charlesbbaker
The Scarlet Reader
This post focuses on Dimmesdale and the 5 stages of grief 21-24
The Five Stages of Grief, Dimmesdale’s Story
After reading the way Dimmesdale’s life had ended, I noticed an interesting pattern. t seemed that throughout the story Dimmesdale seemed to follow the five stages of grief. For those of you who do not know, the five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.
In the beginning of the story, Dimmesdale denies that he had any involvement with Hester, and he hides his identity as the father. The second stage is Anger and Dimmesdale feels this mostly on himself. In a previous post I talked about Dimmesdale’s slide into insanity and his self harm practices. He even goes to the point of carving an A on his chest to represent his sin.
The third part of grief is bargaining, which doesn’t really show up. One could assume that Dimmesdale asks god for forgiveness at some point in his ordeal, but this is never stated. His emotional sermons may be his way of paying forward good deeds to replace his old, bad deeds. The fourth stage is depression. This stage appears to be the most apparent, with Dimmesdale clutching his chest and drawing his emotion and putting it in his sermon. His depression is so bad that it is being manifested physically as while. He is a young man, but his health is ailing fast. He is coming closer and closer to death and his doctor Rodger Chillingworth is not helping him. The depression of Dimmesdale lasts most of the story until the end, where Dimmesdale accepts his mistake.
At the end of the story, Dimmesdale shows his A, and is then freed of his physical form. In this Dimmesdale has accepted his sin is part of who he is and is now ready to move on to a new life, refusing to allow himself to be bogged down by the fear of failing. In this, Dimmesdale has entered the fifth stage of grief and he sheds his sinful, physical vestige, and his sole moves on so that he may rest in peace.
Works cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 1850. Print.
The Scarlet Reader 
I really enjoyed reading this post. I am in Psychology this year at school, so reading about how the 5 stages of grief relates to the Scarlet Letter was a pretty cool way of mixing two classes together. On the topic of bargaining, in which you state that it is not directly stated that Dimmesdale bargains in the novel, I have to disagree. Dimmesdale attempts to bargain with Pearl, hoping a kiss and his kindness will make her give him love. He says that he cannot walk hand in hand with her and Hester in the town’s streets, but he can still love her in the woods. All in all, I think you did an awesome job on this post. Thanks for giving me a new perspective!
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