EMT essay

Annie Mehigan

October 4th, 2014

Mrs. Lowe

Honors American Literature (A Block)

English Journal #3

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale, a highly respected minister,

faces a life­altering decision: to confess that he is the father of Hester Prynn's infant child and be

damned to eternal Hell, or live a life of constant culpability. Had Dimmesdale been less of a coward, he

would have trudged his guilty feet up on to the scaffold on day one and asserted his role as the father,

regardless of the consequences that would have resulted. Having confessed, Dimmesdale would have a

chance at a life with the woman he loves the daughter they share. Having confessed, Dimmesdale would

not suffer the physical ailments that accompanied his guilty state. Having confessed, Dimmesdale would

not be living seven years of lies. Though Dimmesdale does eventually confess, the seven years he spent

living a secret life of sin contribute to his death; had he stood on the scaffold with his family seven years

prior, his demise may not have occurred. The self­harm, the loss of sanity, the eternal guilt that resulted

from Dimmesdale's cowardliness­ basically the seven years of hell that resulted­ none of this would

have taken place had Dimmesdale stepped forward. Had Dimmesdale mounted up the courage and

confessed that one pivotal day on the scaffold, he would not be standing there seven years later, facing

his death. Even Hester wouldn't be suffering alone. She wouldn't be this ostracized social outcast;

someone would be suffering with her. Even Pearl, one of the only Puritan children without a father

figure, would have answers as to where she came from. Chillingworth would not have had to drive

himself mad trying to discover if, in fact, Dimmesdale was the father. Had Dimmesdale confessed, his...