Dimmesdale's Confession in "The Scarlet Letter"

Paper Summary:

This paper is an exploration of the impact of speech and silence in the novel, "The Scarlet Letter." It pays special attention to the centrality of Dimmesdales' confession. The paper discusses the issues of sin and confession in the novel, with a unique approach to the meaning of sin to Hester and Dimmesdale. According to this author, Dimmesdale, and not Hester is the key to this story, since his silence and refusal to confess control the story, its outcome and as such, the development of the other characters.

From the Paper:

"Dimmesdale finds inspiration and power in the act of sin; he is most potent when he is most perverse. It is a passionate sexual transgression that produces Pearl; it is his failure to confess his adultery and the resultant hypocrisy that gives force to his sermons and gains him respect in the eyes of the community; his decision to leave with Hester and his sexual excitement "lent him unaccustomed physical energy" (2347); his incitement to do "some strange, wild, wicked thing" (2348) allows him to write "with earnest haste and ecstacy" a sermon "with such an impulsive flow of thought and emotion, that he fancied himself inspired" (2352)."

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• Book Review # 144934 : "Sin and Redemption in "The Scarlet Letter"

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