The Scarlet Letter #3

     The Scarlet Letter was truly a fascinating novel. It managed to take us through an emotional journey by encompassing the emotions of all the major characters in each page. The sympathy for Hester Prynne was clearly established midway through the book, but what about the other two major characters: Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth? Who are readers more sympathetic towards? It is true that both characters have their points. Chillingworth comes to America to find his wife evolved in a public cheating scandal with a child that is not his. However, he vows to seek revenge upon his wife for the rest of his life, which eventually turned him into an evil man. Dimmesdale decides to betray God's rules and turn against his own beliefs by sinning. He chooses to allow Hester to receive all the punishments, along with the guilt and shame of the sin, instead of being a man and sharing the responsibility equally. However, I choose to feel more sympathetic towards Dimmesdale. Yes, he committed a sin and kept it a secret from the community. However, I believe he justifies his sin with the power of love. His secret love for Hester overcame him to the point that he could not be without her. Although he chose to not take the responsibility of bearing the punishment with Hester, he suffered in another way. Dimmesdale had to endure the guilt and shame by not being able to share his secret with anyone, not being able to be with Hester publicly or privately, and lastly not being able to fulfill the duties of being a father to Pearl. When one keeps a problem internally for a long period of time, eventually they burst. This is what happened with Dimmesdale. He could no longer keep his secret, and decided to confess his love for Hester and the fact that he was Pearl's father, before he died. It is hard to sympathize with Chillingworth, because he is the cause of all this. He chose to take revenge on Dimmesdale, keeping Hester away from her true lover, and depriving Pearl of her father.