Brittany Black Period 4 12/6/11

Arthur Dimmesdale: Secrets

Arthur Dimmesdale, a pivotal character in The Scarlet Letter maintains his secret, adulterous relationship with Hester even though it is hurtful to everyone. Arthur wants to keep his reputation clean even though the weight of the secret harms himself and everyone around him. Arthur keeps this secret because he believes that the worst thing he can do is come out with the truth. Arthur works as a clergy man, a man of God. The people in his parish look to him to entreat the safety and salvation of their souls. He believes that if the town found out that the man to set to set an example of righteousness fell succumb to the devils wiles, it could ruin his reputation, thus his life. The truth coming out could also alter the life of another pivotal character, Hester Prynne, who was his partner in sin. The town would blame Hester for leading the young, innocent minister into darkness. Life for Hester could become much worse, for her and her daughter. Arthur wanted to protect the people he loved by keeping the secret, but in keeping it he slowly erodes the lives of those around him. Because of his lie Hester has to raise Pearl as a single mother, and Pearl is denied the love of a father. This absence embodies itself in the darkness so frequently found in Pearl. Hester s husband, Roger makes it his whole mission in life to find the father of Pearl. This miserable mission, in its consumption, eats at Roger s soul until it becomes indistinguishable from the monster that Hester sees in him. The person who suffers most is Arthur himself. Not only does he do physical harm to himself, because of his secret, but that same secret also kills him from within. Dimmesdale would rather hold on to his secret for the

Brittany Black Period 4 12/6/11

good of others even though, even though he can t see how much it actually hurts all those involved. The story doesn t put much emphasis, if any at all on the actual sin of Arthur Dimmesdale. Instead it focuses on the consequences on keeping the secret of the sin. If Arthur had come out with his secret then he could have had the privileges of having a genuine family. Instead he to his secret and paid for it with the marriage of Chillingworth, the childhood of his daughter, Pearl. He paid with all the years Hester could have spent with people that accepted and loved her, and he paid for it with the biggest price of all his life, all to keep his secret.