Proctor versus Dimmesdale in Millers The Crucible :: Essay on The Crucible

follow vs DimmesdaleIn Arthur Millers The Crucible, and Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter, the characters John Proctor and Arthur Dimmesdale are victims of the puritan ethics of Moderation and Unvarying Faith. These ethics are reflected in the way that they are forced to act like everyone else, resulting in a feeling of being trapped, as well as internal and physical torture, which led to their eventual demise.Hawthornes character Arthur Dimmesdale is the epitome of what a puritan should be. He is a ministera man of God yet despite his position, this perfect man has one dark secret he is an adulterer and the bring forth of an illegitimate child. This one sin is more than he can bear, for although he has many times repented, he feels he is not entirely forgiven. His sin is much(prenominal) that if it were to be found, his reputation would be torn apart. After many years of hiding his secret and being burdened by it he can no longer hold it inside. This is the reason he goes to the scaffold one night in hopes to alleviate his guilt by publicly showing that he has affiliated a crime. His remorse is so deep and constant, that it has actually changed him. At nights he whips himself, hoping to gain salvation again, but in his mind he gains nothing.Crime is for the iron-nerved, who kick in their choice 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 This feeble and most sensitive of spirits could do neither, yet continually did one thing or another which intertwined, in the same inextricable knot, the agony of heaven-defying guilt and vain repentance. (Hawthorne, 134.)And although it seems his remorse cannot go deeper than it already is, Dimmesdale begins to realize how his parishioners must see him. He is supposed to be an honest man, but in hiding his sin, he begins to see himself as a hypocrite. What can a ruined soul, like mine, effect towards the redempt ion of other souls?or a dirty soul towards their purification? And as for the peoples reverence, would that it were turned to scorn and hatred (Hawthorne, 172.)Clearly Dimmesdale is worried about the reaction of the congregation if they were to discover his sin. This is a perfect fashion model of Moderation, everyone has to act holy, without sins and mistakes, otherwise be condemned to the scaffold and public humiliationor worse.