Tragic Hero, Scarlet Letter Essay, Research Paper

A Tragic Hero

A tragic hero displays many specific characteristics. Many of them are displayed by Arthur Dimmesdale in novel The Scarlet Letter. Arthur Dimmesdale is a tragic hero because he suffers beyond the depths of despair, and then comes to a moral resolution.

Dimmesdale is a tragic hero because he suffers for his sin. He commits a sin and a crime with Hester. Hester confesses her sin to the town’s people outwardly and wears the scarlet letter, but Dimmesdale keeps it hidden inside. She is humiliated and shamed, but she then feels good about herself again when the townspeople forgive her and think of her as an angel. On the other hand Dimmesdale does not confess his sin. It might seem that he gets away with it but he suffers much more than Hester. Instead of confessing his sin he keeps it inside until it eats away at him. He lives with it everyday knowing that he is not telling the truth to himself and everyone around him. Chillingworth speeds up this eating away process by making Dimmesdale feel guilty about himself. Chillingworth believes that Dimmesdale sickness is not physical, but is caused by a sinner’s soul (chapter 10). Chillingworth inevitably drives Dimmesdale sick and insane. He has evil dreams and hallucinations. Dimmesdale became a tragic hero because of suffering for what he did wrong.

Dimmesdale shows many qualities of a tragic hero. There are many more tragic heroes in literature that shows some of these qualities. There are many people in history that become tragic heroes displaying the same characteristics.