The Scarlet Letter

Describe Dimmesdale's health?

chapter nine the leech

Asked by
Last updated by Aslan
Answers 1
Add Yours

Dimmesdale looked frail, weak, and withdrawn. Dimmesdale gets into the permanent habit of placing his hand over his heart in pain.

"About this period, however, the health of Mr. Dimmesdale had evidently begun to fail. By those best acquainted with his habits, the paleness of the young minister's cheek was accounted for by his too earnest devotion to study, his scrupulous fulfilment of parochial duty, and, more than all, by the fasts and vigils of which he made a frequent practice, in order to keep the grossness of this earthly state from clogging and obscuring his spiritual lamp. Some declared, that, if Mr. Dimmesdale were really going to die, it was cause enough, that the world was not worthy to be any longer trodden by his feet."

Source(s)

Chapter 9