Let the black flower blossom as it may

Kim 2 Table of contents Committing ............................................................................................................................3 Culpability..............................................................................................................................4 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................6

Kim 3 Outline I. Introduction II. Dimmesdale A. Constant influence of Chillingworth B. Mistakes C. Penitence III. Chillingworth

Kim 4 DahSom Kim Mrs. Pelosi English 11 28 September 2010 Let the black flower blossom as it may No man, for any substantial period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true (114) wrote Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter. Indeed, when confronted with the duality of oneself, such as in the case of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, alteration of behavior and attitude results from the longing to assuage the dissonance and befuddlement of ones identities. Honesty turns into duplicity; sensibility into indifference; the reverential, eloquent, earnest, and susceptible minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, into remorseful, distorted, tormented, and faulty culprit; and the intellectual and studiouscalm and quiet (Hawthorne 88) physician, Roger
student 8/10/11 12:48 PM Comment: Which alterations?

Chillingworth, into malicious, annihilative, and bitter fiend. Committing an unforgivable and irrevocable crime can be excruciating; concealing the crime, even more unbearable. Dimmesdales tremulous [countenance], expressing both nervous sensibility and a vast power of self-restraint and the apprehensivestartled [and] half-frightened look (Hawthorne 35) indicated his concealed faultiness. Thought and reverenced as indubitably spiritually pure,
student 8/10/11 12:48 PM Comment: What is the crime? student 8/10/11 12:50 PM Deleted: agonizing student 8/10/11 12:50 PM Deleted: excruciating

Dimmesdale, in reality, was a craven and feeble culprit incapable of revealing the unthinkable sin and standing next to Hester on...[her] pedestal of shame (Hawthorne 36). He grievously and heartedly pleaded Hester to [not] besilent from any mistaken pity and tenderness[for standing] beside [her were to be] betterthan to hide a guilty heart through life (Hawthorne 36), yet Hesters profound affection

Kim 5 firmly prevented the revelation of his name. Dimmesdale loathed his miserable self (Hawthorne 75), sickening and tormenting himself with cowardliness with every breath he breathed, repenting his irresponsibility with every word spoken of the very truthtransformedinto the veriest falsehood (Hawthorned75), and by engraving the letter A on his bare bosom. Culpability blossoms a deep-rooted desire for vengeance rather than selfpenitence in Chillingworth. Whilst believing that the wrongdoing of Hester and Dimmesdale was partly due to him for having betrayed [Hesters] budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with [his] decay, Chillingworth senses an urge to unveil the identity of the man who has wronged [them, Hester and Chillingworth,] both (Hawthorne 40). Chillingworths penetrative instincts soon perceive
student 8/10/11 12:51 PM Deleted: inscribing student 8/10/11 12:50 PM Deleted: disclosure

Dimmesdales crumbling soul, and Chillingworth, both a prominent physician and a betrayed husband, immediately sets out to hunt down the broken spirit. The need to inflict severe punishment on the man lacking the courage to endure the public announcement beside Hester grows hatred and malice in Chillingworth. Dimmesdale remains under this constant influence of Chillingworths

malevolence hidden under the mask of a sagacious, experienced, benevolent old physician, with his concord of paternal and reverential love for the young pastor (Hawthorne 65), who declares to seek no vengeance [and] plot no evil against (Hawthorne 40) Dimmesdale, and whose arrival was thought as providential [and] so opportune (Hawthorne 63). Chillingworth continuously attempts to provoke the uncovering of Dimmesdales secret that would bring a joy unutterable (Hawthorne 68) to Dimmesdale and fulfilled satisfaction to Chillingworth, yet the cloak of the young clergyman [of] a miracle of holiness (Hawthorne 74) seems impossible to remove. Dimmesdales truer sin was more the concealment of the adultery than the

Kim 6 adultery itself, and the disguise as a pristine minister than not having been one. The more the public worshiped Dimmesdale, the more agonized he grew. The closer Dimmesdale felt toward Chillingworth as a friend, the more extensively he invited Chillingworths conspiracy. Dimmesdales critical mistake of having not recognized his enemy when [he] actually appeared after years of trusting no man as his friend (Hawthorne 68) induces Chillingworths covert destructiveness to surface. Chillingworth was a clever man. He knew precisely how to seemingly unknowingly manipulate Dimmesdales remorsefulness to torment him without revealing his actual purpose, and did so craftily. Dimmesdales both spiritual and physical conditions gradually deteriorating of

penance [he has] had enough and of penitence [which he believed] there has been none (Hawthorne 101) but was inflicted unsuspectingly by Chillingworth strengthened Chillingworth ability to harm another internally, expanding its effect to the exterior appearance. Chillingworth transformed into a fiend with a heart full of

torturederiving his enjoyment (Hawthorne 88) from the suffering of Dimmesdale. The secret of obscuring his identity seemed to disturb Chillingworth much less than it did Dimmesdale. Yet, Chillingworth was only another human being, unable to evade the confrontation of the inevitable consequence of his lies to the crowd and to himself. Chillingworth firmly held the belief that he stood in a position that bid him to freely distress the culpable minister. Chillingworth permitted his annihilative and cunning behaviors to persist under the societys ignorance of his actions, establishing no restrictions on the damage he caused on Dimmesdale. Lack of the crowds awareness, however, did not only bring the failing of Dimmesdales health, but also failure of Chillingworth in noticing his own transformation until the day he unexpectedly faces

Kim 7 the one mirror he could not avoid Hester. Bursting his true self and mind out to Hester, Chillingworth recognizes in horror some frightful shapeusurping the place of his own image in a glass (Hawthorne 89). He observes himself in a way he had never before viewed himself (Hawthorne 89); a devil. Aghast, startled and bitter at his own self, Chillingworth is more unable to restrain from the temptation of nasty and wicked behaviors. He has come too far to retrieve. He must go on. Wearing one mask to the public and another to oneself is not necessarily always wrong or bad. But maintaining happiness is a different matter;

consequences, another. The outcomes of the lengthy and dreadful struggle to discover ones true identity vary from altering a man [once] thoughtful for others, craving little for himself,-kind, true, just, and of constantaffections (Hawthorne 90) into a man of an eager, searching, almost fierce, yet carefully guarded look[and of] blackness (Hawthorne 88) to deprivation of reason for making one step farther (Hawthorne 99) replaced with nothing but despair[and] more misery (Hawthorne 100). Yet the one fact never changes; our genuine selves can only be discerned in the most honest and perhaps the most fearsome mirrors of us our own minds.

Kim 8 Works Cited A Handbook of Korea. 6th ed. Seoul: Seoul International Publishing House, 1987. Print. Bhatti, Tanvir Hussain. Socioeconomic stratification in Pakistan. Helium.com. Helium, n.p. 2002-2011. Web. 14 Feb. 2011. Confucianism. Religionfacts.com. Religion Facts, n.p. 2004-2011. Web. 14 Feb.2011.