“Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life” (Hawthorne 62).

In this quote Dimmesdale is practically begging Hester to say his name, he wants her to tell the townspeople so he does not have to. When he says “than to hide a guilty heart through life” he is foreseeing what would become of him if his sin isn’t voiced and in the open. He knows he needs to tell and he wants to but he is afraid of what would become of him and his new family so he leaves his fate to Hester allowing her the opportunity to out the truth. He can be viewed as a good man with a clean heart in this scene judging off how he doesn’t completely want to stay in the dark regarding his role in Hester’s sin. During the custody scene he also steps in to convince the men that Hester and Pearl belong together and they have no rightful reason to take away what God gave Hester. He states “herein is the sinful mother happier than the sinful father. For Hester Prynne’s sake, then, and no less the poor child’s sake, let us leave them as Providence hath seen fit to place them” (Hawthorne 106). He acknowledges that because Hester has Pearl she has a reason to be happy and live on while the father has nothing, and he finishes his persuasion by insinuating that they should leave the family as is because that is how the Lord wanted them to be.

In truth Arthur is a representation of how even the mighty can fall. He proves that no one person is immune to the lures of sin and the corruption of evil that taints every person. Dimmesdale made may bad decisions that were caused by the repercussions of his sin. It is human nature to try and protect oneself but Dimmesdale is continually only thinking about himself through the whole novel causing Hester and Pearl pain in the process. In chapter 11, Arthur attempts to tell his communion his sins but in the end after stating that he is “a biker companion of the vilest, the worst of sinners, an abomination, a thing of unimaginable iniquity” the people of the church believed him all the more a saint (Hawthorne 134). He know how they would react to his “confession” as he spoke, this proves he is a hypocrite saying he wants redemption and the be open yet he hides behind all of his lies and deceit. In the last scaffold scene, Dimmesdale chooses to profess his sin to the waiting crowd and as he attempts to ascend the stairs he says to Hester “is not this better…than what we dreamed of in the forest”( Hawthorne 238). Instead of escaping to England to life a full life and raise their daughter in a happy, loving environment Dimmesdale chooses to risk the lives of those he ‘loves’ just so he can release the pressure from his heart. As he is dying he murmurs “had either of these agonies been wanting, I had been lost forever” this shows more proof of how selfish Arthur has became throughout the novel.

Unlike Pearl and Hester, Arthur Dimmesdale’s character went through a decline as opposed to a growth encouraged by learned lessons and personal acceptance. Instead he went from a good man who made a bad decision, to a man who let his sin dictate his actions and corrupt his beliefs. He became a selfish man who loved himself more than the woman who readily endured the hatred of the town to protect him and even his own daughter. His hypocrisy grew too as he kept talking of redemption and penitence, as he punished himself in secret, and as he put off time and again holding Pearls hand on the scaffold and passed up opportunities to confess. His actions caused his sympathised, beloved character to become hated and disrespected.