Lavender's AP Lit Class Blog
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Dimmesdale is the worst character.
Dimmesdale is the worst character in the book, not in the sense that he's poorly developed but in the sense that he's the villain. Dimmesdale is the start of Hester's problem but at no point does he really help her, and he never solves the problem. After sleeping with Hester he allowed her to be cast out from the town and shamed, while he continued his good life being praised. He didn't help her raise their child at all. This made Hester a single mother, pushed away from society, with no help from the man she loved. Then when he finally mans up enough to come clean he's dying! He did that so that he could die while everyone knew his secret, not to help her. Though he did try to come clean he never did a good enough job and everyone thought he was being honorable, therefore he received more praise. So I was thinking I'd write my essay on this idea of how much of a coward Dimmesdale is. The end. Thanks for reading.
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ReplyDeleteThis is good. I think you could also talk about the fact that Dimsdale is always trying to hush up Hester.
ReplyDeleteJenni,
ReplyDeleteIf your agenda is to 'rank the sinners' then be sure to ground your judgments in the text. Think about motivation (Chillingworth is out for revenge, Dimmesdale thinks that, by maintaining his status as revered minister, that he can help bring more souls to heaven, and Hester maintains her secrets in an effort to protect Dimmesdale, and out of a sense of obligation to Chillingworth, the husband she cheated on--even though he is a creeper she never loved and thought was dead at the time of her 'infidelity').