Chapter 12 quote - Dark Romanticism

"Mr. Dimmesdale reached the spot where, now so long since, Hester Prynne had lived through her first hours of public ignominy.....The minister went up the steps.....Without any effort of his will, or power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud: an outcry that went pealing through the night, and was beaten back from one house to another, and reverberated from the hills in the background; as if a company of devils, detecting so much misery and terror in it, had made a plaything of the sound, and were bandying it to and fro.

"It is done!" muttered the minister, covering his face with his hands. "The whole town will awake and hurry forth, and find me here!""

One of the three key factors about Dark Romanticism is that emotions dominant reasons. This is when the emotions of the characters rule over the logic and the reasons and what is suppose to happen or how the character is suppose to feel. In this quote we can see the Mr. Dimmesdale walked on to the platform that years before Hester has suffered from because of the sin they committed together. And because Mr. Dimmesdale is so guilty about letting Hester have all the punishment and keeping it as a secret, he walked onto the platform. And then he shrieked aloud without control. He couldn't control himself from yelling although he should. He doesn't or isn't suppose to let anyone in the town to know that he is there so he shouldn't make any loud sound but he did without controlling. This is an example of how in Dark Romanticism emotions dominant reasons. Mr. Dimmesdale's emotions about his guilt and sin dominant the fact that he shouldn't make any noise.