Hester, in the book The Scarlet Letter, will not say directly who
the father of her "sin-baby" is. She has betrayed her husband, Roger
Chillingworth and as he and everyone else in the Puritanical community demands
a name, she refuses repeatedly. So far
in the book, only one other mister has been identified and described
thoroughly. His name is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Everyone in the community
respects him as a young scholar, as a success. Although, as we get a full
description of his appearance and a slight glimpse at his inner feelings, he is more nervous-- despite his honorable
fame. So it only makes sense that he would be the father of Pearl.
It seems as if
everyone in the town is very secure with their faith and actions. The only
others are Hester, Pearl and apparently
Mr. Dimmesdale. But, my guess is that because of his great reputation that the
others are blinded to see "a startled, half-frightened look" that
showed in his appearance. They also did not notice as he pauses in reluctance
to speak to Hester in that public place as he bows his head. The narrator
described it as, "The Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale bent his head, in silent
prayer, as it seemed, and then came forward." I believe that his
"silent prayer" asked for strength to not blow his cover and for
restraint from coming clean and declaring himself guilty. He is a good man, and
that is encouraged in the description, so his guilt and his faith together most
likely takes all of his energy to not confess to his sin.
Also in that public
place, as Mr. Dimmesdale starts to speak to Hester, he is "looking down
steadfastly into her eyes,". I find that interesting, because most people
would not make eye contact with Hester-- she had sinned, and deserved no respect
now, according to the Puritans. Most people would look at her Scarlet Letter,
the symbol of her great sin. Mr. Dimmesdale either is a very forgiveable man
(although Puritans aren't supposed to be like that), or he knows who Hester
really is (before the sinning).
Reverend Mr.
Dimmesdale, seems to have acquired a condition that causes him great pain. He
sees the "doctor", Roger Chillingworth (also Hester's husband, who is
searching for Hester's accomplice undercover). Even though not a doctor,
Chillingworth cannot find the source of Dimmesdale's pain. Whenever Roger
starts to get suspicious of Dimmesdale, Dimmesdale would "grip hard at his
breast as if inflicted with an importunate throb of pain." I believe that
his guilt is eating away at his heart, and Dimmesdale is afraid that if he does
not comfort, or hold his pain, that his heart will shrivel away to nothing.
Another clue leads
me to this conclusion. It is said that a child can sense their birth-parents'
identities. After Mr. Dimmsedale concludes his persuasive speech to Hester in
the public place, the child, Pearl, looked at Mr. Dimmesdale, reached with her arms
and was pleased, murmuring slightly. The child has not made many actions in
that part of the book, so this reaction to Mr. Dimmesdale should not be take
slightly. I believe that Pearl senses Mr. Dimmesdale to be her father, and she
is comfortable with his voice, which also proves the theory. Yet another
example of this reoccurs in chapter 10, where Pearl and Hester are walking by,
and Pearl stops and sees Mr. Dimmesdale, and she again notices him and throws
"prickly burrs at the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale." So, again, Pearl senses something. She has
proven herself smart, and speaks and acts expressively, not caring who hears,
sees, thinks.
This is like the
story of The Pearl, and the character
Juana is like Mr. Dimmesdale. Since I believe that Mr. Dimmesdale was tempted
to evil or "the dark side", he is most like Juana, as she first set
eyes upon the large pearl that her husband found and she prayed for, she is tempted
to the subject of greed. But, she realizes this--that greed is an unwanted
mistake of actions-- and wants things to go back to normal. She goes along with
her husband, Kino, who has been so taken with the pearl, that he does whatever
he pleases and eventually turns into a different person. Hester is more so like
Kino in a way that she knows that she cannot go back, and eventually starts to
question her faith… But Mr. Dimmesdale wants everything to back to the way it
was, to not have feelings of guilt-- just as Juana wants to go back to not
having feelings of greed. It proves that even the nicest, religious, most
content people can do wrong, and will want to go back. People have times of
weakness--Juana and Mr. Dimmesdale have demonstrated that, and people such as them want to do the
right thing, but are stuck in a bad situation and have a hard time reaching a
conclusion that is best for them.
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