Secrets Destroy

Secrets destroy. They have the power to destroy everything in their path. even the smallest secret can have the biggest effect on the lives of innocent people. This is strongly portrayed in the novel representing the Puritan time period. Throughout the novel, the four main characters experience very effective changes. The changes in Dimmsdale and Hester seem to be the most evident throughout the novel though. While only the looks and attitude are being changed or destroyed in Hester, the outside appearance as well as the personality of Dimmsdale is changing radically.

Because Hester committedremember to stay in present tense -Kristinaturner adultery she is forced to sit on the scaffold all day then wear the scarlet letter "A" on her chest for the rest of her life. Though some members of the Puritan community find this punishment too weak(some suggest she should have been branded on the forehead with a hot iron) it goes unchanged. Hester then moves out of the community into a cottage with Pearl and is virtually out of contact with everybody.The reader notices that as Hester continues to live in confinement with Pearl as her only companion, she begins to change from the beautiful women she had once been to a solemn lady who is all too aware of the crime she is being punished for. You notice this because Hawthorne states that even the sun does not follow Hester as closely anymore. "...When sunshine came again she was not there. Her shadow had faded across the threshold. the helpful inmate had departed without one backward glance..." Hawthorne also states that Hester, even after she had been by herself, even after the "A" has transformed from adultery to "able" she is still not social, she still feels very wrong. "... Meeting them in the street, she never raised her hand to receive their greeting. If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter, and passed on."


We see how the scarlet letter and her secret have destroyed Hester from a beautiful women to a lonesome outsider. it is Dimmsdale though that experiences the most changes. The community knows of the crime that Hester has committed. But as she makes herself more helpful in the community, they do not see her as the trashythis word probably too informal -Kristinaturner 10/4/07 3:29 PM criminal, they see her as willing to help. she admitted her sin and was punished for it, and even if the puritan community has forgotten about it (because seven years have passed) there is still a missing factor--who was Hester's lover? The reader soon finds out that Dimmsdale, the minister was in fact her lover and Pearls father. But Dimmsdale never confessed his sins to anyone. He is keeping the secret inside and it is slowly destroying him. As a minister in the community, he is looked up to and respected. If in fact his secret got out then his fate is too harsh to even think about. Arthur Dimmsdale keeps his secret from everyone. The book says that he keeps a knife with him and cuts himself as punishment. About three years after the crime is first committed, Dimmsdale gets very sick. No one can seem to figure out what is wrong with him. He is physically changing. He looks very pale and frail. People seem to think that it is because he works to hard. "...By those best acquainted with his habits, the paleness of the young minister's cheek was accounted for by his too earnest devotion to study...his form grew emaciated; his voice, though still rich ans sweet, had a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it....He was often observed,on any slight alarm or other sudden accident, to put his hand over his heart, with first a flush and then a paleness indicative to pain..." add comment here -Kristinaturner 10/4/07 3:31 PM
We also see from the quote above that Dimmsdale is having what looks like mysterious chest pains. As the condition of Mr. Dimmsdale worsens, Roger Chillingworth, the doctor and also Hester's husband living under a new name, moves in with Dimmsdale to observe his symptoms and try to cure him. Chillingworth finds it very peculiar that Dimmsdale is have "chest pains" Chillingworth is determine to find out the cause of these pains. When Dimmsdale refuses to let Chillingworth look at his chest, Chillingworth is said to have given Dimmsdale some medicine that makes him sleep soundly. Chillingworth takes this opportunity to find out what is on Dimmsdale's chest. He opens his shirt and is completely shocked by what he sees. "...Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that moment of his ecstasy, he would have no need to how Satan contorts himself when a precious human soul is lost to heaven and won into his kingdom." The reader is never informed of what is seen on Dimmsdale's chest but we now find out that he is indeed Hester's lover. Roger Chillingworth is absolutely pleased at these results. Dimmsdale's condition continues to deteriorate as he keeps this secret all to himself,it is destroying him. Internally and externally he is reacting very badly to the results that the secret keeping have thrust upon him.

As you can see the secret did not destroy Hester, it only changed her personality. It transformed her from a bubbly young women to a solemn matured lady. The circumstances were not as fortunate for Dimmsdale though. He suffered terribly,on the inside and on the outside. He was physically transformed from a young, healthy looking man to a weak and pale man of very bad health. On the inside he was changed to. He was beating himself up because he could not let his reputation of an upstanding minister of God be simply thrown away because of love. So instead of coming clean, he kept it all inside and it destroyed him. You can clearly see from the above situation that Hawthorne was right, secrets do destroy.