by Danielle Zinn

Created on: February 27, 2009

A Guilty Conscience Can Corrupt the Most "Holy" of Lives

As the novel progresses, the reader sees Dimmesdale's guilt control and eventually corrupt his life because of his hypocrisy and unwillingness to confess his secret sin. The guilt Dimmesdale feels causes him to try and hide among the higher peoples of the town, so his secret will not be found. Only when told of his responsibility to Hester's confession and repentance, he reluctantly stands up and proceeds to question her. As he moves forward to ask her, both he and Hester become pale. Hawthorne says of Dimmesdale as he walks to the end of the balcony, "there was an air about this young minister, - an apprehensive, a startled, a half-frightened look, - as of a being who felt himself quite astray and at a loss in the pathway of human existence, and could only be at ease in some seclusion of his own (chapter 3)." Dimmesdale's cowardly heart and hypocrisy show themselves by him hiding behind his question to Hester. He knows full well the answer to his question of who the father of her child is. He uses the question to hide, because no one in the town will suspect him when he asks her the question himself. Though Dimmesdale indeed feels guilt over his sin, his cowardly heart still shows itself in him by not being able to stand up and confess his sin publicly. The guilt in his heart begins to deteriorate his health slowly because of the burden he carries, and it begins to rot in his heart.

Dimmesdale's guilt slowly works in him and eventually places in his heart the desire to confess, but he does not know how. In chapter twelve right before dawn breaks the scaffold beckons for Dimmesdale to ascend its steps once again. When Hester and Pearl walk by, Dimmesdale requests that they stand with him for a while, because last time he did not stand beside them. Though he may appear to be brave, he still hides from public confession by the darkness of night. Only three others witnessed him standing there. Therefore, no true confession happens, because once he leaves that scaffold, he plans to continue to lead the people even when he hides such a dark secret. His excuse to not stand with Hester and Pearl again is simply, "all the dread of public exposure, that had so long been the anguish of his life, had returned upon him; and he was already trembling (chapter 12)." As guilt caused the windows of his heart to open to the fear of exposure, Dimmesdale continued feeling overwhelmed and crushed under all his guilt, but

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