One-Sided Story

By David G

Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, is a brilliant story about truth

and love. He wrote The Scarlet Letter during a time in the 19th century

when romantic literature was popular in America. His tale dwells on the

sin of adultery in a Puritan village. The first character that Hawthorne puts

to life is Hester Prynne, a young bride awaiting her husband. Next,

Hawthorne suspiciously sneaks Arthur Dimmesdale into the plot, an

inspired Puritan minister who is beloved by the citizens. After Hawthorne

reveals Dimmesdale's sinister secret, and link to Hester, it is noticeable that

Dimmesdale does not have the love for Hester as she holds for him.

It is obvious from the beginning that Hester loves Dimmesdale.

When she is being grilled for the identity of the father of her child in front

of the entire village, she cares for him enough to refuse to reveal his

identity. When offered the chance to remove the scarlet letter "A" if she

would only speak his name and repent, she stands up to the crowd and

refuses to give in to its pressure. Another noticeable feature of her love for

Dimmesdale is that she remains in the village as an outcast rather than

fleeing to a more accepting environment, where she might possibly live a

normal life. According to the narrator, she could not leave this place

because; "there trode the feet of one with whom she deemed herself

connected in a union, that, unrecognized on earth, would bring them

together before the bar of final judgment". She realizes that she cannot

lead a normal life in this community with Dimmesdale, but even so, she

cannot bring herself to leave him. This is evidence of her love for him.

Hester endures pain and torment alone, without even the support of

her partner in sin. Even so, she still feels more anguish over being the

cause of Dimmesdale's pain than she does for the humiliation of being

branded impure before her community. As she states herself, under

questioning by the ministers before the town "...and would that I might

endure his agony, as well as mine!". That she should feel guilt for causing

him pain when he was as much involved as she was proves how deeply she

does love him.

Hester would love to escape her punishment, but only if she can still

be with Dimmesdale. While conversing with Dimmesdale alone in the

forest where no one can overhear, she brings up the idea of fleeing with

him, and living a life full of love with him in another land. She says "So

brief a journey would bring thee from a world where thou hast been most

wretched, to one where thou mayest still be happy." The world she is

talking about here is a world deeper along the forest trail where they can

freely express their love for one another. When he seems hesitant to take

that path, she suggests another route of escape. "Then there is the broad

pathway of the sea!...It brought thee hither. If thou so choose, it will bear

thee back again." Hester is willing to give up her newfound acceptance as

'healer', from the villagers in a moment to win a chance to live in happiness

with a man who has so far shown her little support.

Hester also shows her love for Dimmesdale with her courage in

confronting Roger Chillingworth with her intent to warn Dimmesdale of

the threat Chillingworth poses him. She is willing to break the vow of

secrecy she has made to Chillingworth, saying "I must reveal the

secret...He must discern thee in thy true character...this long debt of

confidence, due from me to him, whose bane and ruin I have been, shall at

length be paid". She knows that Chillingworth is a plotting, revengeful

man, whose physical deformity reflects the evil content of his heart. Again

she is standing up for the man she loves. In the same conversation, Hester

tries to shift Chillingworth's 'vengeance in disguise' off the man she loves

and onto herself. She asks him "It was I, not less than he. Why hast thou

not avenged thyself on me?"

Other examples of Hester's undying devotion include the description

of what a loving person Hester is, when the narrator states "Hester's nature

showed itself warm and rich; a well-spring of human tenderness." With

her nature revealed as naturally loving, it is easy to see why she is so

devoted to Dimmesdale. Later, just before she tells Dimmesdale about the

threat living in his own house, the narrator refers to Dimmesdale as the

man she "still so passionately loved." As revealed by the narrator after

Hester stands with Dimmesdale on the scaffold when the scarlet letter

appears in the sky, "She decided, moreover, that he had a right to her

utmost aid...Hester saw--or seemed to see--that there lay a responsibility

upon her, in reference to the clergyman, which she owed to no other, nor to

the whole world besides." Apparently, she even values him more than her

own daughter Pearl.

The question posed is whether or not her love is returned. In other

words, does this man, Dimmesdale, feel the same love for Hester that

Hester obviously feels for him? Throughout the story, Dimmesdale gives

every indication that he does not truly love Hester. The first indication is

his refusal to admit guilt and to stand with Hester and help support her

daughter Pearl. One of the ministers at Hester's public questioning, John

Wilson, quotes Dimmesdale as opposing him "with a young man's over-

softness" by saying "that it were wronging the very nature of woman to

force her to lay open her heart's secrets in such broad daylight, and in the

presence of so great a multitude." He thinks that Dimmesdale is being

sensitive to Hester's feelings, when he is in fact protecting himself. He is

worried that, if pushed too hard, Hester might reveal his identity. He does

not do this out of a fear for his life, but instead out of a fear of losing his

position of respect. After she refused to speak, Dimmesdale "drew back,

with a long respiration. 'Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's

heart! She will not speak!'." He is obviously very relieved that she would

not reveal his role in the sin. His sigh of relief at his own safety contrasts

unfavorably with his lack of sighs over Hester's suffering.

While Dimmesdale does torture himself in private even to the point

of death, he is unwilling to face the total rejection that Hester is forced to

bear alone. He does not show the courage and devotion that Hester does in

the face of public humiliation. Throughout Hester's entire ordeal,

Dimmesdale lends her his support only once, to keep the town leaders

from taking Pearl, his daughter, away from his former lover. He never

forgives Hester, or gives her gifts of money or anything material or

immaterial to sustain her in her residence in the woods. He blames Hester

for concealing Chillingworth's identity , saying "Woman, thou art

accountable for this! I cannot forgive thee!" Hester never even blamed

Dimmesdale for making her take the public punishment alone, while he

cannot even forgive her fear of her husband.

When Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest and throws her arms

around him, she begs him for forgiveness. Hawthorne says: "He would

have released himself, but strove in vain to do so. Hester would not set him

free." This is similar to Dimmesdale's actions throughout the story. All he

wishes is to be free of Hester, so that he can return to his successful role as

a minister, without constant self-doubt. Just after this quote, Hawthorne

speaks of how the whole world and even heaven itself had frowned upon

her; "But the frown of this pale, weak, sinful, and sorrow-stricken man was

what Hester could not bear and live!" She cares more about Dimmesdale

than she does about her own soul or position in life. He seems to care

more about himself and about escaping from her.

Another noticeable action of Dimmesdale's that leads to the

conclusion that he does not love Hester is that he is unworried about the

state of her soul. He leads her on in the forest, claiming love and agreeing

to run away to another place with her and Pearl, but his actions do not

show him doing this. He knows in his heart that he never really intended

to leave with her. It is likely that he knew he was dying already. Right

before Dimmesdale dies in Hester's arms, she asks him if they will spend

eternity together. He replies that after their sin, "it was thenceforth vain to

hope that we could meet hereafter in everlasting and pure reunion." He

thinks that he is going to heaven because of the suffering he has undergone

for his part in the sin. It can be inferred from this that he must think that

Hester is going to Hell. He doesn't feel for her enough to realize that her

suffering was as great, if not greater, than his own.

Hester spends seven selfless years concerned with Dimmesdale's

well-being, and he likewise spends seven years concerned about his well-

being. He feels that his self-inflicted physical pain is enough to deliver

him from the guilt of their shared sin. She is willing to be punished in this

life and in God's kingdom for him, and really acknowledges no sin. Maybe

the fact that Hester feels his pain so deeply, while he denies the existence

of her pain, and concentrates solely on himself, proves that her love for

him is not returned.

The meeting between Hester and Dimmesdale in the woods left

another trail of crumbs behind Dimmesdale's lie. One of Hester's most

joyous moments occurred when she was able to present her fellow sinner

his creation. He reacted and said; "Thou canst not think, how my heart

dreads this interview, and yearns for it!" Dimmesdale seems to dread

meeting the symbol of his seven years of agony. And he looks at Pearl in

that image, as a monster he cannot face. The reason he yearns for the

encounter is simple, he wants to free his soul before he is to die. He does

not yearn for her presence to quench his anxiety towards absent

fatherhood, which would be the motive taken by a caring person.

Hawthorne's description of Dimmesdale's stroll out of the woods

and into the town gives an indication that Dimmesdale not only lacks a

place in his heart for Hester, but thinks that she is an accomplice of the

devil. On his journey through the town, he sees an "obtrusive sense of

change" cast upon everything he passes. Hawthorne implies that

Dimmesdale's encounter with Hester forces his character to undergo "a

total change of dynasty and moral code." Dimmesdale notices his inward

decay after "every step he was incited to do some strange, wild, wicked

thing or another." Dimmesdale does not understand his sudden change,

"What is it that haunts and tempts me thus?" he asks himself. Finally,

Dimmesdale makes an assumption that he would like to believe, "Did I

make a contract with him(the devil) in the forest, and sign it with my

blood?" Why would Dimmesdale want to believe Hester was an agent of

the devil? First, if Hester was evil, then it would have not been his fault

that he had been so strongly tempted, he would be rid of blame. Also,

Dimmesdale would feel noble for resisting Hester's bid of a new life and

confessing his temptation towards sin before the congregation. The fact

that Dimmesdale was questioning whether Hester was evil or not implies

that he wasn't even thinking about loving her. While Hester constantly

forgives and blesses Dimmesdale, showing her devotion towards him,

Dimmesdale displays no signs towards an involvement in her life, a

gesture that her love is not returned.