Scarlet Letter Word Purity

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Take a second and think about what the word purity means to you. In most cases, it means trust, honesty, courage, and will power. However, is this really what we see in most of society? The Puritan community is a great example to this question because of the great reflection how even the purest can be full of destruction. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the character Dimmesdale is a very well respected minister who is known for his intelligence and name in society. The true character of him later revealed is one that doesn’t have courage and is full of sin and lies, ironically contradicted what he is actually seen as through the communities eyes. Dimmesdale shows how even the most pure soul can be full of lies, evil, and…show more content…
When Dimmesdale and Hester plot their plan to escape one can infer here that this is actually showing the more soft side of Dimmesdale and support his actions, although it is Pearl that proves this statement wrong. She starts to have, “this wild outbreak with piercing shrieks, which the woods reverberated on all sides; so that, alone as she was in her childish and unreasonable wrath, it seemed as if a hidden multitude were lending her their sympathy and encouragement” (219). Her actions are symbolic to show that she had seen the truth to Dimmesdale and didn’t accept their plan nor was she happy with Dimmesdale. This once again shows how the character Dimmesdale develops is much different from what the author suggests at the beginning. Another example is when Dimmesdale is returning home. We can see a dramatic change in his personality which was once shy and depressed to where he would, “He overcame every obstacle with a tireless activeness that surprised him” (225). Although, this change bring out the evil in him that was once hidden. When an old man had congratulated him or his accomplishments, “Dimmesdale could barely keep himself from shouting blasphemies at this excellent and gray-haired deacon” (227).When he sees a beautiful young girl he thinks to himself, “He could destroy her innocence with just one wicked look and develop her lust with only a word”…show more content…
Dimmesdale displays the exact opposite of this when he is mentally and physically tortured by Chillingworth. A great example of this is when Dimmesdale asks Chillingworth where and why he had gotten weeds, in return Chillingworth replies he got them from a graveyard and, “they grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that was buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his lifetime” (135). From there they both get into a heated conversation where Chillingworth continues to try to get Dimmesdale to tell the truth but Dimmesdale continues to avoid the topic by replying with answers such as, “perchance, he earnestly desired it, but could not” (135) and, “But, now, I would ask of my well-skilled physician, whether, in good sooth, he deems me to have profited by his kindly care of this weak frame of mine?” (138). Instead of coming out with his sins and stepping up to the consequences he should be held with, Dimmesdale attempts to turn whatever questions he is asked back around to Chillingworth. This suggests that not only does Dimmesdale lack confidence in himself, but he also doesn’t have the courage or power inside him to reveal his true identity. This personality can be seen all throughout the book in several events. The irony of how this daring and strong person to the community but is actually soft and cannot be truthful shows how every person in
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