Beginning of Essay
Although Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is primarily the story of an adulteress atoning for her sin and conquering the insignia which brings torment to her spirit, the quest of the partner in her sin, Arthur Dimmesdale, is no less important and eve ....

Middle of Essay
.... well into The Scarlet Letter that Arthur Dimmesdale is Hester Prynne’s lover, but by this point, his conscience has already begun inflicting a woeful penalty on his spirit: "His form grew emaciated; his voice...had a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it; he was often observed...to put his hand over his heart with...paleness, indicative of pain" (106). Although his reputation is flawless and his parishioners believe that through death, he is to be called to a higher plane of existence, Dimmesdale says with what is believed to be humility that his looming death is "because of his own unworthiness to perform his mission here on earth" (10 ....