Character Analysis of Dimmsdale in "Scarlett Letter"

The Character of Dimmsdale in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is one of many main characters and symbols. His appearance, actions, thoughts and statements, and personality not only bring out important events in the story, but they give the reader things to think about and lessons to learn. These things give you insights to the story and help you to understand what is happening. When added together, along with the symbols of the story, they support and make up the entire being of Dimmsdale’s character and his importance in the story.

Hawthorne gives you insight to both the outer and inner appearance of Dimmsdale throughout the story. At first, the author describes him as a youthful man with large, brown eyes, a white, lofty, impending brow, and “a mouth apt to be tremulous,” self-restraining, simple, and childlike. Dimmsdale’s child-like appearance reflects his fear of the punishment for his sin that makes him hide it from everyone he knows. He also appears to be innocent like a child to the public eye. By hiding his sin, he creates a “hidden A” that represents his tortured, guilty soul and his need to repent. Because of this, by the end of the book, he has become an elderly man in declining health; he no longer feels as innocent as he seems.

Through the appearance of Dimmsdale, the reader is given a look at how the public views him. Further into the story, however, Dimmsdale’s actions give different, varied views of his character. In chapter three, he questions Hester as she stands on the scaffold to be publicly shamed for her sin. He asks her to repent and identify the father of Pearl, her baby daughter and the product of her adultery. Just before this, he gave a silent prayer as if he did not want to question her. Later on, in chapter eight, he defends Hester’s right to keep Pearl. In chapter twelve, he cannot sleep because of the guilt and goes to stand on the scaffold. There he screams, hoping it will wake the people of the town so they will come and find him standing there, but no one comes. Hester and Pearl show up, and he invites them to stand on the scaffold with him. However, it is the middle of the night, therefore, his sin is not revealed to anyone. When Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, sees them there, his suspicions are justified and from there on it is obvious to both the reader and Chillingworth that Dimmsdale is Pearl’s father. Soon, in chapters, seventeen through nineteen, Hester meets with him in the forest and they plan to leave in a few days to England by ship. Finally, in chapter twenty-three, Dimmsdale goes to the scaffold during the day, calls up Pearl and Hester, and repents of his sin in front of everyone.

Dimmsdale’s thoughts and statements promote these actions and give the reader more of an ability to see the way he thinks, talks, and acts around others. When questioning Hester at the scaffold, he prophetically says,

“Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; though he were to step down from a high place, better it were so, than to hide a guilty heart through life.”

This tells his story in a single sentence.
In the forest, he talks to Hester and almost refuses to leave with her to England. He wants to stay and influence others, but his conscience bothers him and he says:

“The judgment of God is on me. It is too mighty for me to struggle with.”
In the end, he cannot help but confess and he stands on the scaffold and says:

“At this last moment, to do what – for my own heavy sin and miserable agony – I withheld from doing seven years ago, come hither now, and twine thy strength about me! Thy strength, Hester!”



“With all its mysterious horror, it is but the shadow of what I wear on my own breast.”

In these actions, statements, and some things not mentioned, a few things that the reader can consider main symbols in the story, stand out. The scaffold represents ultimate judgment, the hiding and revealing of sin. It is where three main events occur: in the beginning (questioning of Hester), middle (standing on the scaffold in the middle of the night with Hester), and end (repenting in front of the public). At each of these Dimmsdale is present and each has a changing and lasting effect on him and the people around him, as well as on the story line. Another symbol is the kiss. When Dimmsdale defends Hester’s right to keep Pearl, Pearl touches his face and he kisses her on the forehead. In the forest, he kisses Pearl; but when he will not face the public with Hester and Pearl, she runs to the creek and washes it off. Lastly, at the scaffold, when Dimmsdale repents, she kisses him and her tears fall on his face as a promise to control her own wild side. This is significant because, when she first touches him and he kisses her, it is the first clue to his being her father. When she washes the kiss off in the forest, it pushes him one-step closer to revealing the truth to the public. When Pearl kisses him on the scaffold just before he dies, that the symbol of acceptance changes her life and her mother’s forever. Both the scaffold and Pearl’s kiss are important symbols that help the reader to have more of an insight into Dimmsdale’s character.

By thinking about all these appearances, actions, statements, and symbols, the reader of this story can truly see into the character of Arthur Dimmsdale and how essential he is to the plot. Dimmsdale has both his good side and his bad side, but in the end, good prevails. He has committed a sin and hidden it for seven years because of his own needs. He hides it because he wants to have a good influence on people and does not want to lose that. He saw the way Hester was treated and was afraid of how people would treat him. At the beginning of the story, he is a smart, philosophical, sympathetic man, but by the end of the story, his love for Hester and his hiding his sin has led to the degrading and torture of his soul. In the end, his need to be a good example and his guilt leads him to repentance and true love for God. Knowing this, the reader learns lessons and cannot help but feel sorry for the character of Arthur Dimmsdale.