even though he does not give in to confess yet. He has become emaciated because he has let the sin against himself churn inside and on the outside he has spent many nights whipping himself. Perhaps this is a sign for him to feel he has punished himself, as God would have punished him, if he were on Earth. One day while Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth are talking about medicinal weeds that Chillingworth found on an old grave that had no tombstone or marking whatsoever, Chillingworth says to Dimmesdale, “…They grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that was buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his lifetime.” ( 129 ) It’s as if Chillingworth can tell that Rev. Dimmesdale is hiding something, something that could be the cause of his health depleting. Chillingworth then states that, “Then why not reveal them here ?” ( 129 ) Chillingworth knows, he simply knows that there is something else, something that Dimmesdale has not yet come forth to tell him.Dimmesdale, in chapter 12, is finally realizing that it could be a better thing to disclose his secret to the town. He has become so weak that he has even thought about his own death. He has walked to the scaffold and climbed up as if he wants to proclaim something. And yet, it is nighttime and the whole town is resting. Some are at the deathbed of the ailing governor who has just died. They do not notice him. As Hester and Pearl walk by, Dimmesdale tells them, “Come up hither, Hester, thou and little Pearl…Ye have both been here before, but I was not with you. Come up hither once again, and we will stand all three together!” ( 148 ) Dimmesdale has obviously been thinking that he wants to reveal himself, but his choice of the hour tells the reader that he cannot confess in the day, not yet. Pearl herself knows or at least feels that this is right, that the three of them together is a ma...
