Hypocrisy in "The Scarlet Letter"

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the struggles that Dimmesdale goes through to keep his reputation as a loyal and honest minister in the Puritan community. The paper gives examples of the things that Dimmesdale is exposed to, using actual quotes from the novel.

From the Paper:

"The character, Dimmesdale is first introduced while Hester Prynne is publicly being criticized on a scaffold in front of the entire Puritan community. The role Dimmesdale plays in this scene is the "remorseful hypocrite" (Brodhead, 157). Melissa McFarland Pennell of the Student Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne on pages 67-87 explains that, Dimmesdale presents himself to his congregation one way while he reveals another in private; this concealment reflects hypocrisy in Dimmesdale's character. His congregation sees him as saintly and as the perfect husband for some village maiden. Dimmesdale goes to great pain to keep this image, even though showing signs of inner struggle. He knows the truth and longs to expose it, naming himself "a pollution and a lie." Michael J. Colacurcio who wrote, "Footsteps of Ann Hutchinson: The Context of The Scarlet Letter" in the book, Modern Critical Interpretations, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter page 21 says, "He is an enforcing agent of public discipline who has himself sinned against a clear and serious public law whose absolute validity he (unlike Hester) never questions for a moment; and who refuses to confess and submit the to discipline he has sworn by a covenant to uphold and enforce""

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