The Scarlet Letter 32

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter Seventeen

Entry Thirty-Two


Arthur Dimmesdale appears to be petrified. Due to the previous seven years he has become incredibly weak and lifeless. All the actions he does in the book are always motivated by someone else or happen in darkness. In the first scene he appears, the governor called on him to make Hester speak the sinner's name. Then, he moves with Chillingworth in a house because of the Puritans telling him to do so. The only self-initiated action was when he stepped on the scaffold - nightly. It might be the right step in the right direction, but still he is not fully convinced of what he is doing. If he was then he would have chosen the broad daylight to confess his sin. The plan to escape from Boston was also proposed by Hester. Dimmesdale is not able to make his own ideas because his mind is caught in shock about his pain. Maybe this is a sort of self-protection. Because if he was living in the here and now he would have to deal with his misery. This consciousness might kill him from the inside, so his body rather choses to live in trance than to die.