Describe Dimmesdale’s Death Scene in “The Scarlet Letter.”

Answer

Describe Dimmesdale’s death scene in “The Scarlet Letter.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) is a famous American writer. His masterpiece “The Scarlet Letter” is an allegorical romance fiction. In chapter 23, Dimmesdale is falling in the lap of death. This scene is described below with a reference to the novel “The Scarlet Letter”.

Frustration of guilt: In the third scaffold scene, there is a great crisis in Dimmesdale. In the novel, Dimmesdale is individually frustrated because his beloved has been punished for their secret sin. But he should also get punished. For his mental agony, he becomes frustrated. The frustration and guilt vanish in the third scaffold scene through Dimmesdale’s death.   

Revelation of the scarlet letter: In the crowd, Dimmesdale has revealed the actual fact and opened his breast, where he wore the scarlet letter “A” as a sign of adultery like Hester. It is the most important scene of the novel, where the climax of the novel has reached its peak.

Revealing Pearl’s identity: In the third scene, we notice that Dimmesdale recognizes Pearl as his daughter. He asks Pearl to kiss him. From this perspective, we can clearly understand that Pearl’s true identity emerges through Dimmesdale’s death.

“Pearl kissed his lips. A spell broken. The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her sympathies”

Now, we may conclude that the death scene of Dimmesdale is of utmost importance in turning the story.  Dimmesdale confesses his guilt before his death, which becomes a source of mental peace for Hester’ and Pearl.