Student Question
In The Scarlet Letter, what does Dimmesdale's "A" symbolize?
Quick answer:
Dimmesdale's "A" symbolizes his profound guilt and concealed sin. For seven years, he hides his transgression, leading to a "black and filthy" conscience. Despite recognizing his spiritual illness, he cannot confess, causing his guilt to physically manifest as the "A" on his chest. This symbol of his internal torment brings delight to Roger Chillingworth, who revels in Dimmesdale's suffering, as it signifies a soul lost to sin.
Arthur Dimmesdale's letter on his chest is a manifestation of his guilt since for seven years he has kept his secret sin within his heart. As he has told Roger Chillingworth in Chapter X, some people conceal their sin because they yet possess a zeal for God's glory and man's welfare:
...they shrink from displaying themselves black and filthy in the view of men; because, thenceforward, no good can be achieved by them; no evil of the past be redeemed by better service...."
Thus, the hidden mark upon his bosom is this "black and filthy" conscience that he possesses. Even when he goes in the night to stand on the scaffold, Dimmesdale cannot bring himself to confess. And, his watching Hester suffer alone for the sin which he has committed with her tortures him until his flesh manifests this terrible guilt.
In Chapter X when Chillingworth seeks to elicit from Dimmesdale a...
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confession, knowing that the minister's sickness is a manifestation of his spiritual illness, he tells the minister that some black herbs have grown out of a man's heart whose hideous secret he did not reveal. But, Dimmesdale is unable to reveal "the secrets that are buried in the human heart." So, eventually, his guilt rises to the surface of his flesh and manifests itself. This manifestation of his guilt is what gives the evil Chillingworth such delight:
But, with what a wild look of wonder, joy, and horror! With what a ghastly rapture...Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that moment of his ecstasy, he would have had no need to ask how Satan comports himself, when a precious human soul is lost to heaven, and won into his kingdom.