Arthur Dimmesdale's Confession

The Scarlet Letter is a story that signifies the treachery behind the sin of adultery. Arthur Dimmesdale plays a key part in the book, since he is guilty of the sin himself. Dimmesdale is seen in the first scaffold scene, looking as pale as death, for he is aware of his sin, but is too cowardly to confess and share the public ridicule with Hester. A few years pass and in the second scaffold scene, Dimmesdale is more reluctant to confess his guilty thoughts, but he merely gives himself a private confession still too guilty to come clean. However, several days after, Dimmesdale greets the crowd of people, witnesses in the third scaffold scene, with his confession for being the reason Pearl, Hester's daughter, exists. Over the course of the three scaffold scenes, Dimmesdale changes from cowardly guilt and hypocrisy to desperate guilt and hypocrisy to repentant hope.

In the first scaffold scene Dimmesdale is aware of his guilt and hypocrisy when he questions Hester but it too cowardly to confess his sin. When Dimmesdale is first introduced into the scene, it is clear he wants nothing to do with the current activity at hand. He is as pale as a ghost, and was seemingly trembling because of his fear for his sin to be heard of. However, when he

At the beginning of the book, Dimmesdale was a cowardly man who could not even bear to look Hester in the eye. Moving on towards the end of the book, he is seen as more than ready to confess to the adultery, but again is much too cowardly to do so. Finally in the last moments of his life, he was able to clear his conscious of his wrongdoing, and save Hester from the disaffection of the townspeople. Dimmesdale was an unholy Pastor who's immoral desires caused him to commit the worst of sins, however, when he finally confessed his sin he saw how much better his life could have