The Outside Appearance

In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mr. Dimmesdale makes the statement, “So, to their own unutterable torment, they go about among their fellow-creatures, looking pure as new-fallen snow; while their hearts are all speckled and spotted with iniquity of which they cannot rid themselves.” Mr. Dimmesdale made this statement while he and Roger Chillingworth were discussing the possible cause of his illness. Dimmesdale thought that the reason he was sick was because of the sins hidden deep in his heart. He really wanted to confess the sin but since he was the reverend and was revered by the people he felt like he could not. Even when he tried to open his mouth and let the words pour out, nothing would come. So, Reverend Dimmesdale lived with a secret hidden in his heart that made his life miserable and caused him physical illness.

When Mr. Dimmesdale said this, he was referring to the deep sins and secrets that people can hide within their hearts without anyone knowing it. People can live having the appearance of being pure while their hearts are defiled with great wickedness. This statement is important to the whole story because there are many characters within the story that all appear one way on the outside but on the inside they are completely different. Mr. Dimmesdale was the reverend who people thought of as pure and righteous but he had hidden in his heart a sin worthy of death. He was an adulterer and yet on the outside people viewed him as being so holy that the ground on which his feet walked was considered holy. Roger Chillingworth also appeared to be a normal physician who was new to the town, but in actuality, he was Hester Prynne’s former husband. No one could tell that Roger even knew Hester but he had the secret hidden in his heart. These are just two of the characters from the story that have hidden secrets that the reader knows of. Based on the quote stated above, one cannot know the things hidden in a person’s heart. A person cannot be defined by what they appear to be on the outside. Who knows, there could be many other characters in The Scarlet Letter who have secrets that are unknown to the reader just like the ones stated above.