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“Rereading Dimmesdale of The Scarlet Letter with sensuous sympathy.” Studies in English Language & Literature. 39.2 (2013): 101-120. Dimmesdale of The Scarlet Letter is given both wonderful qualities and tragic flaws as a tragic hero. In the beginning, he fails to enact Hawthorne's ideal man as a lover, father and minister as he shows a lack of sympathy toward his loved ones, Hester, Pearl and the congregation. His own self-centered egoism, fears of shame, angst toward death are stronger and more prominent than his sympathy for others. With self-directed pity, he grieves more for himself than for others. But gradually Dimmesdale becomes sympathetic through the agony, grief and sorrow of Pearl as he undergoes a process of “mere sensuous sympathy” toward others, especially his daughter Pearl. Pearl plays a key role for Dimmesdale to be humanized, in the sense that his humanization is deeply related with his affectionate, paternal touch with Pearl and experiences in such a quasi-familial relationship. Eventually, Dimmesdale becomes imbued with self-confidence and moral strength to confess his adulterous sin, while he stands on the scaffold for the last time to meet triumphant cathartic death. Through Dimmesdale's story of emotional transformation in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne affirms that being in a community through sympathy entails hopes of humanization and human optimism.