How does dimmesdale change in the scarlet letter

These actions filled him full of vengeance soon making him into a fiend. The Devil knew it well, and fretted it continually with the touch of his burning finger! Dimmesdale explains that there has been a mark on his chest that only God and the devil have known about until now. He is about to repent to the congregation so that everyone will know about his sin instead of just him and Hester. It was revealed! In the end, he overcomes the crucible by releasing himself from his guilt of adultery and becomes a true tragic hero.

John Proctor is an honest, intelligent and righteous man. Unlike many in Salem, Proctor is not afraid of the Church's authoritarianism, because he does not see the true value of it. The Scarlet Letter shows many types of sin.

Some is only sin in the Puritan eye, some is internally blamed sin and some is sin only defined back in the time period of pre-Romanticism. Nathaniel Hawthorn gives each one very different a consequence and remedy for each ones sin.

Hester is publicly punished right away, Dimmesdale has to dwell on his sin for years and Chillingworth is punished abruptly when his sin comes to an end.

With a private guilt that Dimmesdale has, it is like torture to himself because every day he knows he has committed an unlawful act that he should be punished for. It emotionally changes Roger as person, because he turns into a real evil person who is fill with hate and revenge, after he realize that his wife, Hester, had an affair and a baby with someone else.

With this private guilt that Dimmesdale has within him, it starts to take a toll on his health, because his guilt builds up to a point where he psychologically and physically tortures himself. Of course, this sin could not be committed alone.

His partner was Hester Prynne. Hester was caught with the sinning only because she had a child named Pearl. The Godly beliefs and punishments followed by the Puritans stemmed from their English experience and complete involvement in religion. The Puritan society molded itself and created a government based upon the Bible and implemented it with force. Even after her death, her identity will always be bound up with the fateful choice she made.

Ace your assignments with our guide to The Scarlet Letter! SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Did Hester ever love Chillingworth? What type of work does Chillingworth take on in New England? What does Dimmesdale believe he sees when the meteor lights up the night sky? How does Pearl react when she first sees her mother without the scarlet A? What makes Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale finally feel hope about their future? As a minister, Dimmesdale must be above reproach, and there is no question that he excels at his profession and enjoys a reputation among his congregation and other ministers.

His soul aside, he does do good works. His ministry aids people in leading good lives. If he publicly confesses, he loses his ability to be effective in this regard.

For Dimmesdale, however, his effectiveness betrays his desire to confess. The more he suffers, the better his sermons become. The more he whips himself, the more eloquent he is on Sunday and the more his congregation worships his words. Nevertheless, Hawthorne states in Chapter 20, "No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true. Dimmesdale's struggle is dark and his penance is horrifying as he tries to unravel his mystery.

In Chapter 11, "The Interior of a Heart," Dimmesdale struggles with his knowledge of his sin, his inability to disclose it to Puritan society, and his desire for penance. He knows his actions have fallen short of both God's standards and his own, and he fears this represents his lack of salvation.

In an attempt to seek salvation, he fasts until he faints and whips himself on the shoulders until he bleeds. But these punishments are done in private rather than in public and do not provide the cleansing Dimmesdale seeks and needs.

As a sinner, he is weakened to temptation. As demonstrated later, his weakened condition makes it easier for him to associate himself with the Black Man in the forest. His congregation expects him to be above other mortals, and his life and thoughts must exist on a higher spiritual plane than others. Accordingly, his wonderful sermons are applauded by all for a reason his listeners don't understand: Sin and agony have enabled the intellectual scholar-minister to recognize and empathize with other sinners.