How does dimmesdale behave the next day
The Puritans often referred to the Devil as the Black Man , referring figuratively to the darkness of sin and evilness of deeds. Thus, when Pearl calls Chillingworth by this appellation, she seems to be identifying his sinfulness and wickedness. Dimmesdale is the character who suffered the most throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.
Dimmesdale's ever present guilt and boundless penance cause him an ongoing mental struggle of remorse and his conscience as well as deep physical pain from deprivation and self inflicted wounds. Arthur Dimmesdale did not confess his sins for all the wrong reasons. He didn't confess for mostly two reasons those being: his belief that man did not judge other men but only God can do that or that he will better serve his people with a sinful heart and not a sinful appearance.
At the end of the novel, Dimmesdale makes a speech and exposes his chest to the community gathered around the scaffold, then dies. Dimmesdale may have a lot of good qualities, but he also has some bad ones, like hypocrisy and weakness. He's a weak man who sins and won't accept his punishment, and the hypocrisy eats away at him. Dimmesdale confesses his sin in the only way that he knows to be true , in front of all the people he was dishonest to and through the influence of God.
The manhood he embodied was that of a innocent soul, and confessing his sin for God proved him to be an honest man. Chillingworth himself, however, intentionally commits the sin of seeking revenge against his fellow man. I have even been afraid of little Pearl! Dimmesdale admits to Hester his fear that his parentage might be seen in her face , giving him away as her father—but believes upon looking at her that she favors her mother. He feels guilty that he ever "dreaded" that she might look like him.
Hester , at least, did feel needed or loved by Pearl, which kept her from many other terrible sins, and she did not have the extra tormenting sin to carry, which shows that she suffered less. Hester looks up to see Chillingworth standing across the marketplace, smirking at her. See Important Quotes Explained. The majestic procession passes through the marketplace.
A company of armored soldiers is followed by a group of the town fathers, whose stolid and dour characters are prominently displayed. Hester is disheartened to see the richness and power of Puritan tradition displayed with such pomp.
She and other onlookers notice that Dimmesdale, who follows the town leaders, looks healthier and more energetic than he has in some time. Although only a few days have passed since he kissed her forehead next to the forest brook, Pearl barely recognizes the minister.
She tells Hester that she is tempted to approach the man and bestow a kiss of her own, and Hester scolds her. She begins to question the wisdom of their plans. Mistress Hibbins, very elaborately dressed, comes to talk to Hester about Dimmesdale. The narrator interrupts his narration of the celebration to note that Mistress Hibbins will soon be executed as a witch. While Hester worries about this new development, she suddenly realizes that everyone around her—both those who are familiar with her scarlet letter and those who are not—is staring at her.
What does Hester reflect on while standing before the crowd? Her childhood home in England. Reverend Wilson is passing nearby but does not investigate the sound. However, Governor Bellingham and Mistress Hibbins do hear the cry and peek out of their windows into the darkness. Hester and Pearl are returning from the deathbed of a former governor and they join Dimmesdale atop the scaffold.
The secret that his heart has carried and his body has hidden seems suddenly revealed for all to see. Then he sinks down upon the scaffold. Hester lifts Dimmesdale's head and cradles it against her bosom. Chillingworth, meanwhile, kneels down and, in a tone of defeat, repeats, over and over, "Thou hast escaped me! Pearl kisses him and weeps. Dimmesdale, obviously dying now, tells Hester farewell.
She asks whether they will spend eternity together. In answer, he recalls their sin and says he fears that eternal happiness is not a state for which they can hope. The minister leaves the matter to God, whose mercy he has seen in the afflictions leading to his public confession.
His dying words are "Praised be his name! His will be done! Hawthorne brings all the principal characters together at a third scaffold scene in this chapter, which begins with the triumph of Dimmesdale's sermon and ends with his death. Dimmesdale's sermon is a personal triumph. In fact, Hawthorne ironically compares him to an angel who had "shaken his bright wings over the people" and "shed down a shower of golden truths upon them.
He gives up everything: his child, his love, his life, and his honor.