The Scarlet Letter

            In the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale has committed the sin of adultery with Hester Prynne. The story begins with Hester coming out of a jail and being put on the scaffold for the sin she has committed with the cursed child in hand. The town is ashamed at her for this horrible act but they do not know who she has committed the crime with. Ironically, Reverend Dimmesdale asks Hester "who she has committed the sin with?", but luckily for him she refused to answer. Now, all the town shame and punishment is placed upon her. She is made an outcast and to show this he was forced to wear the letter "A" for adulterer upon her chest which forced her to live with the guilt and shame openly. On the contrary, Dimmesdale kept the guilt and shame inside of himself and those horrible feelings kept building up and eventually lead to his downfall. .
             Dimmesdale's first point of decent is his physical health. He becomes very pale because he has consumed himself in his studies, duties and in frequent fasts and vigils. The townspeople become worried and tell him that he should go see a doctor, but the reverend refuses treatment. He tells the townspeople "I need no medicine." This act reveals that there is more to the reverend's sickness that meets the eye, something hidden that the reverend only knows of. The town becomes confuses they think that maybe he doesn't wish to live anymore. The reverend begins to think that he doesn't need medicine because he believes that if he is to be removed from the world it is going to be from his own unworthiness. Eventually, Dimmesdale agrees to see a doctor, which leads to his second point of decent. .
             Roger Chillingworth, the husband of Hester Prynne, assumes the role of Dimmesdale's personal doctor. All the towns people are unaware that Chillingworth is the husband of Hester because he has made her swear not to reveal his true identity.