Compare And Contrast Hester And Dimmesdale

The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne writes about the story of adultery committed in a puritan community; Hester and Dimmesdale are two important characters that suffer from the sin that try not to tell the truth about the past. When they are suffering some people may say that Dimmesdale suffers more than Hester; which, in fact, is true, accounting all the evidence. Dimmesdale being a minister while Hester being a mother battle between who has suffered the most about adultery.
Dimmesdale being a minister of the church is held up on a very high standard and if does one thing wrong the community will react strongly. He is incapable to confess his sins for various reasons. Because of him being a minster he believes he is a hypocrite because a minister is to help people not to sin and is in the eyes of God; then Dimmesdale commits one of the biggest sins ever, adultery. When Hester was accused of adultery the community was very lenient compared to the actual punishment if Dimmesdale confessed to his sin he would most likely be put to death, which is the actual punishment. Dimmesdale because of his ranking in the community he would be put to death. If Dimmesdale was to confess he would not be able to stand the judgment of the puritans. "Wilt thou stand here with …show more content…
He is told to keep quiet about his daughter Pearl just to keep him safe from the judgement of the puritans. With him living with the lies he feels the guilt of the lies and he starts to have chest pain, "Most of the spectators testified to having seen, on the breast of the unhappy minister, a SCARLET LETTER--the very semblance of that worn by Hester Prynne--imprinted in the flesh" (Hawthorne #). Many of the puritans believe he died because he had such a great weight lifted off of his chest because he final confessed his

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Compare And Contrast Hester And Dimmesdale In The Scarlet Letter