Dimmesdale vs. John Proctor
Heroes are often thought as the superior and perfect people in society. However, The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible illustrates that everyone, including sinners, can be a hero in certain situations. The Scarlet Letter, a book about the consequence and change of identity after committing adultery between the main characters, Hester and Dimmesdale, has many similarities with The Crucible, a story about an unfair witch-hunt in Salem, Massachusetts. In the two books, Dimmesdale and John Proctor are depicted as heroes despite their critical flaws in their lives. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller, the authors of The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible, portray contrasting symbolism such as hypocrisy and justice through similar but different characters: Reverend Dimmesdale and John Proctor.
Identified as an adulterer in the story, Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy is clearly shown through the context. The story starts off with the punishment of Hester for her sin, adultery that she had committed with Dimmesdale. As Hester does not blurt the name of the child’s father when questioned about the crime, Dimmesdale as a Reverend, the holy man, speaks up. He states, “though [the man that has sinned] were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart.” (Hawthorne 58). He continues that the “silence” of Hester is just “[adding] hypocrisy to sin.” (Hawthorne 58). Ironically, his statements do not agree with his life. Even though he is the father of the child, he does not “step down from a high place” or “stand beside [Hester]” until the very end (Hawthorne 58). Adding on, he also keeps “silence” about his sin, which he states would “add hypocrisy to sin” (Hawthorne 58). Hypocrisy of Dimmesdale is also described later in the book by Pearl. Pearl reveals Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy by noting Dimmesdale as a “sad man.” She continues on to say, “in the dark night-time, he calls [Hester and Pearl] to him, and holds [their] hand … But, in the sunny day, and among all the people, he knows [them] not; not must [they] know him!” (Hawthorne 188). By her saying, the difference between the moments with themselves and moments with other people is apparent. The two-sided aspect of Dimmesdale gives a better picture of Dimmesdale as a hypocrite. Even though seen as an upright Reverend in the whole story, Dimmesdale clearly portrays hypocrisy. In contrast to Dimmesdale, John Proctor is not a highly honored man. Coincidentally, John Proctor also commits adultery, which is similar to Dimmesdale. The subtle difference between the two is that Dimmesdale, an unmarried man, commits adultery with a married woman while John, a married man, commits adultery with a virgin. Another similarity between Dimmesdale and John is hypocrisy in their lives. Throughout the story, John Proctor’s actions and speeches to Elizabeth are rude and unjustifiable. Near the beginning of the novel, when Elizabeth reminds him of his faults, he answers her with anger instead of guilt (Miller 52). He tells Elizabeth to “look to [her] own improvement before [judging her] husband anymore” (Miller 52). The statement depicts hypocrisy because even though he has wronged her, he has no sign of regret but instead gets angry with her, telling her not to judge him rather than asking for forgiveness. He has wronged against Elizabeth, but he speaks as if Elizabeth is the sinner. Another moment of hypocrisy is shown in Proctors’ talk with Hale. When Hale questions John about his absences in church and why his children are unbaptized, John reveals hatred toward Reverend Parris (Miller 61-62). He mentions that he does not want his children to be baptized by Parris because he “[sees] no light of God in [Parris]” and he does not want Parris to “lay his hand upon [his] baby” (Miller 62). Earlier, he tells Elizabeth not to “judge” him but look to her own “improvement” first (Miller 52). In contrast with his statement, he judges Reverend Parris despite his bigger sin as a lecher. This clear difference between his words and his actions further proves his hypocrisy.
Different from the symbolism of hypocrisy between the characters in The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible, another overlapping symbol between John Proctor and Dimmesdale is justice. Even though Dimmesdale conceals his crime from the society, he suffers in pain of guilt. As the story moves on, Dimmesdale gets significantly weak and pale (Hawthorne 99). The cause of Dimmesdale’s frailty is clearly his self-harming actions: extreme “devotion to study, his scrupulous fulfillment of parochial duty, and, more than all, by the fasts and vigils…” (Hawthorne 99). Another punishment of Dimmesdale given by himself is noted when Chillingworth discovers the scarlet letter carved on the flesh of Dimmesdale’s bosom while Dimmesdale is sleeping (Hawthorne 114). At the end of the novel, his “condition” is terrible and looks as if his “nerves [are] absolutely destroyed” (Hawthorne 132). Even though he is a sinner and a hypocrite, Dimmesdale’s punishments show his justice: he could have lived a better life without any punishments, however, he, as a just man, could not stand his guilt and punishes himself. Finally, Dimmesdale clearly demonstrates justice at the climax of the story. Near the end, Dimmesdale preaches a gospel in front of the town (Hawthorne 196). After his preaching, he suddenly calls Hester and Pearl, and heads up to the scaffold together (Hawthorne 207). He confesses and “put his plea of guilty at the Bar of Eternal Justice” (Hawthorne 208). At last, “he [throws] off all assistance, and [steps] passionately forward,” revealing his scarlet letter on his bosom. Dimmesdale finally confesses in front of the whole crowd after being chased by his thoughts of guilt for his whole life. John Proctor’s sin does not get revealed throughout the story. However, Proctor does try to reveal his lechery to save Elizabeth from witchcraft (Miller 102). John Proctor gave up his own goodly reputation for Elizabeth which portrays John’s justice. At the end of the novel, John Proctor and Elizabeth demonstrate unconditional love for each other. While John tries to save Elizabeth by sacrificing his reputation, Elizabeth lies to leave John the reputation (Miller 102- 105). John Proctor showed justice by revealing his critical crime, especially at that time, to save and prove innocence of Elizabeth. Justice is also illustrated by John Proctor in the very last moments of the story. He saves Elizabeth from being accused as witch but he himself is accused. When he could save himself, he did not (Miller 130). He does not admit that he has committed witchcraft because he wants to be a good representation to his three children (Miller 133). He wants to be a confident father to his children and so he refuses to ‘[sell] his friends” (Miller 132). He dies heroically for the truth and identity of his family. He has sacrificed himself for his family, friends and the truth. This action truly represents justice and heroism.
The hypocrisy and justice seem possible to exist in a single person at the same time, and according to time and situation, one overwhelms the other for the interest of human being themselves. However human beings have the ability within themselves to look back on their actions and make a choice of what is right, which is called conscience. In the books, The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller, the characters, Dimmesdale and John Proctor, portray both hypocrisy and justice. The two characters start out as hypocrites and sinners but at the end, their conscience wins their hypocrisy and is considered as heroes. Thus the author is showing everyone can be heroes.