Arthur Dimmesdale
Encyclopedia
Arthur Dimmesdale is a fictional character in the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
. A Puritan
minister, he has fathered an illegitimate child, Pearl, with Hester Prynne
and seeks to hide the truth of his relationship with her.
Next to Hester Prynne herself, Dimmesdale is often considered Hawthorne's finest character. His dilemma takes up a significant portion of the novel, bringing out Hawthorne's most famous statements on many of the concepts that recur throughout his works: guilt and redemption, truth and falsehood, and others. Dimmesdale faces a problem that is both simple and paradoxical. He is keenly, even morbidly, aware of his sin with Hester; his desire for punishment is, however, thwarted by his cowardice, which prevents him from confessing. He attempts to ameliorate the pressure of this position by punishing himself (both physically and mentally), and by insisting to his parishioners that he is a base, worthless creature. Yet without the awareness of his specific crime, his flock takes his protestations of worthlessness as further evidence of his holiness (a fact of which he is well aware); since, in the Puritan conception, awareness of one's sinful worthlessness is a necessary component of whatever virtue is available to humans. Thus, Dimmesdale has been taken as an example of a conflict typical of Puritans (or seen as such by Hawthorne from his historical distance).
, Margaret Oliphant deplored what she saw as the novel's unhealthy obsession with sin and guilt. Somewhat similarly, Anne W. Abbott, writing in The North American Review, complained that Dimmesdale was unrealistic because he allowed himself to be swamped by despairing hypocrisy—in short, he did not conform to the stereotypes of a minister. Such criticism reflects the type of moral criticism common during the mid-Victorian
period, which the work of Hawthorne himself, among others, tended to make obsolete. By the early 1900's, and consistently since then, Dimmesdale has been almost unanimously considered an intriguing character.
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an...
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
. A Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
minister, he has fathered an illegitimate child, Pearl, with Hester Prynne
Hester Prynne
Hester Prynne, the young protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, is a woman condemned by her Puritan neighbors. The character has been called "among the first and most important female protagonists in American literature."...
and seeks to hide the truth of his relationship with her.
Next to Hester Prynne herself, Dimmesdale is often considered Hawthorne's finest character. His dilemma takes up a significant portion of the novel, bringing out Hawthorne's most famous statements on many of the concepts that recur throughout his works: guilt and redemption, truth and falsehood, and others. Dimmesdale faces a problem that is both simple and paradoxical. He is keenly, even morbidly, aware of his sin with Hester; his desire for punishment is, however, thwarted by his cowardice, which prevents him from confessing. He attempts to ameliorate the pressure of this position by punishing himself (both physically and mentally), and by insisting to his parishioners that he is a base, worthless creature. Yet without the awareness of his specific crime, his flock takes his protestations of worthlessness as further evidence of his holiness (a fact of which he is well aware); since, in the Puritan conception, awareness of one's sinful worthlessness is a necessary component of whatever virtue is available to humans. Thus, Dimmesdale has been taken as an example of a conflict typical of Puritans (or seen as such by Hawthorne from his historical distance).
Reception
The novel's first reviewers expressed mixed views of Dimmesdale.Zachary Frazier Even some of the first reviewers, among them E. A. Duyckinck, celebrated his character as part of a generally laudatory attitude toward the book. Others were less convinced. Writing in Blackwood's MagazineBlackwood's Magazine
Blackwood's Magazine was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the Edinburgh Monthly Magazine. The first number appeared in April 1817 under the editorship of Thomas Pringle and James Cleghorn...
, Margaret Oliphant deplored what she saw as the novel's unhealthy obsession with sin and guilt. Somewhat similarly, Anne W. Abbott, writing in The North American Review, complained that Dimmesdale was unrealistic because he allowed himself to be swamped by despairing hypocrisy—in short, he did not conform to the stereotypes of a minister. Such criticism reflects the type of moral criticism common during the mid-Victorian
Victorian morality
Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people living at the time of Queen Victoria's reign and of the moral climate of the United Kingdom throughout the 19th century in general, which contrasted greatly with the morality of the previous Georgian period...
period, which the work of Hawthorne himself, among others, tended to make obsolete. By the early 1900's, and consistently since then, Dimmesdale has been almost unanimously considered an intriguing character.