tch, because she says, “Wilt thou stand here with Mother and me, tomorrow noontide?” ( 148 ) But Dimmesdale refuses, “Not so, my child. I shall, indeed, stand with thy mother and thee one other day, but not tomorrow.” (148-149 ) Dimmesedale is coming close to speaking, but he doesn’t. He reveals his truths to the town after he has preached a his finest sermon and after the town is holding him so very high on a pedestal. Dimmesdale says to the town, “…ye, that have loved me!-ye that have deemed me holy!-behold me here, the one sinner of the world! At last!-at last!-I stand upon the spot where, seven years since, I should have stood ; here, with this woman…” ( 237 ) Now that Dimmesdale confesses his secret, he can die. He has admitted to being the father of Hester Prynne’s child, Pearl, and his poor corpse, which is so deathly, can rest in peace now. His mind is well aware that it can live on knowing that the truth is out but his body is so battered that it cannot go on living.Dimmesdale has sinned against God, and more importantly against himself. Yes, he has not lived a true life because for seven years he has lived in denial of his sin. It did prove to be more harmful in the end, since he died on the scaffold while standing next to his fellow-sinner Hester. He knew that he needed to reveal himself but in his Puritan ways, it was hard to confess. The irony he portrays and the hypocrisy that he lives is such a grand sin in itself. He lived looking his sin in the face every single day, because he was a minister and not only would have to answer to the townsfolk after he had admitted but he had to face God everyday. His character has perhaps the central struggle in this novel, for he has the struggle within, and the struggle portrayed outwardly to the town, and Hester. He is definitely a very dramatic character in this novel, or Hawthorne would not have stated this quote about him...
