Deception is defined by Webster's Dictionary as
the art of misrepresentation. Throughout
the history of mankind, the use of deception to promote oneself to a higher
level, or to hide one's past, has been a common occurrence. In the novel The
Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne , Chillingworth and Dimmesdale both use
deception to hide secrets from each other, and from the rest of the
town.
Hester Prynne is the only one who knows the
secrets that Dimmesdale and Chillingworth are hiding from the townsfolk. Hester has to control her desire to tell the truth and practices the art of
deception to hide these secrets. When she will not reveal the father of Pearl, Reverend Dimmesdale says, "She will not
speak." It is ironic that the person who committed the sin
with Hester is the one who announces publicly
that she will not reveal the name of the other sinner. Later, Chilling worth wants to know who it
is and he says, "Thou wilt not reveal his name?" Hester refuses and continues to hold her
silence. Then Chillingworth, still
trying to find out the name of her lover, comments, ". . . but Hester, the
man lives who has wronged us both! Who is he?" When he says this, he is hinting that he is
going to do something to Dimmesdale.
This is why Hester makes Chillingworth promise not to kill her lover if
he finds out his identity. Chillingworth
deserves to know who slept with his
wife, although Hester should not have had to tell him. I think that Dimmesdale should have admitted
that he was Pearl's father. Today, if a priest
admitted such a crime, he would
probably be sent to jail. However, in the novel, had Dimmesdale confessed, the townsfolk would have liked him even more. Hester
also has to live with, and conceal, the secret that the scholar, Chilling
worth, is her husband. When he comes to
visit her in jail he says, "Thou hast kept the secret of thy paramour. Keep, likewise, mine! There are none in this land that know me.
Breathe not, to any soul, that thou didst ever call me husband." Hester shows great strength of character by
her ability to keep the secret identities of her lover and her husband. There must have been times when the
temptation to reveal her secrets was overwhelming.
Dimmesdale chooses to conceal his
guilty secret from the townsfolk, but this causes great personal suffering and the gradual
deterioration of his health. He shows
that he is having trouble dealing with his sin when he keeps his hand
over his heart to hide an imaginary "A" on his chest, just like the
one embroidered on Hester's bodice. Dimmesdale believes that everyone can see this
imaginary "A". This is shown
by the quotation, " Mr. Dimmesdale
was overcome with in a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at
a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart." This feeling of guilt is a very natural one
that we have all experienced some time in our lives. The irony of the situation
is shown by the quotation, "People say, that the Reverend Master
Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such a
scandal should have come upon his congregation." Dimmesdale is so successful at hiding his
secret, that the townsfolk believe that
he is shocked that a scandal could
happen in his congregation. As a
clergyman, Dimmesdale is aware of the mental torture caused by guilty secrets. He describes
these feelings with reference to his parishioners, but they could easily
be applied to himself, " they shrink from displaying themselves black and
filthy in the view of men;....... So to their unutterable torment, they go
about among their fellow- creatures looking pure as new-fallen snow; while
their hearts are all speckled and spotted with iniquity..." Finally,
Dimmesdale cannot live with the secret any more, and confesses his sin before the
townsfolk, "Hush, Hester,
hush!.......The law we broke! -- the sin here so awfully revealed!". It is interesting that Dimmesdale is
convinced that there is an "A" on his chest. Was this "A" carved in his flesh by
his own hand, was it placed there by God , or was it just in his
imagination? We will never know the
answer to this question, but I think that Hawthorne meant it to be an imaginary
"A".
Doctor Chilling worth, knowing that he has been
betrayed, dedicates seven years to identifying his wife's lover. The reader first learns of this when Chilling
worth says to Hester, ". . . but Hester, the man lives who has wronged us
both! Who is he?" Chillingworth has
already decided to find this man and to torture him. When he realizes that Hester will not tell
him who it is, he says, " He bears
no letter of infamy wrought into his garment as thou does; but I shall read it
in his heart." He believes that he
will identify this man by the the sign
of his sin embedded in his chest, like the "A" on Hester's
cloths. This literary foreshadowing
hints that the secret will have something to do with the word
"heart." Whenever the author
talks about the "A" or about Hester, not referring to Dimmesdale, he
uses the words " bosom" or "chest".
In the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Doctor Roger Chillingworth hide secrets from the other characters. Hester Prynne is the only character who knows
about these secrets. Dimmesdale and
Chilling worth are masters in the art of deception.
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