Absolve You to Yourself, Pt. 2

This week, we continued to read The Scarlet Letter. As we observed Dimmesdale’s gradual psychological deterioration, we came to discuss his battle with his conscience and its underlying question: not just what is good or evil, but what is the right thing to do? 

Dimmesdale is obviously portrayed as a fundamentally good person, but his fatal flaw is that he never has the courage to confess his sins, to sully his reputation, or to go against the grain of society. However, I don’t think Dimmesdale’s sort of cowardice is necessarily repulsive. If he absolves his sins through confession, he will feel more comfortable with his conscience, but receive dire consequences from the townspeople; his internal comfort takes away from external comfort. 

Today, we consider wearing different clothes, being an “anti-bully”, and participating in non-stereotypical activities as our ways of “going against the crowd” -- activities that have comparatively undramatic consequences. It requires a huge leap of faith to make that kind of life-changing decision to forever be shunned by society, a leap of faith that a majority of people would not take. In fact, the grace with which Hester handles herself in that situation is incredible, and is only really possible in this fiction novel. Hester’s “sins” barely show that she is human, and Hawthorne points out her flaws almost as a show of her modesty -- for this reason, I find Dimmesdale to be infinitely more relatable as a character.