The Scarlet Letter Section 4 Blog 4

In the conclusion of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I was surprised by the response of the townspeople to Mr. Dimmesdale's confession of sin and eventual death. Mr. Dimmesdale's revealing of a long kept secret took much strength and every last ounce of his breath, he didn't want to be misunderstood, but to clarify the misconception placed on him that he was flawless, holy, and pure. Hester, so long marked by her sin, suffers externally and internally humiliated by society for many years. Once Dimmesdale admits to his part in the same wrongdoing, some people are still hesitant to judge or disbelieving. This shows a major flaw in society and the unjust prejudice. A seemingly saintly man, who admits to error, will never be treated as hatefully and scorned as harshly as Hester who committed the same sin with him and has publicly bore shame ever since. It seems as though, nothing can fully take away all the respect the people have for the reverend, despite what he has done. "Neither, by their report, had his dying words acknowledged, nor even remotely implied, any, the slightest connection, on his part, with the guilt for which Hester Prynne had so long worn the scarlet letter,"(Hawthorne, 199). I was saddened to read that all the effort Dimmesdale put in to get his secret across ended up being so widely misunderstood and interpreted. Dimmesdale though, put in every last energy of life into his confession, owing it to everyone he was living a lie to and Hester who had kept quiet and endured for him so long.