People change throughout their lifetimes. Whether it is a physical change or an emotional change no one is the exact same from when they were born. Everyone changes drastically throughout their lifetime, even in the mid-17th century. The character Dimmesdale starts off pretending like he has no recognition, to being driven crazy by guilt, then he works his way to admitting to his sin. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the main characters, Reverend Dimmesdale, changes significantly throughout the three scaffold scenes that appear in the novel.

In the beginning of the novel, Dimmesdale appears to be a holy man and is the spiritual leader of the town that is portraying to be a character who would never even think of committing any sin that would be horrific during this time period. Dimmesdale is chosen to try and investigate Hester and find out who Hester’s partner in crime is. Dimmesdale prays before he goes to talk to Hester, “The Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale bent his head, in silent prayer, as it seemed, and then came forward” (Hawthorne 46). He prays, like any minister would do constantly throughout the day, before he begins to scorn Hester. Dimmesdale tries to ask Hester questions about who she had an affair with, when he says, “I charge thee to speak out the name of the fellow- sinner and fellow sufferer” (Hawthorne 47). The Reverend continues to try to discern who was guilty of committing the crime, even though he is completely aware of who was guilty of committing the crime. He is very gifted at concealing his knowledge and he is also very convincing because his words are believed to be the truth, this is shown when he says, “So powerful the minister’s appeal, that the people couldn’t believe but that Hester Prynne would speak out the guilty name” (Hawthorne 47). The townspeople believe anything he says because of the high ranking position he has in the church. The guilt soon changes the character Dimmesdale is portraying in the novel.
During the time of the second scaffold scene in the book the Reverend has already been driven insane because of the guilt. The act of hiding his sin was constantly a thought in the back of Dimmesdale’s mind, this is shown when he says, “He had been driven hither by the impulse of Remorse which dogged him everywhere” (Hawthorne 101). Because of this guilt he got out of bed one night and went to the scaffold in the center of the town in the middle of the night. The guilt he deals with throughout each day is so intense that he drove himself crazy, one example in the novel is, “Without and effort of his will, or power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud” (Hawthorne 102). Dimmesdale can no longer control his actions. Now that Dimmesdale has been keeping this secret to himself this whole time and has been living with the guilt his mind starts playing tricks on him, this is shown in the novel when he says, “For on instance he believed that these words had passed his lips. But they were uttered only in his imagination” (Hawthorne 103). The Reverend is now to the point where he thinks he is talking aloud but in reality he is only thinking to himself. Further along in the novel the guilt continues to change Dimmesdale.

The third and final change occurs at the end of the story when Dimmesdale can no longer hide his sin and has to come clean. The Priest stands in front of all his people and proclaims that he too has been a sinner but he kept it a secret from everyone and says, “For my own heavy sin and miserable agony- I withheld from doing seven years ago” (Hawthorne 173). He explains that he has known who Hester’s fellow sinner was since the occurrence of the original incident seven years ago. With everyone in the town watching, Dimmesdale proceeds to bring forth the name of Pearl’s father, when he says, “I stand upon the spot where seven years ago, I should of stood” (Hawthorne 174). The Priest admits that he was the one who had an affair with Hester, and that he should have stood on the scaffold with her to receive a punishment as well. The Reverend still believes that his sin can be forgiven no matter the time of the incident and when he was asking for forgiveness, this is shown when he says, “He hath proved his mercy, most of all, in my afflictions” (Hawthorne 175). The Reverend has come clean, admitting his sin that he had hid for so long and now wishes that God would forgive him. Hiding his sin is what drove this man to change from what he was to what he is now.

All in all, Dimmesdale was very successful in keeping his secrets under lock and key, but he still had fear someone would find out and drove him to insanity. Everyone sins, but one should confess his sin and be forgiven, because trying to sins, little or small, is near to impossible for the simple reasons that tongues slip or guilt get the best of everyone. Secrets can be hidden from most, but everything is seen through the all knowing eye. The Reverend’s actions causes him to change from a holy minister hiding a deep dark secret, to a man going insane till he can no longer hold back what ties him down to the ever burning flame called Hell.





Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Dover Thrift Editions, 1944. 180. Print.