The Minister's Vigil

Everything that Hawthorne describes that Arthur Dimmesdale is seeing is real. When Dimmesdale places himself on the scaffold that Hester once stood upon, he screams and laughs hysterically in an attempt to draw attention to himself and release his guilt. Amidst the shadows, certain people being to appear. All of these people had just returned from visiting the dying Governor Winthrop. The first character that approaches Dimmesdale is Reverend Wilson. However, Reverend Wilson does not notice that it is, in fact, Arthur Dimmesdale. Then he is seen by Hester Prynne, Pearl, and Roger Chillingworth. All of a sudden, a cosmic meteor shoots through the sky, illuminating a letter "A." Dimmesdale immediately refers this "A" to mean Adultery. After this has happened, Dimmesdale tells Hester and Pearl that he genuinely hates and fears Chillingworth. The next day, after Dimmesdale has finished a sermon, a glove of his is returned to him. It appears that he left the glove at the scaffold the night before, the caretaker of the church then tells him that the letter "A" stands for Angel. All of this is so descriptive and vivid that it seems to be very real. I think every detail is real, because all of it is possible and can very well happen. Not only Dimmesdale tells us about the evening, but we also hear things from the townspeople and the caretaker of the church, that prove some things did, indeed, happen that evening.

In Chapter 12, Dimmesdale expresses feelings of guilt, remorse, panic and more. He feels these dark feelings because he has committed a crime. In the text it says, "Poor miserable man! What right had infirmity like his to burden itself with crime? Crime is for the iron-nerved, who have their choice either to endure it, or, if it press too hard, to exert their fierce and savage strength for a good purpose, and fling it off at once." (Hawthorne, 101) This text tells us that Dimmesdale's lack of strength combined with his crime leads to a very powerful motley of feelings. These feelings are what drive him to go to the scaffold, and scream and shout for the attention of his parishioners. Dimmesdale's impulse rages and he begins to experience feelings of panic and anxiety. The panic he feels is described as a crisis in the text, "When the light of the glimmering lantern had faded over a guilty platform, the minister discovered, by the faintness which came over him, that the last few moments had been a crisis of terrible anxiety, although his mind had made an involuntary effort to relieve itself by a kind of lurid playfulness." (Hawthorne 103) Arthur Dimmesdale feels guilty because Hester and Pearl had to endure the humility of standing on the scaffold, alone. This is why he returns to the scaffold, in hope that he can somehow ameliorate his guilt. In the text Dimmesdale says to Hester and Pearl, "Ye have both been here before, but I was not with you." (Hawthorne 105)